Why pay extra for Trek or Specialized?
 

Looking to get a new race geo bike and looking at the 105 equipped Giant TCR that is comparably equipped about $1000 less than the Trek Emonda sl5 or specialized tarmac sl6. What gives?? Is it just branding? Marketing? Would a noob like myself know the difference? Should I save the thousand and get nicer wheels down the line??

It may not be the case here, but in some cases Giant skimps on some components within the group set (I.e not everything is 105 on their 105 level bike). Some parts may be proprietary branded etc. that may not matter much but does impact cost.

Otherwise mostly marketing costs you are paying for. Trek is considered by many to be good on warranty claims too if you ever had one.

shock absorbers. Does Giant have them?

:foo:

Neither the Emonda nor the Tarmac have shock absorption.

I'm seeing a difference more in line with $400-500 - where are you seeing $1k?

There are minor differences in trim, but they're all nice bikes and I don't think that you could go wrong. As a vain person, though, I'd probably lean towards the Emonda because it's got more modern cable routing in the cockpit area and I'd rather not see all of the cables hangin' out in the wind.

Ideally you should ride them all and see how they feel. That's really more important than the minor differences between the bikes.

Somebody has to pay for the World Tour team sponsorships.

Which one fits better?

This is the first year since '97 that Giant isn't on the World Tour.

wut

stupid auto correct.

Against = Giant.

maybe I was rounding up in my head. But it was like $2300 for TCR and $3200 for the specialized

I should say, that lower end TCR comes with rim brakes and the trek and specialized carbon models are disc only. In Chicago where I live there is very little elevation. Very flat. And I don’t ride in the rain. So why pay more for a heavier disc tech? And hydraulic needs occasional bleeding. Ugh

I’m just thinking out loud before committing. I hope more options are available soon around here and I can ride a couple different bikes to see how they actually feel

That's a fairly significant omission and takes the comparison well out of the apples-to-apples range. Personally, I wouldn't have bought a rim brake bike five years ago, and certainty wouldn't now. I also find hydro to be less maintenance, on the balance, but it is a different set of tools and skills.

​​​​​If you're comfortable with rim brakes and don't anticipate wanting tires larger than 28mm, go for it.

Ive put 8000 miles on my cervelo and have yet had too bleed the brakes.

sounds like your mind is already made up, so not sure why you are asking strangers what you should buy.



Setting price aside, what you select might be based on what’s available and how patient you are. I recently bought a new bike and the process was a lot more complicated than just deciding on what I wanted and purchasing. I narrowed it down to 3 bikes and went with the one that I was able to get this year. Ons of my choices I wasn’t going to see until august next year.

good luck.

ah maybe you’re right. Thanks for putting things in perspective for me. I will hold off until I can ride a few options. Maybe another season and the pandemic shortages will ease up

When I was looking at Giant, Specialized and Trek for a new road bike I used the site 99spokes to compare my choices - I wanted what for a brief period of time was called an "endurance" bike. I also wanted disc brakes - for loaded touring and the hilly riding I do, at my weight rim brakes were always marginal especially in any rain.

I didn't see much difference in price (less than 10% difference) between those three brands for the same quality frame/wheels/groupset, where most of the dollars go. Hard to compare the frames or the wheels, though - all now using in house wheels and say very different things about their own carbon layup.

It came down to test riding all three - I ended up going with a Trek Domane on how the ride felt. Some of that feel could have been slight difference in geometry or frame material or the shock absorption - or it could have been me having 20 years of good experience on my Trek 520 touring bike and I was biased towards Trek. But, really didn't see much of a brand price premium on apples to apples comparison.

I think it's a pricepoint model tiering thing IMO. Trek SL6 -- whether it be Domane or Emonda will fall about the same price. Specialized "Sport" models whether Roubaix or Tarmac will be the same price. The shock technology adds some cost, but they aren't going to just lower the price of their Emonda and Tarmac lines as there'd be disharmony between the lineups.

Another season and the question of rim vs disc will probably be decided for you. Frankly, I was surprised to see that Giant was still offering a rim brake build (as opposed to offering only a frameset).

So having unique features on one model in the line-up means raising the price on other models in the line-up, effectively getting in to price competition with themselves, instead of with their competitors? Can't argue with that logic.

If you’re dying for rim brakes I have the perfect bike for you…

The way the bike fits should be the deciding factor. Most people are brand loyal, so don't get caught into that trap. All three brands you named are of good quality, and the models are all comparatively priced based on components. Although I favor rim brakes you may find that you like disc brakes. The additional stopping power in the rain is a bonus, however you stated you do not ride in the rain so it makes no difference to you. Rim or disc, get the bike that fits your body best.

Resale?

I'm thinking Giant might have a lower resale value..maybe that's just me, though probably not.

FOMO is real, and buying a rim brake bike you might regret, especially in 5 years if all that is sold are disc brake bikes.


If you are not affected by FOMO then disregard this message.

take a look at bike insights or geometry geeks. Compare the three bikes you like, the tarmac and the tcr will be more aggressive than the emonda. All three are more aggressive than an endurance bike.