Which Bike Should I Get? Specialized or BMC or Giant?

BelgianHammer · Apr 29, 2018

I don't have any of these 3 bikes, but if I was choosing, as others have noted, Giant is spec-ing one heck of a bike at that price point. 11-speed, which among other things allows one to be pick up the often missed rear 16T cog as opposed to it being missing in a similar 10-speed setup, is nice.

Plus, you put 700x28 tires on instead of the 700x25 that come with it, and you've suddenly got as comfortable a frame as nearly any carbon bike on the road.

Lastly, once again as others have noted, that Giant Contend (which is an exact copy dimension-wise of their higher-end endurance "Defy" carbon bikes) just looks sharper & better.

Good luck whichever direction you go!

cxwrench · Apr 29, 2018

I'll throw my hat in w/ all the recommendations for the Giant.

STRANA · Apr 29, 2018

+1 for the Giant

Lombard · Apr 30, 2018

BelgianHammer said:
Plus, you put 700x28 tires on instead of the 700x25 that come with it, and you've suddenly got as comfortable a frame as nearly any carbon bike on the road.

I would definitely agree that one deciding factor should be frame clearance for running wider tires. 28mm tires make a big difference in comfort over 25mm tires.

jaggrin · Apr 30, 2018

Vio1 said:
Hi, Im getting my first decent road bike, and I'm at a loss at which of 3 bikes to get.
My max budget is $2000 Canadian Dollars. I'm looking for a decent bike for fitness purposes. Want a comfortable ride that won't tire my arms and back.

Option 1: BMC SLX01 105 5700 for $1699 + tax
- Shimano 105 w/Mavi Yksion Powerlink 700x23
https://www.racersportif.com/collections/bmc-bikes/products/bmc-slx01-10-road-bike

Option 2: Specialized Roubaix SL4 for $1699 + tax
- Tiagra w/ Axis Elite wheels
Wheels of Bloor - Toronto's #1 Road Bike Shop | Road and Triathlon

Option 3: Giant Contend SL 1 DISC for $1849 + tax
- Shimano 105 w/Giant Gavia AC 2, 700x25, Tubeless
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/ca/contend-sl-1-disc

None of the above. Get yourself a Canyon, specs are better than any of the above by far

eboos · Apr 30, 2018

jaggrin said:
None of the above. Get yourself a Canyon, specs are better than any of the above by far

Yeah, just head down to the local Canyon dealer and take one out for a spin.

jaggrin · Apr 30, 2018

eboos said:
Yeah, just head down to the local Canyon dealer and take one out for a spin.

No you can just buy it using your iPad, put it together in 10 minutes and off you go. If you don’t like it, ship it back to them in 30 days no cost to you. Actually much easier than driving around to multiple bikes shops and best part about it all is you get WAY more for your money and the frames are top quality. Heck the Endurace came with top of the line 28 mm continental tires.

eboos · Apr 30, 2018

jaggrin said:
No you can just buy it using your iPad, put it together in 10 minutes and off you go. If you don’t like it, ship it back to them in 30 days no cost to you. Actually much easier than driving around to multiple bikes shops and best part about it all is you get WAY more for your money and the frames are top quality. Heck the Endurace came with top of the line 28 mm continental tires.

Don't get me wrong, I am pretty much sold on a Canyon as my next bike. I was joking earlier, but the buying experience is not for everyone, and the OP may benefit from dealing with a local shop that can sort out his fit and ensure he gets the comfort that he is looking for.

Lombard · Apr 30, 2018

jaggrin said:
No you can just buy it using your iPad, put it together in 10 minutes and off you go. If you don’t like it, ship it back to them in 30 days no cost to you. Actually much easier than driving around to multiple bikes shops and best part about it all is you get WAY more for your money and the frames are top quality. Heck the Endurace came with top of the line 28 mm continental tires.

You can't get a fitting over the internet. If you buy a bike from a shop, you will get that service with the bike. Otherwise, the shop will charge you $100-200 for a fitting.

Also, please tell me how someone who is buying their first road bike will put a boxed bike together in 10 minutes.

Very bad advice.

marathonrunner · Apr 30, 2018

Assuming you like all three and would be happy with any of the three, and all three will fit you, (suggest you get fit by a certified bike fitter, preferably not at the shop who sold you the bike) I would definitely get the Giant. The most versatile of the three and the best spec for the money.

