Golfster

Why not go Allez instead, and use the difference in money for extra goodies?

thirdgenbird

If we are not answering the question asked, I would say the same thing. If I were in the market for a new bike I would build an Allez wth the best campy (or watever you prefer) group I could afford.

Nick Bain

any is better than that shram crap

Ghost Ryder

If you work @ a Spech dealer, & can get components cheap, why not just buy the frameset, & build it up with the parts you want?

cks

I would move mountains to be comfortable on a bike.

A more comfortable/better fitting seat post + $400 in your pocket: win/win.

Congratulations on your new bike.

revchuck 

If you've got your seat position dialed in and feel a bit stretched out, get a shorter stem, don't move the seat.

And since the suggestion has already been thrown out there by someone else - I'd rather have an Allez E5 frameset with Ultegra and good wheels than the Tarmac with lower end stuff. Oh, wait...I do have an Allez E5 frameset (2011) with Ultegra and good wheels. That's the bike I have the PowerTap on, and it's getting about 90% of my miles this year.

brundle_fly

105 is shinier and has a smoother finish if that means much,Tiagra has may sora parts too like a steel inner chainring,even my old 5600 from 2007 is better.Depend what you can afford.I thought the older 4500 tiagra was better than the new 4600 personally

JustinNY

The new 105 (5700) is fantastic. I cannot imagine that DA or ultegra offer anything but a small weight savings over this group. It is a great value component set that you'll be happy with for a long time.

ddeadserious

I've ridden the Allez and I'm just not a fan of how aluminum rides. I had a Leader Kagero and it just had too much road buzz. It was my second aluminum bike and there's just something about the way aluminum rides that I don't care for. I rode the Tarmac and knew it was what I wanted - fairly cushy ride but still stiff and not too aggressive, but not relaxed either. eBay won't be releasing my funds until the beginning of August, so I have until then to debate which model I want.

Re building a bike from scratch: Even at my pricing, any of the available Tarmac framesets are more expensive than any of the complete ones. I've considered building an Allez from scratch, but honestly, I can't stand white bikes. I know it sounds silly, but I don't want to build up a super nice bike and not have it look the way I want aesthetically. I'd love to get one of the anodized matte/gloss black CAAD10's and build it up, but it would end up way out of my price range after parts.

Still on the fence, just trying to keep in mind that IF I go with the Tiagra model, upgrading the derailleurs and shifters would not set me back much if I found it necessary.

contango 

I'm often puzzled by the folks who have endless trouble even with low-end components.

My Tricross has Tiagra shifters and a Deore RD (which I gather is pretty much entry level) and it works fine. I had to adjust it when I swapped out the cassette but gather that's to be expected. Aside from that it's done me a few thousand miles without issues let alone endless issues.

A friend of mine has a Ridgeback commuter bike with Sora parts and found that as long as he gives it an occasional tweak (every several months or so) it works just fine without any issues.

I'm tempted to upgrade my Tiagra shifters to 105 simply to lose the cables coming out of the sides but don't know that I want to go to 10-speed or that I want to lose the gear indicators on my hoods.

bonz50

if there's only a $300 difference between them I'd go for the 105 bike. on the Spesh website the tiagra and 105 bike have an msrp difference of $1300, obviously since you work at a dealer you're gonna get significantly better pricing, but still, that's a huge gap. which kind tells me the 105 bike is the FAR FAR better deal at your pricing. to me this seems like a no-brainer. though I would caveat that by saying since you admittedly are a bit of a mod-junkie, the tiagra bike might be the better starting point.

still trying to figure out which color you're talkin about with the 105 bike, maybe a leftover '11 model, since the 105 Tarmac Comp is shown on the site as White/Blue only?? the apex and tiagra bikes look the same though.

ddeadserious

For some reason, they don't have the Tarmac page set up by price like the rest of the pages. It's the Tarmac Elite Mid Compact, up one and right one from the one you're referring to.


Re pricing: I'm getting an excellent deal on either bike I go with, but when I added taxes and shipping into it, it pushes the 105 model out of my price range for the forseeable future, I'd probably not be able to afford it until mid-end August, and I'm not sure I want to lose a month of riding. I bought my first fixed gear at the end of last August and hated how little time I had to ride it before it got wintery out.

bonz50

gotcha, at this point why don't you wait a bit and see what the '13 models have in store??

ddeadserious

When do you suspect they'll release their full 2013 line?

bonz50

they've already got some early release stuff on their site, nothing on tarmcs yet though, just the spy pics on bikerumor.com

Juan Foote

You mentioned yourself that EBay isn't releasing funds until August.
Check the price on those brifters that you mention being so "inexpensive" before you decide. The $400 difference you mention won't cover the new group, much less the other parts you have talked about replacing.

Ultimately, and either way, enjoy the process and your new bike.

ddeadserious

punkncat, you're right. I'm really surprised with how much shifters cost, even with a significant shop discount.

Got a peek at some of the 2013 Tarmac today. I'm not interested in the base model(has some Sora stuff IIRC) for 2013, but the 2013 105 model is a bit cheaper and I really like the finish. Decisions decisions...

So it's down to the 2012 Tiagra or 2013 105 and I'm still unsure.

manutd

if you're planning on upgrading to 105 later then you should just go for the 105 now....it will save you money in the long run

Larry Nigro

Hello
I have the Shimano Tiagra on my 2012 Roubaix. Very smooth shifting. I rode bikes with the SRAM double tap.
Like the Tiagra better.

ddeadserious

I'm not really planning on upgrading to 105 later, only if I find it necessary, and with what I heard about the new Tiagra, I don't really think it will be. If I buy the Tiagra and decide to upgrade, I'd probably upgrade to 105 shifters with Ultegra derailleurs, and a nicer crank.

TnDiamondback

NEUVATIONs, M28 AEROs are excellent wheels under $300.00

Ghost Ryder

+1
One of my friends rides a TCR Advance with 105, & its great the way it is.
You'll be happier with the 105 in the long run. Ride the 105's until they break, & let the mod bug take over.
I prefer my 2008 105 over my 2011 Tiagra, the ampount of tweaking I have to do to the Tiagra kills it for me.
I've never had to tweak my 105(knocks on wood), & it feels a lot smoother to me.

thirdgenbird

Yes, but they are not a worthwhile upgrade to the existing wheels.

Germanicus

Can't speak to the virtues of the 105, but my 2008 Tiagra is still running flawlessly with no tweaking whatsoever and I probably have about 8000 miles on it. Tiagra is a workhorse gruppo and very smooth. I should mention however that before this I was using an old Altus equipped bike so any modern gruppo is great by comparison.

ddeadserious

Found the 2013 Tarmac models here: https://www.specializedconceptstore.c...KTarmac/Tarmac

"Sport" Model with 105/Gossamer:


They put the wheels that are on the 2012 Tiagra model(DT Axis 2.0), put some "Axis" brakes, partially black 105 components, and gave it a glossy clear coat instead of matte(I'd prefer the matte). It's a step down from this year's "equivalent" model, but they also lowered the price a bit.

I think I'm going to go with the 2012 Tiagra model if it's still available when eBay releases my money(low stock already), and if not, I'll try to get a better deal on the 2012 105 model, and last resort will probably be the 2013 105 model. The base Tarmac for 2013 isn't even Tiagra, it's Sora - not gonna happen.