[TI_roadracer]

If you had £3000 ($5000) to spend on a bike would you go for:

1. Giant TCR Composite 0 Full Dura Ace

2. Litespeed Vortex (Compact) Ultegra

3. Trek Madone 5.9 SL Full Dura Ace

 

[FatTireFred]

For that kinda dough I'd go custom.

 

[temoore]

How abot a Look 585?

http://www.wrenchscience.com/WS1/Look/Bikes.html
W/ Record, still less than $5K.

 

[TI_roadracer]

I would prefer a fully prebuilt bike, lol I can't even replace a rim without breaking it, let alone build a bike!

 

[FatTireFred]

I would prefer a fully prebuilt bike, lol I can't even replace a rim without breaking it, let alone build a bike!

you won't need to build it

 

[Pierre]

From your choice - the Trek. I would personally get it on ebay at ~3500 for a bike in top condition, and buy plenty of beer, or a second bike with the leftover money.

If it was my choice, I would buy a Merlin Extralight, or a Moots. Same thing with the leftover money.

 

[R.Rice]

I would prefer a fully prebuilt bike, lol I can't even replace a rim without breaking it, let alone build a bike!

Now might be the time to learn.

If you're considering shelling out $5k for a new ride then you must take it fairly seriously.I can't see taking it serious enough to spend that kind of money but not learn to work on my own stuff.

Do you have a relationship with a LBS?If so,read on the net and the stuff you can't do yourself take to them.

$5k for a bike with Ultegra is rediculous.

 

[mytorelli]

If you had £3000 ($5000) to spend on a bike would you go for:

1. Giant TCR Composite 0 Full Dura Ace

2. Litespeed Vortex (Compact) Ultegra

3. Trek Madone 5.9 SL Full Dura Ace

NONE of those, there are a lot of great bikes for $5000 here are my choices:
- Cervelo R3 (already have the soloist carbon)
- if a giant then the TCR advanced
- BMC SLC
- Time VXS
- pinarello paris carbon

 

[trek5200cs]

NONE of those, there are a lot of great bikes for $5000 here are my choices:
- Cervelo R3 (already have the soloist carbon)
- if a giant then the TCR advanced
- BMC SLC
- Time VXS
- pinarello paris carbon

Do you really think an equivalent spec'd full Dura-Ace Pinarello Paris Carbon can be had for $5K? I would guess more like $5500 or $6K

 

[asawlrider123456789]

Definately none of the bikes you mentioned are good choices. i would say to go for s moots even though i've never had one. I would also reccomend a paris carbon if it can be bought with top of the line parts for under 5k, wich I highly doubt is possible, but most of all go out and ride, get fitted, and whatever fights the best and rides good, I would say go for it.

 

[junglejesus]

I own a lightspeed vortex compact and love it, but I had to gut my cranks and BB off of my madone to replace the shitty fsa cranks. those cranks where a whole bunch of problems along with fsa warranty section. so if you are not going full durace look at the giant (alot more bang for your buck). Treks bennifit over giant is really there warranties I swear to god I dont remember comming across a more warranty friendly company then them.

 

[junglejesus]

Definately none of the bikes you mentioned are good choices. i would say to go for s moots even though i've never had one. I would also reccomend a paris carbon if it can be bought with top of the line parts for under 5k, wich I highly doubt is possible, but most of all go out and ride, get fitted, and whatever fights the best and rides good, I would say go for it.

Ok how can you say none of those mentioned are good choices then you offer up MOOTS? but yet you never road one?
1st off trek and giant are the two leaders in carbon technoligy, BMC I belive gets there nano tech from another outside source but could be wrong. Giant makes a very large percentage of carbon frames known under other popular names. Giant is the only manufacturer that produces their carbon fiber from scratch giving them excellent quality control throughout the process. Most all other companies have to bring in raw materials from outside sources not always knowing the true quality of various materials.
http://www.bikebiz.com/daily-news/article.php?id=5532
http://www.bikebiz.com/daily-news/article.php?id=5294. Now trek has one of the best quality control teams stationed in whatever plant there bikes are made in, Mostly USA.
As far as light speed goes it depends on what type of riding you do. The compact hits the mark for the all around racer type. I have ever felt better after putting in a 160+mile weekend

 

[botto]

congratulations - you're an idiot.

Definately none of the bikes you mentioned are good choices. i would say to go for s moots even though i've never had one. I would also reccomend a paris carbon if it can be bought with top of the line parts for under 5k, wich I highly doubt is possible, but most of all go out and ride, get fitted, and whatever fights the best and rides good, I would say go for it.

 

[botto]

i'm riding a '05 tcr comp 0 w/full DA so i can safely say that it's a great bike, as i'm sure the other two options are. i got my giant for a significantly cheaper sum than 5K, but i bought it on closeout in the US, and i assume - if you're using £ - you're buying in the UK, which has inflated prices.

for that kind of money, and if it's in your budget, i'd suggest the tcr advanced, like mytorelli already has.

one other suggestion - do a little research on shops in germany, or elsewhere in continental europe, and get an easyjet or ryanair flight, and buy there. you'll save a chunk of change.

