Allez alternative

Trek 2.1. It's 105 all around except for Tiagra brakes. I'm sure there are options from the other big brands (Giant, Fuji, etc). FYI the local shop had mine listed at $200 lower than MSRP. So if price is critical to you, take a moment to look up the nearest dealer and call them for a price rather than rely on the MSRP at the website.

spookyload said:

If you can work on it yourself, or have a friend who can, Bikesdirect is awesome. Co-workers come to me all the time because they know I ride. When they see the prices on their site, they buy from them. I almost should be asking for a kickback from them...just kidding. Of course since I sent them there, I am always the one to build it for them, and fit them as well. Fitting someone on a bike isn't rocket science. Most LBS employees don't know much more than most of the folks who post here. If you are smart enough to have found the website, then you are likely smart enough to find a website that talks about bike fit.

Click to expand...

While skilled bike fitters may not do fancy trig or other calculus in the course of their fitting, their experience has value that you can't duplicate on your own. A good fitter can put things "right" on the first try that the rest of us would have to learn by the seat of our pants, literally. Less experienced fitters will generally take more iterations to get things to the same level of comfort and efficiency, and in most DIY cases means that the rider doesn't do additional adjustments and ends up with a less refined fit.

This dynamic plays out every day on the automotive race track. There is no formula out there that tells you how to set up a car so they change things little by little, one thing at a time. Everyone is (or should be) finding ways to get better/faster, but the experienced people will advance more quickly because they can take advantage of past patterns of success.

David