Originally Posted by
wiscobadger
That's kind of what I'm thinking too as far as the brakes. Now I do have an older Trek 4700 from when I was in high school. I was considering bringing that down to Madison to see how much I ride, then go from there.
My knowns at this point are:
1. It felt great getting back on a bike and I want to make this my thing
2. Definitely prefer the 56 over the 58 even though I could go either way on size
3. Flat bars felt better, but drop downs seem like a nice option to have if I get really into biking
Based on what you're saying, maybe the Domane AL3 or Checkpoint AL3 would be ideal?
I would recommend sticking to rim brakes unless you are willing to stretch your budget to a drop-bar bike with hydraulic disc brakes. The lowest tier that has hydraulics is Tiagra ($1500 or so for Trek). Disc brakes are really nice because they allow you to run tires that measure more than 32mm or so. The Checkpoint, for example, comes stock with a 38mm tire.
However, it’s not worth it to go with a mechanical disc brake bike for that reason - the braking power on mechanical discs are seriously compromised compared to hydraulic discs and rim brakes. Some people might disagree on whether all that power is 100% necessary, but if you’re going to be riding hard, especially in a group, then having good brakes is a good idea.
Drop bars are a must for group riding and descending, imo. And group riding is the most fun part of road biking.
Shimano very recently announced a really good update to the tiagra hydraulic brake/shifters. The RS405 is ugly and doesn’t have great internals compared to even Tiagra 4700 levers (from what I’ve gathered). The upcoming ST-4720 is similar to the higher end 105, and much better looking. If you want disc brakes, I think your best bet would be to hold out until those 4720 levers become available on bikes (which, unfortunately, will be later than June 2019). Or to go used.