Both UFO and 604CEFIRO hit the nail on the head here. Totally depends on the kind of person you are. If you're a gear whore, bike geek, you'll probably want to spend as much as you feel comfortable with.
If you're not then there's less of point spending on new fangled trends like road discs, etc.
I rode my first road bike - sora equipped - for 20,000 clicks before I upgraded (and it was just my chainrings were toast). This is commuting almost every day year round, racing in the spring and summer, over 200k rando-type rides. I don't care too much about my gear, I just want it to work. And it did.
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Originally Posted by UFO
When I was riding road, I hated and never rode in the wet, total fair weather rider. No point in discs for my situation. The other thing with road bikes is braking power will ultimately be determined by traction provided by the skinny tires, and regular caliper brakes have shown to be quite adequate at providing the stopping force to the brake in most conventional situations.
As to whether to splurge big now or upgrade as you go along, really depends on the type of person you are. If you are a gearwhore/junkie and like to have fancy toys, better to spend the money up front. Otherwise you will spend way more down the road upgrading parts or selling your current bike at a loss and getting a nicer one. If you are one to be content and will enjoy the ride and experience more than the gear, 11spd 105 is very good, and exceptional for the money, and should give you no reason to want to upgrade from a functional point of view.
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Originally Posted by 604CEFIRO
A piece of advice that I wish someone told me when I got into road bikes... Spend as much as you can comfortably afford on your bike, and then worry about the rest as you go. Your main piece of equipment is your bike, and EVERYONE at some time or another will experience a case of "new'itis" ... wanting the newest / hottest shit lol. So you may as well buy a bike that you will be happy with. And being happy with it usually means the looks, because let's face it, road cycling is like 80% about looking cool hahahaha.
SRAM vs. Shimano... It's all personal preference. I prefer SRAM for it's doubletap levers and the indexing is a crisper feeling for me. I like the quickness and feedback, almost like driving a manual transmission. Also the levers feel better with my small hands. Shimano feels almost too smooth if that makes any sense. Hydro disk vs rim brakes, again depends on riding needs.
Go into the bike store ride and ask plenty of questions. No one here will be able to give you a clear cut answer  |
Sneaky sneaky, I almost didn't realize you were on my tail at that point
. Stupid crash and stupid me for hesitating for that split second after.
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Originally Posted by 604CEFIRO
Video from this past saturday's escape velocity spring series race out at Thunderbird Show Park
There's a crash that happens at 2min36 that held dton13 and I back from catching onto the lead group, we both finish just outside of the top 10 
dton13 is the one I latched onto during the final drag up to the line
https://www.youtube.com/v/7nzGagcomt...ion=3&vq=hd720 |