# Should I buy a new bike?



## lfcorrea (Oct 28, 2011)

Just looking for some encouragement or maybe opinions against my thought process...

I am currently riding a 2011 Felt Z85, I have only put about 400-500 miles on it since I purchased it. I am currently riding 60-100 miles a week depending on my schedule. I really regret not getting a Carbon frame from the get go.
MY LBS has a sale this weekend and I was looking at the following bikes:

1. Specialized Tarmac Comp: $2805
2. Specialized Tarmac SL3 Expert: $3315
3. Specialized Tarmac SL4 Pro SRAM Red: $4505

I think I am leaning toward the SL3... Any opinions?


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## tihsepa (Nov 27, 2008)

Yes..


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## bwbishop (Sep 17, 2011)

Why not another Felt, like an F4 or F2? Just curious why you're switching to Specialized...

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

lfcorrea said:


> Just looking for some encouragement or maybe opinions against my thought process...
> 
> I am currently riding a 2011 Felt Z85, I have only put about 400-500 miles on it since I purchased it. I am currently riding 60-100 miles a week depending on my schedule. I really regret not getting a Carbon frame from the get go.
> MY LBS has a sale this weekend and I was looking at the following bikes:
> ...


Is that the SL4 Pro at that price? Or the SL3? 

I have the SL3 Pro and it is a fabulous bike. I went with that for $4100 over the Expert because I preferred the Red to the Ultegra and well the Expert at the shop did not look as good (yellow/black) IMO. 

I went up from a Secteur after about 1800 miles. Originally thought it was for carbon but after testing bikes it was more the geometry. The racier fit of the Tarmac and Super Six I tested were better than the Roubaix, RS, Synapse and Madone. For me anyway. 

What I found after testing the RS first was that it was better, but not that different. Same with the Synapse and Roubaix. The Super Six felt great. The Tarmac was amazing. The Madone hit a nice middle ground, racy but very stable.

Test them. If the difference is worth it to you. Go for it. They all sound like great buys (esp. if the Pro is an SL4).


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## lfcorrea (Oct 28, 2011)

Good question...

I did look into the Felt at a different LBS, they did not have many in stock and they have no special going on. I did test ride a Z4 and Z6 before, so I know how those ride.
I test rode the Tarmac yesterday and felt like it's a better bike overall, at least it fits ME better. I really do like Felts though...


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## lfcorrea (Oct 28, 2011)

NJBiker72 said:


> Is that the SL4 Pro at that price? Or the SL3?
> 
> .


Definitely an SL4, internal cable routing, full SRAM Red, except for brakes (Force), quoted at $5300 with the 15% off comes out to that...
REALLY tempting.


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

lfcorrea said:


> Definitely an SL4, internal cable routing, full SRAM Red, except for brakes (Force), quoted at $5300 with the 15% off comes out to that...
> REALLY tempting.


I would do the SL4. I love the SL3 and don't think it can be that big of a difference but I really like the internal cable routing and you are getting the state of the art frame. Not to mention the upgrade in groupset. You will really like the Red shifting, might take a ride or two to really get used to it.


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## TWB8s (Sep 18, 2003)

Sure, why not? I'd get the SL3 with Ultegra.


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## rwgunn3 (Nov 19, 2011)

twb8s said:


> sure, why not?



n+1


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

Whatever you get make sure it fits.
fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit 
fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit 
fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit 
fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit 
fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit 
There, I just wanted to save PJ352 the trouble.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

Mr. Versatile said:


> Whatever you get make sure it fits.
> fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit
> fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit
> fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit fit
> ...


...and I thank you for that, Mr. V.!! :thumbsup:


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## Newnan3 (Jul 8, 2011)

What dont you like about the Felt??


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## cycmike (May 12, 2011)

As long as you are riding a new bike and don't _need_ a new one, just keep riding the Z85 until you _know_ which bike you want for an upgrade.

I know. Not a fun answer.


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## Digger51 (May 12, 2006)

lso, you could get a used Pinarello Prince on Ebay for that kind of money.


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## BeginnerCycling (Jun 4, 2011)

I looked back at the OP's other posts -- is this the bike you commute on? Will you be keeping the Felt if you buy one of those Specialized bikes?


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## lfcorrea (Oct 28, 2011)

cycmike said:


> As long as you are riding a new bike and don't _need_ a new one, just keep riding the Z85 until you _know_ which bike you want for an upgrade.
> 
> I know. Not a fun answer.


I think you are right, the Tarmac just fit me so well when I rode it though, which is why I am so tempted. I was strong enough not to buy it on the spot, which is unusual for me  

I plan on doing a lot of riding next year; centuries, triathlons, etc. When I saw the 15% Thanksgiving special on the Tarmacs I wasn't sure if I would see those deals again anytime soon. It is a lot of money though.


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## lfcorrea (Oct 28, 2011)

BeginnerCycling said:


> I looked back at the OP's other posts -- is this the bike you commute on? Will you be keeping the Felt if you buy one of those Specialized bikes?


The plan would be to keep it and ride it on bad weather days, but likely ride the Tarmac most of the time.


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## tottenham21 (Nov 8, 2011)

If you got the money then go for it, you should test ride a few more models and then decide. I wish I had the money to throw away on another bike with a CF but me wife will kill me.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

If you regret not getting CF from the get go and the Tarmac fit you 'really well' (mentioned twice), but spending the money is a factor, consider the cheapest of the three options - the Tarmac Comp. 

FWIW, I have both the Comp (an '08) and a Pro (an '11) and the ride and my performance on both bikes is close to exactly the same. Because they share the same geo, fit is the same as well. That given, in 'real world' conditions you're giving up next to nothing with the Comp and saving some money in the process.


