"Jay Beattie" wrote in message
...
On Jan 1, 11:43 am, "Jean" wrote:
I'm looking to replace my old road bike with a carbon fiber model. My
criteria a women's specific design, comfy for all day riding, smooth
riding, light weight, Shimano 105 components, and preferably a triple
crank.

Via the web, I've checked out the specs and reviews for following bikes:
Cannondale (Synapse Fem 5), Felt (ZW5), Giant (Avail Advanced 2), Trek
(Madrone 3.1WSD), or Specialized (Ruby Elite Apex). I was hoping y'all
might
have some insights into these bikes so that I could minimize driving all
over the state (there are no local dealers for most of these brands) to do
the final fit check-out and test ride.

So here goes. Assuming equally good fit and tire size/psi - Do any of
these
bikes stand out as more smooth riding? Do any of these bikes stand out as
more comfy for all day long cruising? Does anyone have any idea how the
weights compare for the same size bike?

Thanks for any help trying to trim down my list of potential bikes.

BTW, Madone -- or as we say, MadOne. The Synapse has a reputation for
being soft. How you get a triangulated structure to be soft, I don't
know -- except laterally through the BB. Anyway, if I were buying a
bike, I would test ride it, even if it meant driving all over the
state. Do you know anyone who owns these bikes, and can you borrow
for a ride? All things equal, I would go for Specialized, Trek or
Cannondale because of the warranty and dealer network. All three are
manufacturing their mid-priced CF (or all their CF) in Taiwan, which
is not a bad thing since they have the process dialed in. -- Jay
Beattie.


I doubt the Synapse's "softness" would be noticeable to me (118 lbs, and old
enough to collect social security) - I'm not exactly a powerhouse ;-) .
Thanks for mentioning the value of the manufacturer having an extensive
dealer network, I had failed to factor that in.

Jean