If you had £3000 ($5000) to spend on a bike would you go for:

1. Giant TCR Composite 0 Full Dura Ace

2. Litespeed Vortex (Compact) Ultegra

3. Trek Madone 5.9 SL Full Dura Ace

 

[PedalSpinner]

Tried 2 out of 3

I'd really want a top end groupo if spending that kind of money so wouldn't get a Litespeed when only Ultegra spec- especially as you are looking at alternative highend frames which allow you to access top end Duraace groupos.

Personally, I had a 2003 Giant TCR Comp 0. No fuss choice. Very reliable- no hassles after 2 years and 7000+ kms. Best thing was it got me out and riding. Worse thing was general lack of cred from peleton although must say that is changing. Only real issues were fork was a little soft for my 90kgs so cornering not so good and sizing difficult (L fraction small and XL fraction too big).

Now have a 2006 Trek 5.9SL. Has got me riding even more. ~5000km in under 8months. Best improvements over Giant for me were: Stiffer fork gives much better cornering. Tighter sizing options make much better bike fit (heaps more comfortable and power transfer yielded immediate increase in speed- professional bike fit helped here alot). Andromeda paint job with Ti anodised rims and hubs look gorgeous- get lots of comments. Worse things are: Trek exercised its right to change the bike spec on delivery and downgraded the seat post (check carefully on delivery cause they aren't interested after that). Reliability not good as Giant- Bonty low spoke count wheels already need to be trued (Ksyrium SL's didn't over more kms) and my RHS drop out/chain stay join has just failed- am taking it to the shop for a warranty claim this week (hopefully they will honour it).

Overall I still prefer the Trek (admittedly the join failure is a BIG issue but I haven;t heard of this often and I am hoping Trek will honour their warranty- one of my reasons for buying Trek is their lifetime warranty on frames so I am hoping this is actually a plus rather than a minus). Ultimately, better fit and handling means much more enjoyable cycling provided there is reasonable reliability which there seems to be (I'll repost if this doesn't end up being the case). Oh, and one other small thing, if the 5.9SL is good enough for a fair few pros to win stages and tours on it, who am I to argue when the bike has performed well enough for them?

Let us know your pick

 

[botto]

one of my reasons for buying Trek is their lifetime warranty on frames

fyi (in case you didn;t know, or forgot to mention it) Giant has a lieftime warranty on their frames as well

 

[PedalSpinner]

Really?

fyi (in case you didn;t know, or forgot to mention it) Giant has a lieftime warranty on their frames as well

no, didn't know- thanks! I didn;t think Giant had a lifetime warranty when I bought it 3 years ago. Unfortunately, I've now sold the bike with all the docs I got with it so I can;t confirm. Couldn't find it on their Australian website just now either but I stand to be corrected on that as I cannot verify. Certainly an important point to be considered :thumbsup:

Also didn't mention another plus for my giant was that it was easy to sell second hand when it was time to part with it. Had it listed on the net for a week and got reasonable dollars (few hundred more than my bike store recommended I sell it for). Buyer bought it having only viewed photos that I emailed. Generally speaking, the brand must have a pretty good rep for that to happen.

 

[botto]

well, at least that's what several giant dealers have told me. maybe that's only the case for the comp frames?

no, didn't know- thanks! I didn;t think Giant had a lifetime warranty when I bought it 3 years ago. Unfortunately, I've now sold the bike with all the docs I got with it so I can;t confirm. Couldn't find it on their Australian website just now either but I stand to be corrected on that as I cannot verify. Certainly an important point to be considered :thumbsup:

Also didn't mention another plus for my giant was that it was easy to sell second hand when it was time to part with it. Had it listed on the net for a week and got reasonable dollars (few hundred more than my bike store recommended I sell it for). Buyer bought it having only viewed photos that I emailed. Generally speaking, the brand must have a pretty good rep for that to happen.

 

[R.Rice]

Treks bennifit over giant is really there warranties I swear to god I dont remember comming across a more warranty friendly company then them.

Are you sure about that?When I use to MTB I rode Giants(had 2 of them).I crashed a 2 day old NRS Air(full XTR etc)and put a nice hole in the top tube.NO QUESTIONS ASKED Giant sent my LBS a new front triangle free of charge just to keep me in a Giant.

Not saying Treks warranties aren't good.Just saying I can't imagine better customer service than what Giant has done for me.

On another note,I have owned 2 Trek road bikes.A 5200 and a 5500 with DA 7800/Race Xlites and I would still recomend a TCR Advanced.After I got a chance to put some miles on other bikes I realized how horribly the Treks "felt".Not to mention everyone and their brother has one.

 

[g-Bike]

The vortex compact is an awesome bike, but for that amount of dough I think every one else is right you should be getting full Dura Ace. A litespeed would be the last bike you would need but then again we all usually think about something else after a few years. Either way you will have a great bike and one that would will get many years out of. I say get the one you think about the most and start riding it. Take care and keep the rubber side down.

G