First quality road bike - specialized vs bianchi



FJB85

New Member
Jan 12, 2017
1
0
1
Hello all - I'm new to this forum and I'm hoping I can get some unbiased guidance here before I purchase my first decent road bike. I've been looking at the Specialized Allez and the Bianchi Via Nirone 7. Both are entry level road bikes with very similar components (Shimano Claris).

I can get the Allez in my size (58) tomorrow at $700 - The shop that is selling it also offers a lifetime warranty (on the entire bike) and free brake and gear adjustments for life, which is very appealing to me. I also got a good vibe from the staff at the shop with the Allez, which makes me feel more inclined to buy there.

The Bianchi is not available in my size anywhere locally. The shop by my house has my size in the next model up, which carries Shimano Sora components and is priced at $950. I do not think the Sora components are $200 better than the Claris and I also don't think I need the upgrades being that it is my first decent bike and I'm not sure how frequent I will be riding. When I went there tonight, I felt like I was being pressured into a sale and left the shop without bike.

I'm taking a breather to look at both bikes and see what is the best investment. I think I am being drawn toward the Bianchi for aesthetic reasons, which seemed fine before because they were the same price point and basically felt like very similar bikes. Now that I know the Bianchi is not available to me in the entry-level model, I'm leaning toward the Allez, but I also realize I know very little about all of this, which is why I'm here.

So the options on the table are the Specialized Allez with Claris components at $700... or the Bianchi Via Nirone 7 with Sora components at $950. Any thoughts?
 
If you get a bianchi get it with campy not Shimano...

It's a good way to get a good deal on a campy groupset..

I can vouch for the allez. I have an allez.

Are they both carbon fork bikes?

Ideally I would say try to get a bianchi with veloce.. claris is the new 2300 and if the Sora one is from last year it would be probably very similar...

Mind you that the claris, 2300 etc Shimano brifters have a nasty habit of breaking if you pull the cable whilst it's somehow stuck. Eg when cleaning the bike. And they are non repairable... They are also quite expensive for 60euro each..

If you get Shimano try to get something at least 10 speed... If not 11...
 
Just my 2 cents, of those two, the Bianchi is the better option. There are less expensive options/brands out there that'll give you more bang for your $, but you may have to 'travel' a little further to get them depending on where you live... and as Campybob has mentioned on here a few times... Ribble has a lot of great deals online and for $900 you can probably get a pretty nice ride.
 
I'm sorry, I like Campy Bob for the most part, but I cringe when I see off branded bikes, they may be fine which Campy Bob says they are, but just something about a generic made Chinese bike that was given a decal of some bike shop to be sold cheap, which means the bike shop paid maybe $500 for it, and the factory probably sunk about $125 into it.

I haven't seen a Ribble frame sawed lengthwise but I did see a Specialized and a few others including Trek and Pinarello, plus a couple of others, and the bike frame with the best quality control was the Specialized, of course there was no Ribble being cut so no telling what that would have looked like, anyway see:
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZbg5hCRyvs
Specialized has really good warranty service reputation, plus usually there is a local shop near you that carries Specialized whereas with Ribble, as well as others, may be an overseas type of process.

.
 
My first quality road bike was a 2011 Bianchi Vigorelli (steel) with shimano 105. That bike was a boss. The 105 groupset is as low as I would go in Shimano. It worked great and was easy to work on. If you can find a steel frame, I highly recommend.
 
105 is as low as I would go as well, but that doesn't mean that Tiagra is junk, Tiagra is an older version of 105 and the reliability is quite high, so I think if someone wants to save some money on a bike would be quite happy with Tiagra which technically has trickle down technology all the way from DA! Shimano upgrades DA workings then that now older tech DA goes to Ultegra; DA upgrades again, the older tech goes to Ultegra and Ultegra older tech goes to 105; DA upgrades again, the older tech goes to Ultegra and the older Ultegra goes to 105, and older 105 goes to Tiagra; so really Tiagra is simply older DA workings. Tiagra is so good that in reviews it gets 5 stars, so I won't dismiss Tiagra because it's a level below 105, the reason I went with mostly all 105 is it's a bit more updated, and I use Ultegra rear derailleur, for me 105 (Ultegra rear) was the sweet spot, and it's cheap to replace should something break.
 
105 is as low as I would go as well, but that doesn't mean that Tiagra is junk, Tiagra is an older version of 105 and the reliability is quite high, so I think if someone wants to save some money on a bike would be quite happy with Tiagra which technically has trickle down technology all the way from DA! Shimano upgrades DA workings then that now older tech DA goes to Ultegra; DA upgrades again, the older tech goes to Ultegra and Ultegra older tech goes to 105; DA upgrades again, the older tech goes to Ultegra and the older Ultegra goes to 105, and older 105 goes to Tiagra; so really Tiagra is simply older DA workings. Tiagra is so good that in reviews it gets 5 stars, so I won't dismiss Tiagra because it's a level below 105, the reason I went with mostly all 105 is it's a bit more updated, and I use Ultegra rear derailleur, for me 105 (Ultegra rear) was the sweet spot, and it's cheap to replace should something break.

I have 2013 Tiagra and haven't had any issues with it, unless I did something stupid like crash or do a adjustment beyond my skill. I also have 2016 105 on one of my bikes, can't really tell the difference. The best part about tiagra is, it is dirt cheap to replace. I bought the bike used and have replaced most of the components for like (2 minor crashes, a few mis repairs, replacing just to look better, etc..). Cheap parts and highly recommended .
 
I have 2013 Tiagra and haven't had any issues with it, unless I did something stupid like crash or do a adjustment beyond my skill. I also have 2016 105 on one of my bikes, can't really tell the difference. The best part about tiagra is, it is dirt cheap to replace. I bought the bike used and have replaced most of the components for like (2 minor crashes, a few mis repairs, replacing just to look better, etc..). Cheap parts and highly recommended .

My last new bike was in 2013 which is when I got that 105 stuff with the Ultegra rear D, at that time I also had DA9000 cables put on instead of the standard Shimano cables, and whenever I ride a bike that has full Ultegra or I'll take the risk and even say with full DA I can't tell the difference either. I think that's because the DA9000 cables, which are the same cables you would get if you bought a bike with DA on it, are really so much smoother operating then the regular cables they make lower end stuff work smoother and better. Heck if I had a bike with Tiagra I would replace the cables with DA9000 and I bet I would notice a marked improvement.
 
I checked out the Via Narone and really, for the money, it’s not a bad choice. If you are truly budget constrained then it’s a pretty good option.
 

Similar threads

S
Replies
12
Views
883
D