First Road Bike: 2014 Cervelo S3 OR 2013 Giant Propel Adv.

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Marloon
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 1:59 am

by Marloon

Hey Guys,

My name is Marlon and I am addicted to speed! In September 2013, I bought my first cyclocross bike (2012 Cannondale Caadx 5 105) for the sole purpose of commuting to and from work which is 15km away from home which is about 30km/day. I live in the greater vancouver area, and where I live there is a lot of flat ground (i.e. for a 70km loop around the city i live in, there is about 60m of climbing total). However, when i do group rides, I will usually do about 500-750m of climbing per 60km. I am training throughout fall/winter in order to set myself up for longer rides in Summer 2014 and for 2014, I have decided to ride on a aero road bike setup.

So in summary, I need a bike for:
- Climbing
- Flat ground
- Speed
- As future proof as possible, i will be riding this bike for at least 2 years.
- $4000 budget for a complete setup.

Choices:

- 2014 Cervelo S3 Ultegra
- 2013 Cervelo R3 Ultregra
- 2013 Giant Propel Advanced 2
- 2013 Giant TCR Advanced 0/1

Personal Opinion:
- I personally picked the 2014 Cervelo S3 Ultegra because I wanted to be as aero as possible. The bike can take on clip on aero bars which i intend to get in order to get even faster on my bike if i want to do more TT style riding.

What do you guys think? I'd be more than happy to take your suggestions! I am picking the purchase on January 12/14 while there is a sale on cervelo bikes.

by Weenie


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nickl
Posts: 140
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:37 am

by nickl

Marloon wrote:Hey Guys,
So in summary, I need a bike for:
- Climbing
- Flat ground
- Speed
- As future proof as possible, i will be riding this bike for at least 2 years.
- $4000 budget for a complete setup.


If those are in order of importance, then (old) Cervelo S3 didn't have a reputation as being great for climbing. Not sure what the new one is like.

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prebsy
Posts: 1044
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2012 10:52 pm
Location: there or thereabouts

by prebsy

TCR all damn day

johnnyscans
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 8:33 pm

by johnnyscans

If you need a climbing-first bike you should check out the Cervelo R3 as well.

shotgun
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:38 pm
Location: Philippines

by shotgun

Based on your 2 year future proof, TCR Advanced might be up for a big change. Basic design was introduce in 2009, with just a few updates (overdrive 2, internal cabling, Di2, etc) and no major ones.
2018 Giant TCR Advance SL0 Disc
2017 Festka Scalatore
1989 Battaglin Roche
1985 Alan Carbonio

Marloon
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 1:59 am

by Marloon

nickl wrote:If those are in order of importance, then (old) Cervelo S3 didn't have a reputation as being great for climbing. Not sure what the new one is like.


Thanks for letting me know. I didn't know this. Can you elaborate more on this as to why it wasn't a good climbing bike?

prebsy wrote:TCR all damn day


Why the TCR?

johnnyscans wrote:If you need a climbing-first bike you should check out the Cervelo R3 as well.


My first importance is speed. Then climbing then flats.

shotgun wrote:Based on your 2 year future proof, TCR Advanced might be up for a big change. Basic design was introduce in 2009, with just a few updates (overdrive 2, internal cabling, Di2, etc) and no major ones.


I agree. now that they produced the Propel, its time that the TCR gets love.

justkeepedaling
Posts: 1707
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:14 am

by justkeepedaling

Considering how the old S3 has been ridden to victory on many many races both stage and one day, I don't think there's any merit to it being a poor "climber". But to ease your doubt, the new S3 is over 20% stiffer in the bottom bracket and 30% stiffer in the headtube. I'd take the S3 any day because 1, I think it actually is more aero than the Propel, and 2, its cable stops are ready for any future system including hydraulic.

The new S3 rides more like a R series, too, even though it's way more aero than its predecessors. It just feels (and is) very very fast.

elSid
Posts: 254
Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:59 pm

by elSid

Does anyone have a 2014 S3 in stock?

