Weight Weenies

Downsizing my frames (from 54-56 to 52cm) and trying to figure out what is the next bike
Already went from BMC Team Machine SLR01 55cm to Colnago C59 53cm
This one stays in Mallorca

Where is live and do most of my training is flat like a pan!
Hence considering an aero frame.
Must be decently comfortable
In the absence of my current bikes (sold Parlee Z4) I ride Colnago Master steel frame which is soooo comfy, bumps are very well muted.

Considering
Parlee ESX
Cervelo S5
Argon Nitrogen

What else would you consider?

Many thx guys for your views and discussion.

New S5, S3/S2 or Felt AR.

Only ones I consider to be truly aero. Felt AR has great reviews regarding comfort. New S2 was wonderful when I rode it, too

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justkeepedaling wrote:Only ones I consider to be truly aero.

lol

Canyon Aeroad SLX
Ridley Noah SL

Neither of the bikes you pointed out are going to be anywhere near the top of aero segment. Come on, comparing your tubing to a 4 digit NACA? Child's play and was eclipsed over 10 years ago on the original Cervelos. Boundary layer trips? On tubes that already encounter turbulent flow and whatever laminar section they have would transition almost immediately anyways by 20% x/c? OK

justkeepedaling wrote:New S5, S3/S2 or Felt AR.

Only ones I consider to be truly aero. Felt AR has great reviews regarding comfort. New S2 was wonderful when I rode it, too

+1. I agree with this, especially if one wants a truely aero road frame. If you want a semi aero frame you can throw in the Venge, Propel, Foil...etc. Cervelo and Felt are the leaders in aero in my opinion.

So between an ESX and S5, I would say S5 hands down keeping everything else equal (geometry works for you, pricing...etc.).

S5 out of the choices you provide. The parlee is just ugly

You're calling the Propel 'semi aero'? Madness!

Yes if you look at the data provided by Felt, the Propel falls in line with the Venge and Foil. Second tier.

The Felt and Cervelo are in their own tier.

Ride an S5 before you buy one. I rented on on holiday and put a few hundred miles on it and it was by far the worst handling bike I have ever ridden. It motors in a straight line, but feels terrible climbing, descending, turning, etc. I read that they finally shortened the ridiculously long head tube on the future S5, so the new ones might be better (the head tube was not the only problem I had with the bike).

I know there are a lot of other potential reasons, but no one on Garmin rides the S5 anymore, instead opting for the S3. This might be marketing on Cervelos part or it might be because they all felt the same way as I did about the S5. Something to think about.

David Millar, Steele Van Hoff, and Garmin rider in a Crit style race? And I imagine quite a few of them will be riding the new S5 when it comes out...pure marketing IMHO.

Anyway - new Canyon Aeroroad?

yep
Was thinking of Canyon Aeroad. Great pricing

Heard that Argon 18 manage to strike some balance between stifness and comfort (at least on their Galium....)
Its new nitrogen looks interesting. Good aero breaks (like Propel)

Felt - not sure I like a break at the bottom of a crank.

@ Rodecki, what kind of stack and reach do you need?

"Felt - not sure I like a break at the bottom of a crank."

That is a valid concern. I believe Felt did this as not having the traditional rear brake allowed them to fine tune the seat stays for more comfort as they didn't need the brake stay or have it built up for having a rear brake. So that is one benefit of moving the rear brake to the bb. However that has its own issues. But if you aren't racing with a pro team and need a mechanic to work on the bike from the team car, I think for the most part it should be fine. You set it and forget it.

From your list of bikes, I would go Cervelo S5 hands down. Especially if you are considering the new 2015. Much better than the ESX imo.

my pref stack is 525 to 539
reach 365 to 375
top tube effective 520-530

am not an aero expert by no means, but traditional breaks on S5 compared to say Argon 18 Nitrogen TRP behind the form breaks just look so much more aero to me. Am I missing something here?

I can't remember the exact number given but I want to say an integrated front brake saves you 5-6 watts from what Dave Koesel and Damon Rinard have posted. However, one has to consider the performance (or lack thereof) that comes with an integrated front brake. You can get an aero mechanical/hydraulic front brake that will gain you some of the aero back while still offering good performance.

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That is only with clean cable routing and integration on the level of Trek Speedconcept against something like a standard Dura Ace caliper.

With a Tririg Omega front brake, you suffer absolutely no drag penalty to integrated brakes.