Originally Posted by guachi

I just bought the SL5 six days ago. It's way more bike than I need, but I bought it anyway. I'm basically doing this to get fitter by riding outside instead of stationary bikes at the gym as well as to ride longer charity rides like Gran Fondos and Centuries (metric or imperial).

The Domane seemed like a good mix of speed and comfort. I've ridden three times so far with two of them 35 miles on a packed dirt path. It's very bumpy at speed but the isospeed in the seat really worked. My hands started to hurt after an hour, though it's probably because of bad form in addition to all the small bumps. The last 40 minutes of my ride today I did a much better job lightly holding the handlebars.

The seat was awful after the first two hour ride and then I did my bike fitting and bought new cycling shorts. One or both worked as my bum hurt less and I did less fidgeting in the seat.

For me, it's my first road bike in 30 years and my first bike of any kind in 15, though I've been using the stationary bike at the gym for six years.

I probably could have afforded the SL6, but I also had to include in my purchase other things like pedals, a light, helmet shoes. Eventually I'll get a power meter and a trainer. And I'd rather have all of those than the SL6.