Spoonrobot 

Higher end race bikes with discs aren't selling very well.

jordanair45

My god.

I just got my Podium disc for $1345. This price is a STEAL.

Honest to say, it is the BEST bike I've ridden. I LOVE it. For the price, you cannot beat it. I'm so surprised these aren't more popular. Tour proven bikes, also.

The vitesse disc ultegra is a damn steal with those wheels, groupset, and carbon seatpost.

Lazyass

Yeah, right now with all the discounts the Vitesse is like $1400. Did you get the E'tape? I'm curious how well the RS505 brakes are. If they end up being squealers I'll be PO'd.

Oh, and one more question. Is the seat tube length shown in the geometry chart measured to the center or the top? Not that it matters, my bike will be here Monday but I'm just curious.

jordanair45

I did get the E'Tape because at the time it was a $600 difference between the two (E'tape vs Vitesse), but with the current sale, it's only a $400 difference, which is a no brainer at that price point to spend $400 more for the ultegra, carbon seatpost, and the ardennes wheelset.

I've had both the Ultegra and 105 hydro brakes/shifters.....Ultegra is more responsive, more of a feather touch to get them to stop, and the shifters seem less bulky, but the 105 does the job and is pretty dammed good, the shifters just seem bigger and more "clunky". It could also be because my cannodale and my DB were not set up the same (lever reach, brake initiation point).

I don't think you need the brakes THAT good on a disc bike, but it does help. 105 is more than enough. Dammed good brakes.

Squealers? both my Ultegra and 105 Squeaked, mainly because the rotors get dirty and when you brake the dirt can sometimes carve out a "record" pattern in the rotor. Just clean the disc once in a while and pads and you're good. It's pretty rare, only when you use them a lot do they make noise. I ride with music on, so it doesn't bother me.

Did you order one? you will LOVE this bike. Don't know how the seat tube is measured, sorry.

Lazyass

Yeah I ordered one, fedex is supposed to have it here Monday. I don't expect the brakes to be dead silent all the time, as long as I don't get an ear piercing squeal everything I hit them.

These bikes look great, but it's weird that DB doesn't have much technological info on them. I mean, what exactly is a "DB AMMP+ Carbon Technology" frame? How is it designed and made? I don't know, there's nothing on the web site. Looking at the bike weights that I see are now gone, it seems the frame are super light. But you can't really find out anything about them. You can go on Trek's site and learn everything there is to know about the Emonda frameset. If DB wants to get more popular they should start putting out information like that. Even Bikes Direct has more information on their Motobecane frames than DB does.

jordanair45

Agreed, but they ride great. I mean, they race them in the tour of CA.

My disc E'Tape is 18-18.4lbs stock with no pedals and the 2 included bottle holders. My hi mod disc ultegra is 17.3lbs for comparison, with $800 hollowgram cranks, so, not too shabby. The stock E'Tape w/o disc has a claimed weight of 16.4lbs

Not that it means anything, but everytime I ride this bike, I get a PR on strava . No, I'm not joking. lol

Lazyass

18lbs for a 105 disc bike is pretty good. I prefer tubulars and am already planning a set to build up with HED Belgium alu tubular rims and those will drop some weight. Most bikes I've had are steel, my newest bike is an aluminum 2011 Focus with Ultegra 6700. So I'm really curious how a bike like this will feel, it just looks fast.

The Podium Equipe has the same frameset and weighs 15.2 lbs

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WhyFi

The DB claimed weights are messed up, or at least they were when I was shopping them. They had the 105-level disc bike coming in about a half pound lighter than the same frame with Ultegra-level hardware and lighter wheels.

As far as the brakes squealing - if there's debris and/or it's wet, they're going to make noise. On really wet rides, my brakes sometimes sound like a dual-tone car horn.

jordanair45

The frame can fit 28mm tires.

The flanders wheelset is excellent and they are really light. I did not weigh them, but if you want to save weight on this bike, it's going to be with the components. Wheels to. I reckon the Vitesse maybe comes in at 1lb lighter. If I had to guess.

Are the ardennes and ultegra worth the extra $ ? hell yes. Ultegra, ardennes, can't go wrong. Ultegra is the best bang for buck you can get, and the ardennes are stiff wheels for climbing. I had a set. I would get them if I was going to do a lot of climbing, but even then, the extra $400 you can't complain about getting ultegra and good wheels.

