New bike fever - want something fast, Tiagra or 105, with rear rack mount

I am sick of my dog-slow steel Fuji Touring. I'd like to get a real
road bike, but still need to commute 7 miles. Anyone have any thoughts
on bikes to try?

Lots of times the commute is my most frequent ride. I squeeze in about
500-700 additional miles on weekends & charity rides.

I have $300 coming to me in gift cards for the LBS that sells
Cannondale and Specialized. So I'd rather try there first. (This is
the Twin Cities' Erik's chain.)

I test-rode the Specialized TriCross. I like the front & rear rack
mounts, matte paint job, saddle, and new Tiagra shifter design. I
didn't like the weight, and the ride wasn't a dramatic upgrade from my
Fuji. I haven't tried it with clipless pedals, but there wasn't much
of a "snap" to it.

They have no Specialized Allez. Does that have rack mounts?

I won't be carrying more than 50 - 75 lbs of cargo. Also, I probably
will never use a front rack, and will probably never do a loaded tour.

Opinions / reccomendations?

wrote:

They have no Specialized Allez. Does that have rack mounts?

Hey, a fellow heretic! I have an Allez, and it has a rear rack.


Bill


__o | Harry: How could a troll get in?
_`\(,_ | Ron: Not on its own. Trolls are really stupid.
(_)/ (_) |

On 2007-08-09, wrote:
I am sick of my dog-slow steel Fuji Touring. I'd like to get a real
road bike, but still need to commute 7 miles. Anyone have any thoughts
on bikes to try?

[...]

I test-rode the Specialized TriCross. I like the front & rear rack
mounts, matte paint job, saddle, and new Tiagra shifter design. I
didn't like the weight, and the ride wasn't a dramatic upgrade from my
Fuji. I haven't tried it with clipless pedals, but there wasn't much
of a "snap" to it.

They have no Specialized Allez. Does that have rack mounts?

It probably depends on the model. Looking at the pictures on
Specialized's websites, the all-aluminum base model clearly has eyelets
at the dropouts and near the top of the seatstays. The models with carbon
seatstays appear not to. If you want Tiagra/105 components you'll be
getting the Allez Elite which has carbon stays.

Since this bike will be a commuter, it's worth thinking about fenders
as well. I'm not sure if the Allez will take them or not. The model
from a couple of years back had pretty tight tire clearance.

If you strike out at the Specialized/Cannondale shop that you have a
gift certificate for, take a look at the Trek Pilot 1.2. It's somewhat
similar to the Allez Elite Triple but you give up the carbon seatstays
in return for rack mounts, fender clearance, and $100 or so in savings.

On 2007-08-09, wrote:

I won't be carrying more than 50 - 75 lbs of cargo. Also, I probably
will never use a front rack, and will probably never do a loaded tour.

Whoops. I skimmed over that part.

Depending on how solid those numbers are, you may need to reconsider
your options. Most inexpensive rear racks have a load limit around 50
lbs. If you need to carry more, you'll have to spend more. Also, even
at 50 lbs you might want longer chainstays than most sport bikes have,
especially if you climb steep hills.

On Aug 8, 10:34 pm, wrote:

I won't be carrying more than 50 - 75 lbs of cargo. Also, I probably
will never use a front rack, and will probably never do a loaded tour.

Opinions / reccomendations?

That's a lot of weight to add over the back wheel of a road bike, with
skinny tires and low spoke-count wheels.

It's also enough weight that, when carrying it, the difference between
a 20 pound road bike and a 30 pound touring bike won't mean much.

I'd keep the touring bike with its rack for use when doing a loaded
commute, and buy a road bike to use for those times when you don't
need the rack.

r

wrote:
I am sick of my dog-slow steel Fuji Touring. I'd like to get a real
road bike, but still need to commute 7 miles.


It's not about the bike. I lighter bike will not be noticeably faster
on the flats, and only a little faster climbing hills. Sounds to me
like the Fuji is appropriate for your kind of riding.


Lots of times the commute is my most frequent ride. I squeeze in about
500-700 additional miles on weekends & charity rides.


You might want to keep the Fuji for commuting, and get a more sporty
bike for the weekend/charity rides. But don't expect a huge difference

Art Harris

wrote in message
ups.com...
I am sick of my dog-slow steel Fuji Touring. I'd like to get a real
road bike, but still need to commute 7 miles. Anyone have any thoughts
on bikes to try?

Lots of times the commute is my most frequent ride. I squeeze in about
500-700 additional miles on weekends & charity rides.

I have $300 coming to me in gift cards for the LBS that sells
Cannondale and Specialized. So I'd rather try there first. (This is
the Twin Cities' Erik's chain.)

I test-rode the Specialized TriCross. I like the front & rear rack
mounts, matte paint job, saddle, and new Tiagra shifter design. I
didn't like the weight, and the ride wasn't a dramatic upgrade from my
Fuji. I haven't tried it with clipless pedals, but there wasn't much
of a "snap" to it.

They have no Specialized Allez. Does that have rack mounts?

I won't be carrying more than 50 - 75 lbs of cargo. Also, I probably
will never use a front rack, and will probably never do a loaded tour.

Opinions / reccomendations?


Hell, 50 - 75 lbs of cargo to me IS loaded touring! There is no way in hell
I'm putting that kind of extra weight on a "true" road bike.

On Aug 8, 11:13 pm, Steve Gravrock wrote:
On 2007-08-09, wrote:

I won't be carrying more than 50 - 75 lbs of cargo. Also, I probably
will never use a front rack, and will probably never do a loaded tour.

Whoops. I skimmed over that part.

Depending on how solid those numbers are, you may need to reconsider
your options. Most inexpensive rear racks have a load limit around 50
lbs. If you need to carry more, you'll have to spend more. Also, even
at 50 lbs you might want longer chainstays than most sport bikes have,
especially if you climb steep hills.

Maybe 50-75 is a bit much. Maybe 50 is a more accurate limit.

But no, I don't think I want a low spoke count, just to be safe.

It's also enough weight that, when carrying it, the difference between
a 20 pound road bike and a 30 pound touring bike won't mean much.

I'd keep the touring bike with its rack for use when doing a loaded
commute, and buy a road bike to use for those times when you don't
need the rack.

I agree that the weight won't make much of a difference.

Yet on 95% of my loaded commute rides, it's only about 20-25 max lbs
of clothes, etc. 50 lbs on a severely loaded day, which I can shift
over to my vintage Rockhopper mountain bike.

Since $$ is always a factor, I'd like to take the $300-350 from
selling the Touring and apply it to a faster bike overall.

So the Pilot looks like a contender if I can lose the $300 gift card
discount, or the base Allez if I can live with lower-end components.

How about anything from Cannondale?

In article ,
Steve Gravrock wrote:
On 2007-08-09, wrote:
I am sick of my dog-slow steel Fuji Touring. I'd like to get a real
road bike, but still need to commute 7 miles. Anyone have any thoughts
on bikes to try?


They have no Specialized Allez. Does that have rack mounts?

It probably depends on the model. Looking at the pictures on
Specialized's websites, the all-aluminum base model clearly has eyelets
at the dropouts and near the top of the seatstays. The models with carbon
seatstays appear not to. If you want Tiagra/105 components you'll be
getting the Allez Elite which has carbon stays.

I'd think it'd be impossible to tell from the images on
specialized's web site. Look for two small bolts on the aluminum part the
carbon seatstay fits into, and two more bolts where the carbon
seatstay attaches to the dropouts. That's the rack mounts for my
Sequoia Elite ( which appears to be no longer made ).

_ Booker C. Bense