Help picking my next bike

[Glow]

I started riding three seasons ago when I bought a Bianchi 928 HoC iasp which I'm still riding. I'm not currently racing but it's something I'm looking to get into soon. Time has come for me to buy another bike. There are so many brands and models on the market and I have a hard time narrowing it down. My budget ceiling is around 6000 USD/euro although I won't complain if the bike is less than that. I have a pair of 42 mm Reynolds rims if that factor into any decision. My local terrain is predominantly flat and hilly, no mountains sadly. The bike doesn't have to be full out aero but it needs to have aero in mind. I would prefer a more responsive bike with great handling over three watts saved from less aerodynamic drag. Do I go for mechanical or electronic shifting? Please help me narrow the market down and advice me on what bikes to look further into.

Thank you in advance for your help and time.

[bm0p700f]

Mechanical will allow a more expensive frame or flashier finishing kit.

You have enough money for a custom frame or off the peg almost anything.

With no idea what floats your boat where do we begin.

Steel, carbon or titanium.

[dim]

if I had 6000 USD, I'd be looking at a used Trek Madone 9.0 with Di2 or Sram Red and use the change to buy some decent accesories such as a Garmin, good shoes etc etc ... a proper bike fit aswell as go on a good holiday abroad

[DJT21]

if I had 6000 USD, I'd be looking at a used Trek Madone 9.0 with Di2 or Sram Red and use the change to buy some decent accesories such as a Garmin, good shoes etc etc ... a proper bike fit aswell as go on a good holiday abroad

That looks like anything other than a proper bike fit!

[Glow]

I was thinking the frame would be carbon, Ti or alloy haven't really struck my mind.

The surrounding gear, shoes etc is all good, the only equipment I lack is a powermeter. I have been to a bike fitter, see the attached picture for my fit. The frame is an 59. I am 188 cm and my inside leg length is 89 cm.

[dim]

if I had 6000 USD, I'd be looking at a used Trek Madone 9.0 with Di2 or Sram Red and use the change to buy some decent accesories such as a Garmin, good shoes etc etc ... a proper bike fit aswell as go on a good holiday abroad

That looks like anything other than a proper bike fit!

LOL .... it's not mine

[robeambro]

I started riding three seasons ago when I bought a Bianchi 928 HoC iasp which I'm still riding. I'm not currently racing but it's something I'm looking to get into soon. Time has come for me to buy another bike. There are so many brands and models on the market and I have a hard time narrowing it down. My budget ceiling is around 6000 USD/euro although I won't complain if the bike is less than that. I have a pair of 42 mm Reynolds rims if that factor into any decision. My local terrain is predominantly flat and hilly, no mountains sadly. The bike doesn't have to be full out aero but it needs to have aero in mind. I would prefer a more responsive bike with great handling over three watts saved from less aerodynamic drag. Do I go for mechanical or electronic shifting? Please help me narrow the market down and advice me on what bikes to look further into.

Thank you in advance for your help and time.

"The bike doesn't have to be full out aero but it needs to have aero in mind.": this screams for bikes like R5, Ultimate, Tarmac, New Izalco Max. Or you wait a little longer for the new SuperSix. They're all more or less designed for good handling and some aero - although each person may favour a different one.

That being said, whatever you buy will be decently aero if you get >45/50mm rims and an aero handlebar (and foremost, if you train/maintain your ability stay in an aero tuck for longer), frame helps but usually nowhere as much as these, and unless you prefer the looks, an aero frame is not really a "must have".

I'll tell you what I've done, since I've spent bang on that amount; this doesn't mean you should, but maybe you could find some inspiration.
I bought:

-Sworks Tarmac SL6 Disc frameset: this was purely for my ego. A lower level Tarmac Pro frameset would have probably been just as fine.

-Sworks Aerofly II handlebars: they looked neat and seem quite aero. They're not the best if you with to fit computers, lights, bells and whistles, but yeah. Do you feel the difference? Not really, but most studies show savings around a handful of watts and you don't really have that much of a weight penalty for it.. For me it's a no brainer.

-Ultegra Di2: I wanted electronic but genuinely this is really not something one must have. It surely is nice, but I would definitely keep this low in the pecking order. If you get everything else and there's still room for electronic, then it's worth it. But for example I wouldn't renounce to nice carbon deep-ish wheels to ride an electronic groupset on shallow alloy rims.. Probably in your budget you could fit either Ultegra Di2 or Dura Ace mechanical and telling you which to choose between these is a really hard task. But the good news is that neither will really affect your performance in a meaningful way, so it's a matter of personal preference.

- Farsports wheels 45mm deep, 28mm wide. Here I am a bit limited living in windy places, one could go slightly deeper, but generally the sweet spot is around 50mm. Go deeper and you get nasty side effects, especially when it comes to wind stability and/or some laziness when sprinting uphill (ie to bridge a gap). Again, This may or may not apply to you that much, so it's important that you consider your personal situation, but *usually* you can't go wrong with 45-50mm rims as an allround wheel. My wheels are also wide cause I wanted to be able to fit wider tyres without having them to balloon (which may affect aerodynamics and maybe cornering, but again, this may be taking things too seriously). Going for wheels like LightBycicle or Farsports is a great way to free up some of your budget.

- GP5000TL 25mm: I wanted to go tubeless cause I never tried, and the GP5000 are among the fastest tubeless tyres. Again, just like the handlebars, tyres are a very good bang for buck in terms of performance gains. You may get the most aero superbike, but if you then race with Gatorskins (ie super resistant tyres meant for harsh conditions) you are giving up quite some watts. Again, a no brainer for me, if you want to go fast, get fast tyres.

With this setup, I am making very little compromises, I have a bike that is quite fast and yet good for allround riding. I (very wrongly) like to call it a "Pareto equilibrium" of bikes, as in I can't really gain much in terms of pure raw performance without giving up quite some amounts of versatility or comfort (well, groupset aside, one could get DuraAce or Sram/Campy equivalent, but those didn't fit in the budget).