Lombard · Apr 30, 2018

marathonrunner said:
Assuming you like all three and would be happy with any of the three, and all three will fit you, (suggest you get fit by a certified bike fitter, preferably not at the shop who sold you the bike) I would definitely get the Giant. The most versatile of the three and the best spec for the money.

Do you mean like that $500 Guru fit? For most, that is overkill and probably not appropriate for a beginner anyway.

A good shop will give you a good fitting with an emphasis on "good shop". There are some not so good shops who won't even watch you pedal on a trainer, but will just eyeball you and make approximations. That is not a good fitting.

jaggrin · Apr 30, 2018

Lombard said:
You can't get a fitting over the internet. If you buy a bike from a shop, you will get that service with the bike. Otherwise, the shop will charge you $100-200 for a fitting.

Also, please tell me how someone who is buying their first road bike will put a boxed bike together in 10 minutes.

Very bad advice.

Okay I will walk you through step by step on how to put a Canyon bike together in 10 minutes.

Step one is to unpackaged the bike-5 minutes
Step two is to put the handlebars on- 3 minutes
Step three is to put the seat post on- 2 minutes

Any other questions?

ogre · May 1, 2018

jaggrin said:
Okay I will walk you through step by step on how to put a Canyon bike together in 10 minutes.

Step one is to unpackaged the bike-5 minutes
Step two is to put the handlebars on- 3 minutes
Step three is to put the seat post on- 2 minutes

Any other questions?

You must be a total pro.

Unpackaging, there's a lot of crap/wrap to tear off. Install wheel after locating/adding skewer...
Good chance those handlebars don't have bar tape on them. Are the shift levers where they should be on the bars? Probably not. Are all of the cable lengths optimal, anything need to be shortened? if you didn't get a 62 cm frame, then cables/housing probably too long.

Have you figured out the stack that you want? Fiddle with the spaces above/below the stem. Need to cut the steerer tube?

Install pedals.

Start spinning thru the gears. yeah, I'm sure everything is dialed in right off the bat!
Shifts perfectly, FD aligned perfectly, brake pads line up to the rims correctly.

Oh yeah, gotta true those wheels.

I suppose you could slap it together in 10 minutes to see if the bike is close to fitting you but......

Hell, just taking off those annoying safety stickers, wheel reflectors and dork disk will take 10 minutes.

Doing a quality build on a new bike takes time and skill.

Now back to our regular scheduled programming.........

ataunque · May 1, 2018

Vio1 said:
Is there any good reason to choose a carbon frame over aluminum?

From bitter experience, go with aluminium.
I "invested" £5k in a top end carbon bike, trek domane - never dropped the bike, it suffered a crack to a seat stay and Trek rejected the warranty claim saying it was accidental damage. "offered" me a repair program where i pay £1200 to repair it.
I had read about this stuff before i purchased the bike but thought they were scare stories maybe where people had crashed or dropped things on the bikes or not looked after them. I should have taken heed. My bike was cherished, wiped down after every ride and never dropped.
Titanium or steel every time.

jaggrin · May 1, 2018

ogre said:
You must be a total pro.

Unpackaging, there's a lot of crap/wrap to tear off. Install wheel after locating/adding skewer...
Good chance those handlebars don't have bar tape on them. Are the shift levers where they should be on the bars? Probably not. Are all of the cable lengths optimal, anything need to be shortened? if you didn't get a 62 cm frame, then cables/housing probably too long.

Have you figured out the stack that you want? Fiddle with the spaces above/below the stem. Need to cut the steerer tube?

Install pedals.

Start spinning thru the gears. yeah, I'm sure everything is dialed in right off the bat!
Shifts perfectly, FD aligned perfectly, brake pads line up to the rims correctly.

Oh yeah, gotta true those wheels.

I suppose you could slap it together in 10 minutes to see if the bike is close to fitting you but......

Hell, just taking off those annoying safety stickers, wheel reflectors and dork disk will take 10 minutes.

Doing a quality build on a new bike takes time and skill.

Now back to our regular scheduled programming.........

maybe you need to introduce yourself to youtube or buy one yourself to see how easy it is to get rolling? I as a Canyon owner can 100% state with fact that the bike comes all dialed in, with bar tape and shifters all ready in place, the wheels trued and in my case with DI2 shifting charged.

Go back to your Cartoon Network and leave the cycling discussion to the adults.

