pkazmierczak

Hi all,

I've been riding bikes for a very long time, but I never had a proper road bike. Back in high school/college I used to ride anything that had wheels, frame and a handlebar. Now that I have a proper job, I'd like a proper bike.

I live in Norway, and my budget is around 10000 nok (about $1800 or €1270). For this price, I can get the following bikes:
- Kona Zing Deluxe -- I already have a Kona Jake which I use for my daily commute, and I'm very happy with it. Thing is, though, Kona isn't known for making road bicycles, and I'm suspicious over its price (9000 nok), given Ultegra rear derailleur and 105 groupset.
- Trek 2.1 -- it's ugly like hell, but seems ok apart from that
- Cannondale CAAD 8 105 -- the guy in the shop told me the frame is great, and from what I heard about Cannondale he's probably right. Plus, it's pretty (the bike, not the guy).
- Specialized Allez Compact 105 -- this one is a bit too expensive (12000), but I could probably extend my budget. I don't know if it's worth additional 2000 nok though, because the only difference between this Specialized and CAAD 8 is the frame. Is Allez frame much better than CAAD 8?

Apart from that I could probably look at Merida and Focus, but I haven't visited the shop that has these. Other brands available in my town are Pinarello and Cervelo, but that's out of my range (the cheapest models start at about 20000 nok).

So I guess it all boils to which frame is better, and I don't know anything about frames.

Any advice is very welcome

B. Realization

One other route you may want to consider is buying a year or two old frame and building the bike up with components you select. This of course won't satisfy your need to have a bike right away but you may be able to get more bike for your money. On one of my builds I bought the frame and fork from the LBS (a two year old Cervelo) and then sourced all the other parts from EBay.

531phile 

From the things you listed, I'd get the Cannondale. Most likely within your budget and from what I hear a great riding bike. I'd imagine you could find a nice used Principia being you live in Norway? Wouldn't bikes like these be plentiful in your country?

pkazmierczak

@B. Realization: might be a good idea, but not for me. I'm a terrible mechanic and I don't really have a garage or any other place I could comfortably work on my bike.

@531phile: haven't seen any Principia bikes here. Perhaps they're sold in Oslo or somewhere closer to the Danish border

catonec 

frame choice is all about the materials used and the angles of the tubes. try riding a few at the local bike shop to get a feel for what your after. buy the frame you want based on those two parameters knowing that you can always change out the components if your not happy w/them. and yes cannondale makes sweet riding frames. top notch aluminium, but Im a sucker for the ride of carbon.