Howdy all!
I've recently decided to get into road biking. My roommate is big into it and after discussing it with him and looking into the sport, i'm hooked! I am having trouble deciding which bike I should buy. My budget is around 3500, but could go more if it was a fantastic bike and deal. Right now, there are a few bikes i'm looking at that i've narrowed my choices down to and was hoping some of ya'll could give me some insight on.
Oh, and just so FYI, im 6'2" 220lbs.
The first is the Trek Madone. I'm looking at both the 5.2 and 5.5. So far as i can tell, the only big difference in the two is the wheels. the 5.2 uses ultegra and the 5.5 uses sram force, but from what i've read those are pretty comprable and thus really a non issue. However, is there a huge difference in the bontrager race wheels on the 5.2 vs the Bontrager Race Lites on the 5.5? I really like the madones for their bigger bottom bracket, which i was told adds stiffness to the bike and could be beneficial since i'm a bigger rider.
The other two bikes i'm looking at are Felts. I really like the F3 and the AR4. The F3 comes with SRAM Red and the AR4 comes with ultegra. i dont know a whole lot about felt, but a guy i spoke to who has raced both felt and trek in the past said felt's were not as smooth.
So those are them. those are the 4 that i'm really looking at and i'm pretty sure my first real road bike will come from these. Does anybody have any suggestions on these particular bikes or maybe some others that i could look at? i've gone through and looked at specialized, cannondale and some others but these seem like they are some of the best bikes for the buck. any assistance would be GREATLY appreciated.
Oh, and one last question. I'm trying to figure out if i would need to get different wheels because of my size. i'm in the process of dropping weight and hope to get down to 185lbs when i start to hit the bike. i've read on different forums that guys my size need at least 32 spokes, but i've also seen where guys my size or bigger use 18/20 or 20/24s and are fine. I have thought about upgrading to some mavic ksyrium elites or SLs, but if the wheels that come stock on these bikes are fine to start with, then i probably wont do it.
again, any help you guys could give would be awesome. thanks alot!
I've recently decided to get into road biking. My roommate is big into it and after discussing it with him and looking into the sport, i'm hooked! I am having trouble deciding which bike I should buy. My budget is around 3500, but could go more if it was a fantastic bike and deal. Right now, there are a few bikes i'm looking at that i've narrowed my choices down to and was hoping some of ya'll could give me some insight on.
Oh, and just so FYI, im 6'2" 220lbs.
The first is the Trek Madone. I'm looking at both the 5.2 and 5.5. So far as i can tell, the only big difference in the two is the wheels. the 5.2 uses ultegra and the 5.5 uses sram force, but from what i've read those are pretty comprable and thus really a non issue. However, is there a huge difference in the bontrager race wheels on the 5.2 vs the Bontrager Race Lites on the 5.5? I really like the madones for their bigger bottom bracket, which i was told adds stiffness to the bike and could be beneficial since i'm a bigger rider.
The other two bikes i'm looking at are Felts. I really like the F3 and the AR4. The F3 comes with SRAM Red and the AR4 comes with ultegra. i dont know a whole lot about felt, but a guy i spoke to who has raced both felt and trek in the past said felt's were not as smooth.
So those are them. those are the 4 that i'm really looking at and i'm pretty sure my first real road bike will come from these. Does anybody have any suggestions on these particular bikes or maybe some others that i could look at? i've gone through and looked at specialized, cannondale and some others but these seem like they are some of the best bikes for the buck. any assistance would be GREATLY appreciated.
Oh, and one last question. I'm trying to figure out if i would need to get different wheels because of my size. i'm in the process of dropping weight and hope to get down to 185lbs when i start to hit the bike. i've read on different forums that guys my size need at least 32 spokes, but i've also seen where guys my size or bigger use 18/20 or 20/24s and are fine. I have thought about upgrading to some mavic ksyrium elites or SLs, but if the wheels that come stock on these bikes are fine to start with, then i probably wont do it.
again, any help you guys could give would be awesome. thanks alot!