Granted, I got the 105 because I spent the extra $ on carbon wheels. I did swap out the RD for ultegra and cassette is also ultegra, but I already had those. I got the 105 because I liked the red/black color better

I have no ideas what my measurements are. I'd say 5'10.5" with no shoes, 30" inseam, long reach. I'm on a 56cm and I would argue that DB's size guidance is on point. Have a bad back so shortened the stem to 90mm and 25 degrees from stock.

Here's a couple pics of mine I took when I first got it.

Also had emonda and cadd. This bike is awesome. I am not going di2 yet, because I'm waiting for the tech to get better. As you know, it always gets better and cheaper.

jordanair45

It's fast, instant response when you turn the pedals. It's a SMOOTH ride, but when descending, you get feedback, but it's not harsh. Very nice frameset. This is a new frame. I had a 2015 Vitesse and hated that bike. Super harsh. This bike is miles better. 18lb disc brake 105, yup, that is impressive. You can't touch these specs in this price range, which is why I got it. It was hard to believe the value to spec cost on paper and one night, I ordered one (YOLO) because DB has a good return policy. Needless to say, was blown away, will probably stick with DB from now on. Although, I still have a specialized itch that needs to be scratched

Greatestalltime

Lazyass

I would have bought the Ultegra bike, but for one it didn't matter to me about difference in wheels because I knew I would be ditching them for tubulars anyway. And the Vitesse has 6800 which is already outdated with the R8000 groups out. So maybe in a year or two I'll upgrade to the most current group, try to get it on a black Friday sale or something..

Lazyass

I also bought a 56, and honestly it almost looks like an endurance bike to me. Most racing bikes I've had have had a head tube of maybe 140mm or shorter and I don't think I've ever had one that would fit a 28mm tire. My Focus has a 130mm HT. The DB has a tall one and a high stack height which is good, I doubt I'll need many spacers if any. But DB needs to fix their geometry charts. It shows the E'Tape with a 165mm HT and the Vitesse as 155mm. I can't tell what yours is.

Matter of fact, I compared the geometry charts between the two models again and they're both totally different. Top tube, seat tube, reach, stack, wheelbase, chainstay.... everything is different. I really have no clue what the geometry of mine will be. What the hell I wish I had noticed that before. Your bike almost looks too big for me, that's a tall seat tube for a 56. If it's 55 C-C I'll have to return it.

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Lazyass

Yeah the Vitesse and Vitesse Di2 have the same geo charts. The E'tape Disc and top of the line Equipe are both the same. So what I get is a roll of the dice. I just sent DB an email bringing it to their attention, not that it will help me at this point.

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Lazyass

Got my 56cm a couple of hours ago. Just finished getting it together, going to do a test ride in a little bit.

The ST is 55 C-T, and 51 C-C. The HT is 155cm, not including that little plastic spacer thing on top of it. If you include that it's about 165. Hard to measure the effective TT, but it looks to be right at 56, maybe a hair shorter. The wheelbase is almost exactly 970mm. The chainstay looks to be at 405.

The 25mm tires measure exactly 28mm in these Flanders rims with my calipers. I believe a 32 would actually fit fine. Matter of fact I know it would, there's plenty of space left over. If you bought a 28mm tire it might measure 32 on these wheels.

So both geo charts are jacked up, especially the wheelbase. But if anything it's closer to the Vitesse one. But I'm good, this bike fits me perfect. For less than $1200 this is bad ass. The tune was already perfect and it was the best packing job I've ever seen.

Mindcrime

I have a Podium Equipe Dura Ace Disc, got it for my bday earlier this year. It's RED. VERY RED. And thus, it is also VERY FAST!

In all seriousness, I got it for around 3k, for a himod frame, dura ace, and hed jet wheels. It's a fantastic bike, and comparable to bikes that run a couple grand more.

Also... RED.

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Lazyass

The standover for mine is correct in the E'tape chart.

Lazyass

Took it out for about an hour and this is a killer bike. Comfort-wise it almost feels like an endurance bike. But it handles, sprints and climbs like a pure race bike. The brakes didn't make a squeak and no rotor rub. Spent half the ride trying to track down a rattle and it was the rear brake hose hitting inside the downtube so I just had to pull it tight. I put in a shorter stem so I'll have to shorten everything anyway. I'm glad I got a 56 over a 54 because with the tallish stack height I have a 1 3/4in saddle to bar drop without flipping the stem.

GuitarBob

Good looking bike and seems like a terrific deal. Congrats!

MSignore

bike looks great. what is your height/inseam? Need to order one of these podiums today as i just sold my other bike! Still can't decide what model though