Marloon
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 1:59 am

by Marloon

justkeepedaling wrote:Considering how the old S3 has been ridden to victory on many many races both stage and one day, I don't think there's any merit to it being a poor "climber". But to ease your doubt, the new S3 is over 20% stiffer in the bottom bracket and 30% stiffer in the headtube. I'd take the S3 any day because 1, I think it actually is more aero than the Propel, and 2, its cable stops are ready for any future system including hydraulic.

The new S3 rides more like a R series, too, even though it's way more aero than its predecessors. It just feels (and is) very very fast.


Thank you for this. I'm really bent on buying the S3 but i really have to step back and consider what is presented in front of my as I have a lot of choices to make and I want to make the right choices considering that I will be dropping some serious coin on this bike.

First of all, I was reading cervelo's aero vs weight blog/article as I see myself doing 5% climbs and the biggest climb that I want to do this year will be an avg of 7%. - http://www.cervelo.com/en/engineering/t ... -aero.html

And they said on this article, "How steep does a climb have to be before the weight savings trump the aero gains? As we saw before, the answer depends on the rider weight and speed, as a faster rider would encounter higher aerodynamic forces while the gravitational forces stay the same. For an average, 250 Watt rider, the tipping point is around a 5% slope, for a good pro who puts out 400 Watt, it’s at 8%."

I'm thinking that based on this, even though the s3 is a heavier bike to climb on vs an R3 or a TCR advanced 2, I will be okay on it knowing that when i do my own personal rides, i will only be riding on flat ground and some small climbs.

second, reading bikeradar's "how aero is aero" article (http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/arti ... ero-19273/), I noticed that clip on bars and aero helmets are a wiser investment than bike frames and aero wheel sets in terms of $/watt saved.

I can't believe how huge of a difference aero bars make in terms of watt savings as I intend to grab syntace c3s for the cervelo s3 when i grab it.

Thoughts?

elSid wrote:Does anyone have a 2014 S3 in stock?


Do you live in the GVRD area as well? Labicycletta has them in stock apparently.

nickl
Posts: 140
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:37 am

by nickl

Marloon wrote:I can't believe how huge of a difference aero bars make in terms of watt savings as I intend to grab syntace c3s for the cervelo s3 when i grab it.


Depends when you like going fast. You won't be on those aero bars in group rides.

The S3 is a nice bike though - enjoy it.

philly
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2012 2:35 pm

by philly

I would say the giant propel just because i think it looks like a total beast to ride :) on a more serious note i would suggest that you go for a few decent test rides and decide whether you like the geometry/compliance/etc of each bike.

On a side note - i notice that not many people short list the bmc timemachine when looking at aero bikes.


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Marloon
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 1:59 am

by Marloon

nickl wrote:Depends when you like going fast. You won't be on those aero bars in group rides.

The S3 is a nice bike though - enjoy it.


I like going fast anywhere I go - more so on the nice straight farm roads we have locally. I know that I wont be using the aero bars when I am riding in a group - its definitely too unsafe.

philly wrote:I would say the giant propel just because i think it looks like a total beast to ride :) on a more serious note i would suggest that you go for a few decent test rides and decide whether you like the geometry/compliance/etc of each bike.

On a side note - i notice that not many people short list the bmc timemachine when looking at aero bikes.


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I tried the Propel Advanced 02 and one thing that I didn't like were the brakes. There was really no modulation with them and on top of that, I didn't like the handle bar that they were using. They use a proprietary aero bar and There's no way i can clip my aero bars onto them.

I guess i just never considered the TMR02. thoughts on this bike?

Marloon
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 1:59 am

by Marloon

New comparisons

2012 s5 with ultegra di2 10 speed. Used with store warranty (used from store with 200km on bike) - 3600.

justkeepedaling
Posts: 1707
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:14 am

by justkeepedaling

I would prefer the S3 over the S5. Lighter, stiffer, and only 4 watts slower (at best). Besides, you can run 25c tires on the S3 but not on the S5 if you'd like

by Weenie


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ElDepo
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:32 pm

by ElDepo

Take a look at the Giant Defy Advanced SL1 -- retail at $3,925 --- ultegra 11 speed -- this is really an awesome bike for the dollars

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