I'm looking into purchasing my first road bike after having a MTB for several years. I've started doing 40+ road rides with climbing to get some climbing legs and distance training and doing the road ride on my MTB is getting a little under my skin.
I've done some road in the past but now I have to actually make a decision on my own new road ride.
I'm likely to spend ~$1500 and my LBS has a plethora of options that I'm about to road test over the next few days. I would really appreciate some ride tips that I should the thinking about as I try these sweet machines out. I know Fit is important and all that, what I'm asking for are for some factors like road feel, responsiveness, acceleration etc. how might I go about comparing these machines on "real world" variables.
My possible choices are:
ORBEA Volata (campy mirage components)
Bianchi Nirone with ultegra 105
Pinerello FP5 with ultergra
Giant TCRa1 with ultegra
I tried the ORBEA on Monday and was blown away so as I try these other rides I'm pretty I'm going to have a similar feeling after trudging my MTB over 40+ miles of road and hills. So, I wanted to get some input on experiences others have had like "the ride to stiff but responsive" or "a little easier for long rides but not exceptional acceleration for a sprint".
So all you fans for each model.... let me know what you like and don't like about your ride or the alternatives as I head into a really fun, tough choice.
Thanks