BelgianHammer · May 1, 2018

ataunque said:
From bitter experience, go with aluminium.
I "invested" £5k in a top end carbon bike, trek domane - never dropped the bike, it suffered a crack to a seat stay and Trek rejected the warranty claim saying it was accidental damage. "offered" me a repair program where i pay £1200 to repair it.
I had read about this stuff before i purchased the bike but thought they were scare stories maybe where people had crashed or dropped things on the bikes or not looked after them. I should have taken heed. My bike was cherished, wiped down after every ride and never dropped.
Titanium or steel every time.

Hi ataunque,

Before the RBR ad-motivated moderator police chime in to defend the carbon empire, and to totally discredit your story and attempt to blame you and/or say this is/was an anomaly in all things carbon frame-related, I am sorry that this happened to you. It totally stinks. Especially for those who baby and care for their frames like you obviously do.

It is reading consistent stories like this over the years that provides the reason I still have not moved to any carbon frame. For my own riding, and racing kermesses, steel/ti/alu frames still rule. Especially since I am too old to be sponsored any longer. Carbon will get there on day, on a level with the other 3 frames, I truly believe this. But, even today, they still are not there.

Again, sorry to hear Trek once again pulled their "not honoring" antic when it comes to carbon frames. The dealer who sold you that bike, should be massively ashamed they didn't stand up to Trek about this. I'd never frequent that particular shop again. Is it any wonder that Trek has such a bad word-of-mouth (along with Spesh) name over here in European large clubs with respect to their frame warranty honoring? Wonder too why it is rare to hear these types of stories from riders of Giant and/or Canyon and other carbon frame manufacturers?? They equally number the amount of people one sees on Trek and/or Spesh bikes. Canyon is just slaying Trek & Spesh here in the Belgian/Netherlands/Danish and German markets, and I don't even own one and/or have no skin in the game regarding carbon. How are they doing it??

itsnotmyparty · May 1, 2018

ataunque said:
From bitter experience, go with aluminium.
I "invested" £5k in a top end carbon bike, trek domane - never dropped the bike, it suffered a crack to a seat stay and Trek rejected the warranty claim saying it was accidental damage. "offered" me a repair program where i pay £1200 to repair it.
I had read about this stuff before i purchased the bike but thought they were scare stories maybe where people had crashed or dropped things on the bikes or not looked after them. I should have taken heed. My bike was cherished, wiped down after every ride and never dropped.
Titanium or steel every time.

you already started a thread with your story, are you going to post the same story in every thread?

Jwiffle · May 1, 2018

jaggrin said:
maybe you need to introduce yourself to youtube or buy one yourself to see how easy it is to get rolling? I as a Canyon owner can 100% state with fact that the bike comes all dialed in, with bar tape and shifters all ready in place, the wheels trued and in my case with DI2 shifting charged.

Go back to your Cartoon Network and leave the cycling discussion to the adults.

actually, the others are right. If ever I chance to meet you and you offer me to take your bike for a spin, please remind me you only spent 10 minutes from box to riding, because I'd want to go over it first to make sure it's safe. A mechanic who knows what he's doing is gonna take at least around 45 minutes making sure he's got it all done correctly. Newbie following YouTube videos? At least a couple hours. Most brands try to say their bikes are ready to go out of the box, that's never the case.

Certainly, for someone looking to buy their first bike, online is not the best way to go. Once they know what they like, what works for them, and what they are looking for, online bikes can be a decent option.

kiwisimon · May 1, 2018

jaggrin said:
None of the above. Get yourself a Canyon, specs are better than any of the above by far

OP is a novice. The reason Canyon is cheaper is because they don't factor in the one on one advice and assistance, an LBS offers and which many beginners appreciate. OP if you are unsure enough of your choices from the three models you linked to, I think it's better to leave online purchasing until after you have ridden one of the three for a few years. The Giant is still my recommendation.

Jay Strongbow · May 1, 2018

Jwiffle said:
Certainly, for someone looking to buy their first bike, online is not the best way to go. Once they know what they like, what works for them, and what they are looking for, online bikes can be a decent option.

Logically correct but the problem is that so many bike shops don't know what they are doing so the in-person advantage is lost and some on-line vendors are actually really good assuming the buyer knows how to use a tape measure.

It boils down to some places are good and some are bad and blanket statements of "bike shop" vs "on-line" don't tell the whole story.

Which Bike Should I Get? Specialized or BMC or Giant?

BelgianHammer

cxwrench

STRANA

Lombard

jaggrin

eboos

jaggrin

eboos

Lombard

marathonrunner

Lombard

jaggrin

ogre

ataunque

jaggrin

BelgianHammer

itsnotmyparty

Jwiffle

kiwisimon

Jay Strongbow

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities