wunderchicken

I'm in the market for a new bike but I'm not even sure what type I should be looking at. On the weekend, I ride around 25 miles in an outing on a combination of the road / smooth asphalt greenway / choppy asphalt greenway (tree roots busting it up) / hard packed dirt and tiny stones that can get muddy and choppy. I rarely ride on real gravel. I don't think a crazy road bike with carbon rims would like the kind of riding I do but maybe there is something in between?

tyrion

There are lots of kinds of "all road" bikes. I think the first questions to ask yourself are

1) What size of tires do you think you want? (I'm guessing 38-42mm)
2) What kind of riding position/handlebars do you like?
3) How important is speed/efficiency?
4) Need fenders?

There's such a nice wide spectrum of bikes available these days, the hard part is narrowing down that spectrum to the kinds bikes that are interesting to you.

Fastfingaz

Don't care what you say,,,,, you're gotta have more than one bike,,,, that's just the way it is....

BobbyG

What are you currently riding, and is there something it lacks, or something you wish it did better like speed, comfort or sturdiness?

wunderchicken

My current bike is a Trek Crossrip 2014:
700x35c tires
Shimano Claris STI 8 speed shifters
Shimano Claris front/rear derailleur
FSA Vero 50/39/30 Crank
SRAM PG-830 11-32 8 speed cassette
Shimano pd-m515 pedals
Shimano MD86 shoes

I am planning on a 2 bike system: a comutter and a "fun bike".

The Crossrip will be the commuter (it's got racks, fenders, etc). I'll eventually replace it with a Steel Specialized Sequioa or something like that.

It's the fun bike I need help with. I like to go fast and push myself. I've recently gotten a cadence sensor to go with my Garmin Edge 500 and have begun getting better at shifting and maintaining consistent pedaling.

My weekend rides are mostly greenway asphalt and road. Some of the greenway is hard packed dirt. My rides are about 15 - 25 miles. I could see myself joining group rides on the road in the future.

wunderchicken

1. I don't really know what kind of tires. I'm willing to sacrafice some comfort for speed but I really don't have a concept of how much 1mm will change comfort and efficiency.
2. I'll stick with drops.
3. Very important.
4. No fenders, no racks.

tyrion

Then I select for you the Niner RLT 9 RDO Carbon Gravel Bike.

one4smoke

I'd say any Endurance road bike. Specialized Roubaix, Trek Domane, Cannondale Synapse, etc..

MRT2

What bike are you riding now? What do you like and not like about it?

CliffordK

As I understand it, the quality of tire is related to speed.

So, look for tires that are more or less smooth down the center. The more TPI, and the more flex in the tire carcass the faster the tire.

So, look at tires like the Clement X'Plor USH 120 tpi, and some of the Compass tires.

However, you may end up sacrificing some longevity and durability over tires like the Marathon Plus tires.

wunderchicken

Trek Crossrip 2014.

The bike feels sluggish. I test rode a Specialized Diverge and that felt really responsive. When I hammered on it, I got up to speed with a lot less effort.

The group rides around here say they average 19 mph and so far on my Crossrip I'm getting around 16-17 mph. I realize I can continue to improve my fitness, shifting and riding but I'll tame some help from the bike too

wunderchicken

The reviewer said $9,000 and I stopped watching. I'm looking to spend in the $3k range.

mcours2006

Your Trek probably has 32 mm on it, with treads, so not good rolling tires for asphalt. Changing to 25 or 28 mm slicks might net you a 0.5-1.0 mph more on pavement. You want something similar to the Crossrip--to be able to ride different types of surfaces, but much lighter and stiffer. That's sort of what I'm hearing.

What is your budget?

Edit: Just saw your budget.

For $3k, there are a ton of options. Make a list of features you want on the bike--frame material and geometry, component level, type of braking, and max tire width, and take it to you LBS and see what they have that fits the bill. I'd want the bike to fit at least 28 mm tires if I'm riding anything other than smooth asphalt, btw.

DDzBike

My rides are similar to yours but more frequent than weekends.

I ride a Giant Anyroad Comax and am satisfied, It meets each of your 4 criteria and is within your budget.

I switched from 45mm to 32mm tires at the end of last season because I was not riding much on loose ground/gravel. Picked up a few mph average speed.

gif4445

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/me...=239509-129079

alcjphil

One thing to keep in mind is that a group can ride faster than an individual rider by sharing the workload. The riders in back can take advantage of the draft provided by the lead rider

gif4445

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/me...=239509-129079

On budget at $3000. Future shock and the cobbler gobbler seat post. Able to mount wider tires if you want. Comes with 38mm tires, but you can put some 28's on there to move a little faster. I'm getting mine tomorrow. I'll let you know what I think after my first 500 miles.

wunderchicken

I know I want 105 components and hydraulic brakes.

I don't really have my head wrapped around frame materials other than a very simplistic thought that carbon > alloy. When I tried a carbon bike, it also felt like it reacted better when I stood up and hammered. I really liked that so I'm leaning towards carbon but just within Specialized, they have all kinds of different levels. So I think all varbon is not created equal and I don't know what the tradeoffs are.

I also don't have a good grasp of what geometry I'd want. I know that geos that have my head lower are more aggressive and less comfortable. I THINK they might position me differently for pedaling or maybe they're just for better aerodynamics. The other aspect is a shorter wheelbase provides more manuverability. I'd guess the tradeoff is stability.

kingston 

It's your money, but that seems like an insanely high budget to ride 25 miles on mixed surfaces at 17mph on the weekend. I did that yesterday on an 81 trek that I'm into for less than $300.

Any of the current endurance disk road bikes on the market will satisfy all of your requirements. Fuji and Diamondback are probably the best value, then probably canyon, followed by all the other standard LBS brands.

mcours2006

If you are going to stick with Specialized, this is the answer:
https://www.specialized.com/ae/en/roubaix-comp/p/115635
Though it might exceed your budget slightly.

But taking a look at other makes, like Giant:
https://www.specialized.com/ae/en/roubaix-comp/p/115635
It's similarly spec'ed, but significantly less expensive, but also no shock absorbing tech on the handlebar

mcours2006

So, what? You'r saying that the price of your bike should be directly proportion to the distance that you ride? By that logic I should be riding a $8000 bike.

grayEZrider

Got to agree with these guys. And I think you're looking for an "endurance" bike. The positioning you refer to is all about aero, but an endurance road bike will give you better comfort and if set up right offer good drop positioning for short term aero-speeds as well. The Roubaix offers that and would be my first choice at that budget, but do yourself a favor and test ride/compare the Specialized Allez before deciding. You might be surprised how much the comparison will show you.

MRT2

I agree. I ride a steel bike with 9 speed drivetrain and cantilever brakes. I ride mostly paved roads, not always smooth, but also the occasional dirt or gravel road. I play around with tires and wheels. I switch to a semi knobby front tire on gravel, and a road tire on pavement. My bike is in the mid 20 lb range, so heavy by road bike standards. But for what I do, which is 25 to 50 mile rides 2 or 3 times per week, and occasional club rides I cannot justify spending a lot for a modest performance benefit. I get the subjective feeling of acceleration but I would challenge you to actually clock the difference over 30 miles and I would wager the performance difference would be extremely modest, like maybe a minute or two at most.

And, you can likely get most of that by changing out tires and/or wheels. IMO, you have plenty of room to improve your current bike. Better tires are an extremely modest investment. Wheels would be next. I know 8 speed seems pedestrian, but for 25 mile rides, honestly 11 speeds is overkill. Hydraulic discs are nice, but for what you are actually doing, mechanical discs or even rim brakes are likely all you really need.

That said, when it comes to bikes, it is often more about want than need.

kingston 

No. I'm not saying that there should be a linear relationship between distance ridden and how much someone spends on a bike.

What I am saying is that it doesn't take a very fancy bike to go for a 90 minute bike ride at a moderate pace once or twice a week, and I wouldn't spend three thousand of my own dollars on that when I can get a new 105 aluminum disk endurance bike for well under a thousand. In fact, I just bought one for my wife for under $700. If you want to spend $8,000 on your bike or the OP wants to spend $3,000 go right ahead. It's your money. I spend plenty of money on stuff I don't really need.

baldilocks

Have you considered the Giant AnyRoad Advanced? I bought a Giant almost a year ago and I really like it. (disclaimer-different bike. I don't like drop bars)

https://https://www.giant-bicycles.co...road/adventure