I'm loosing sleep choosing a new bike

[Lewn777]

Love all the bikes you mentioned. We live in an age of a climate and obesity crisis, all bike purchases make the world better, it's just science.

Buy the bike you like best and ride it lots.

Would probably get minimum proopirtary parts, screw-in BB, mech 11 speed Shimano Ultrega bike with carbon or aluminum frame if I wanted best price/value.

[rjich]

I'd echo some of the comments here. I would try not to get caught up in all the aero and stat stuff. I'm no ww pro but well versed in cycling, hobbies and purchasing!

I think primary goal is buying the bike you like the look of, can afford, insure and try to get a bike fit that makes you want to enjoy riding. If you make a mistake then you may lose a lot of cash selling for the next bike. These things are costing a large portion of a deposit for a flat or similar big purchases which eventually might need to happen!

Non proprietary fittings are good if you intend on fiddling around with the bike or changing parts.

I hope to find the bike that gets you zooming!

[HotWireMyHeart]

Get the one that makes your heart flutter, doesn't matter if it's frame angles, features, weight or special paint. You'll love it and therefore ride it more.

[Rough]

I had a Time RXRS and it had the ISM which wasnt too bad as it was adjustable within a couple cm but it would not pack in my bike case which was irritating. The frame was 56 (Med) and that means it would require a specific bike case made for ISM. I am 183cm so I didnt have to cut much off the post and I was able to sell it no problem as the buyer was shorter leg length than myself. The other issue it presented was having no option for seat setback as it was at 20mm I think. It was a great bike and fit me well but I couldnt travel with it.
That being said purchase the bike that makes you want to ride it everytime you look at it but also keep fit in mind.

I'd echo some of the comments here. I would try not to get caught up in all the aero and stat stuff. I'm no ww pro but well versed in cycling, hobbies and purchasing!

I think primary goal is buying the bike you like the look of, can afford, insure and try to get a bike fit that makes you want to enjoy riding. If you make a mistake then you may lose a lot of cash selling for the next bike. These things are costing a large portion of a deposit for a flat or similar big purchases which eventually might need to happen!

Non proprietary fittings are good if you intend on fiddling around with the bike or changing parts.

I hope to find the bike that gets you zooming!

All the bikes listed are great.

I'd buy the one that when you look at it... it makes you say *damn*! I wanna go ride.

And get fitted to whatever you choose, since you're newish at the sport. With experience, you'll be able to do it yourself. And strap on a number and go racing to test yourself.

Get the one that makes your heart flutter, doesn't matter if it's frame angles, features, weight or special paint. You'll love it and therefore ride it more.

I was thinking a lot during these days (obviously) and Giant TCR just appeals to me more. Which is interesting as I always thought aero bike would fit my riding profile more as I'm stronger on the flats.

I just like the simplicity and the look of a TCR. I've also heard it's very stiff and I would love to have a very stiff bike. Stiff bike just feels so nice to ride.

Now I'm torn between:
2021 TCR advanced SL disc 1 with SRAM force AXS (with quark PM) 5900€
https://images.giant-bicycles.com/b_whi ... osNavy.jpg

2022 TCR advanced pro disc 0 with Ultegra Di2 12 speed (no power meter) 5000€
https://images.giant-bicycles.com/b_whi ... erGlow.jpg

I already have Favero Assioma PM but I could sell the pedals to make up some of the difference between the models.

I love the paintjob on the SL, I think it's one of the coolest looking bikes I've seen. The pro 0 paintjob is not bad though.

I think 12 speed ultegra is a better groupset but it comes with a "worse" frame (still a nice frameset).

Can anyone comment on Force AXS vs Ultegra Di2 12 speed? Is Sram Force a huge downgrade from a performance standpoint. I think the groupset looks fine but I've heard mixed things about it. Mainly front derailleur problems and slow chain/bad efficency compared to shimano?

[bobones]

I've got AXS on 3 bikes (Force on one) and the shifting is perfect. No problems at all with front shifting and it's plenty fast enough: in fact, no complaints at all. It's true that the DA chain is faster than the flattops, but the AXS chains are more durable, so unless you're chasing down every marginal gain, it's not really worth basing a bike choice on IMO.

I also have an 11-speed eTap bike where the front shifting was a little problematic with the SRAM chain and Red rings, but I fixed it with a KMC chain and Praxis rings. 11-speed eTap was notorius for randomly throwing the chain over the top on front shifts, but in my experience, AXS does not suffer from the same weakness at all.

I love the shifting logic of eTap, the AXS gear ratios, its simplicity with zero cables to get water logged, and having 2 batteries gives you a failover option should you let one run flat (should never happen though). SRAM is also much easier for firmware updates and the smartphone app is pretty decent. I have riding buddies who abandoned Di2 and went back to mechanical due to problems with cabling and batteries that just cannot happen with SRAM. SRAM doesn't have a repuation for broken cranks either.

IMO you will love AXS, so get the top bike with the paint job you love, which is the Advanced SL 0! I recently built up a 6.5kg rim brake SL and it is a stunning bike to ride: the comfort, stability and stiffness are just exceptional. The 2021+ TCR does have some aero tweaks, so it's not a total slouch aero-wise. With narrow, flat aero bars, it won't be far behind the best aero bikes in tests, and with a stiffness to weight ratio at the very top of the class, it's one of the best all rounders out there.

[Rough]

IMO you will love AXS, so get the top bike with the paint job you love, which is the Advanced SL 0! I recently built up a 6.5kg rim brake SL and it is a stunning bike to ride: the comfort, stability and stiffness are just exceptional. The 2021+ TCR does have some aero tweaks, so it's not a total slouch aero-wise. With narrow, flat aero bars, it won't be far behind the best aero bikes in tests, and with a stiffness to weight ratio at the very top of the class, it's one of the best all rounders out there.

That's why the TCR came out on top. It has huge downtube and is I have no doubt it is very stiff and responsive. In the end it really matters how the bike feels to ride and I think TCR is one of the best in that regard.

I'm going to put 36cm aerobars (huge choice for a non integarted cocpit on TCR) on it and huge downtube shields the bottles well so in real world aero difference is probably quite small.

When you cut the ISP, do you cut it exactly to size or do you cut it a bit more so you put shims into the clamp which allow the fine tuning of the saddle position (fore - aft position and such). I know I can measure my current position but replication it on a new bike will feel different.

If I switch to shorter cranks in the future (probably not) there should still be some wiggle room right? or if I move my saddle 10mm forward for example (this means I have to move it up 2-4mm...)?

[bobones]

I almost got away without cutting my ISP at all! In the end I cut it at the 1 cm mark and have been using the thinnest shim, which is therefore the lowest postion it will go. There are a variety of shims supplied to increase the height so it makes sense to cut it at the point you won't want to go lower. There is also a longer (and heavier) seat topper to give even more height should you need to sell it on. I was worried about the ISP too at first, but now that it's cut, it looks great, the seatpost is never going to slip, and it helps keep the overall weight down. If you want to travel with the bike, there are bike boxes available that will work fine.