Originally Posted by
BTinNYC
Ah, I meant the lack of adjustment options, short of total replacement. I like the fit of my IBs now, but to raise or shorten the reach will require changing to separate stem and bars. I'm at the age where lowering bars is doubtful, as is my buddy. He wants to buy a high end endurance style bike with CF wheels and from what we've seen so far, this level seems to be specified with integrated bars.
I admittedly dont keep up on the most recent changes to every brand, but there is definitely a way to get around this issue- buy the bike with aluminum wheels and buy some carbon wheels after.
Obviously what qualifies as 'endurance' varies for user to user and brand to brand. Endurance bikes have a wide range of geometry. But if a Cervelo Caledonia's geometry fits your friend, it would definitely qualify as 'high end' while being pretty simple to change things.
https://www.cervelo.com/en-US/bikes/caledonia - 12sp Ultegra DI2 with round seatpost, traditional handlebar and stem, and cable routing that is external and then runs thru the down tube. $5500 for the bike.
https://btlos.com/cx-gravel/gravel-h...arbon-wheelset - Then buy some BTLOS carbon wheels. WGX40A are Asymmetric, 40mm deep, 29mm wide external, come as hooked or hookless(so you can obviously get hooked and not have to worry), and you can get them with or without logos, without spoke holes in the rim bed so tubeless is easy(if you want that), and you can note when you order that drain holes be added. You get to choose from multiple hubs, spokes, nipples, and rim appearance(matte, gloss, weave). 24h rims in the premium series, DT240 hubs with 11spfreehub(fits Shimano 12) and Pillar Aero spokes- 3.5 year warranty, 1423g and $998 and they often do free shipping.
If you do the same spec but with Bitex 312 hubs instead of DT240, then you get 1447g wheels for $717.
Wild card suggestion- Fairlight Strael. Go down the rabbit hole and read about it in the links below as well as web reviews, long term reviews, and youtube reviews. Its an incredibly designed frame, the attention to detail and thought is top notch. There are a ton of sizes to choose from since they are made in R and T sizes, and you can then spec it exactly how you want for the final build(they will build it or your buddy can just buy what he wants for it and build it/pay for it to be built. An
Ultegra R9020 Hydraulic Disc groupset is $663 right now. And the
Ultegra R8170 Di2 12 speed is $1550 right now. Both could be cobbled together for less from random places. Anyways, either of those groups with the 40mm wheels for $717 and the cockpit of choice for $200-400 would be a really killer high end endurance road bike.
https://fairlightcycles.com/product/strael3-deposit/
https://fairlightcycles.com/strael-c...-design-notes/