You've been riding a lot in the last year or two. A couple races here and there, maybe even a foray into triathlon. You like racing, but you don't want to be stuffed onto and uncomfortable mens' bike, and the full-custom option is going to have to wait until the little one gets out of college. Since he's only in third grade, the LOOK Cycle 566 Elle Women's Bike looks like a pretty good option. Full Shimano 105 components, Mavic Aksium wheels, and a ground-up women's-specific design makes the Ell
Strengths: - Extremely comfortable on rough roads. (Of which we have a lot in this part of the world.)
- Feels like it wants to go fast. I tend to get tired legs from overdoing it when I ride this bike.
- Corners on a dime, yet never feels squirrelly.
Weaknesses: - Hated the FSA two-bolt seat post that came with it. It took two of us (my husband and I) to swap the stock saddle over to my favorite model. When we did get it swapped, there was an annoying creaking noise that took two trips back to the shop to solve.
Bottom Line:
Mine isn't the Elle, just the regular 105 model. As I'm tall, it only took a shorter stem to make it fit properly.
It was a 2011 model on sale in 2012, and one thing that impressed me was the fact that most of the components were 105.(Unfortunately, Look seems to now be doing the mix thing for their more recent models, which is a shame.) It took a while to talk myself into buying a bike that was $2500 CAD on sale, as I only ride recreationally now, but as my first new road bike in more than 20 years, it's a complete delight. I feel that I could ride a criterium on this bike, the way it corners, yet it doesn't beat me up on long highway rides over frost cracks, broken pavement, and gravel "patches" (a unique-to-Saskatchewan road hazard).
I did my first triathlon on this bike, on a short loop course with ferocious cross-winds, and had no trouble keeping it under control. I would absolutely recommend this bike. My husband keeps threatening to fill the tubes with lead to slow me down!