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## lfcorrea (Oct 28, 2011)

PJ352 said:


> If you regret not getting CF from the get go and the Tarmac fit you 'really well' (mentioned twice), but spending the money is a factor, consider the cheapest of the three options - the Tarmac Comp.
> 
> FWIW, I have both the Comp (an '08) and a Pro (an '11) and the ride and my performance on both bikes is close to exactly the same. Because they share the same geo, fit is the same as well. That given, in 'real world' conditions you're giving up next to nothing with the Comp and saving some money in the process.


That;s good advice, I'll return to the LBS tomorrow and ride them and make a decision. Hopefully my willpower (which is very weak) prevails.


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## Optimus (Jun 18, 2010)

If the Tarmac fits you well, I think you already have your answer to what bike to get. But yes, go back and check them out again!


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## Hooben (Aug 22, 2004)

Coming here to ask if you should buy another bike is like going into the bar and asking if you should have a drink.


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## BeginnerCycling (Jun 4, 2011)

Hooben said:


> Coming here to ask if you should buy another bike is like going into the bar and asking if you should have a drink.


Very true! n+1 and everything. We're all addicts.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

Newnan3 said:


> What dont you like about the Felt??


Quoted for truth.

So the Tarmac felt like it fit better. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. The frame of the bike needs to be right for you or the bike can never be made to fit you well. So if you've tried to get the Felt to fit you and you've ended up with a configuration like a slammed 130mm -17 degree stem, or on the flip side, a 90mm +17 or +30 stem sitting on top of all the spacers, you'll probably never make that bike fit you right. (Poking around with a stem calculator, I see a range of 90mm of vertical adjustment using a +/- 17 degree stem and 30mm of spacers.) But if you haven't either fit the bike yourself with the benefit of knowing what you're doing or had someone who knows what he's doing fit the bike, it's not necessarily the frame that's wrong for you. The bike could just be set up wrong.

Historically, I've bought all of my bikes as completes. That's because historically, they've always been either first bikes in a certain class (my first road bike, my first mountain bike, my first purpose-built cyclocross bike, my first track bike if I go through with that next summer) or because I haven't wanted to throw too much money at the issue, haven't cared that much about the build, and completes are a better deal. (Commuters, my current mountain bike when I decided to get back into riding MTBs.) But I always end up messing around with the builds at least a little bit, sometimes a lot, once I own the bike. I now know that if I were to get a new road bike, I'd want it to have a certain drivetrain, certain handlebars, a certain saddle, certain wheels, certain pedals - enough that while I'd still price a complete, I suspect I'd end up buying a frameset and then each system on its own. I think complete bikes are a great choice for a first bike, and sometimes they make a lot of sense for second bikes. But I question whether in 400 or 500 miles, you've figured out what you want from a bike. So unless there's something wildly wrong with your Felt, that's preventing you from progressing with your riding, or if the cost of the new bike is pocket change for you and you just want to support the bike industry, this is not a great idea.

The Felt should serve you well for next season's centuries and triathlons. If you have too much commute crap bolted to it for that, get a $100 bike to bolt it to instead. Figure out if you're going to be serious about triathlons - if you're being competitive in your age group, you'll need another bike (and it's not the Tarmac.) Figure out what setup you like for your drivetrain. There's a ton of choice. Figure out what handlebars you like. Ton of choice there too. Figure out if you care about whoop-de-doo wheels.


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## zma21 (Oct 26, 2011)

Just curious...why are you so disappointed in not having carbon that you're going to go spend $3000+ after only riding your new bike 400 miles.

Furthermore, why not check out getting an F series carbon frame?


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## tottenham21 (Nov 8, 2011)

Did ya get that new bike yet or not?


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## lfcorrea (Oct 28, 2011)

tottenham21 said:


> Did ya get that new bike yet or not?


Yes I did, I ended up getting the SL4 Pro SRAM Red and I do not regret it one bit... Love it, I put a little over 200 miles on it over the last week. 

This past weekend I did the Ride 2 Recovery Ride here in Hawaii (cyclefest event), 51 miles on Sat and 60 miles on Sunday, everything I was looking for...

I would post pictures but I do not have any good ones, just a crappy one with my iphone.

Thanks for all the recommendations, hopefully I can keep my wallet at bay for sometime now.


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## lfcorrea (Oct 28, 2011)

Here is one pic...


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## vintay23 (Nov 17, 2011)

Nice bike!


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

Congrats! _Very_ nice... :thumbsup:


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## Rusted Angel (Sep 19, 2010)

lfcorrea said:


> Here is one pic...


Men, that's a bad ass bike, I want one! 
Congrats!


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## BostonG (Apr 13, 2010)

That is one nice looking bike. Not often you see a ride of that caliber without ads and flashy colors plastered all over it. I really like the understated look. 

Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only one on this site that still doesn't have carbon (all steel and aluminum bikes for me so far). Oh well, maybe I'll splurge on my 40th birthday. 

Enjoy your new ride.


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## tottenham21 (Nov 8, 2011)

Very nice looking bike, congrats.. since I just started cycling not long ago I have no choice but to keep my trek2.1 for now till I can convince my wife I would like a cf in the future, saying that I'm happy with what I got though. That was my 40th bday gift for myself, maybe for my 45th I will get a cf one..


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

tottenham21 said:


> Very nice looking bike, congrats.. since I just started cycling not long ago I have no choice but to keep my trek2.1 for now till I can convince my wife I would like a cf in the future, saying that I'm happy with what I got though. That was my 40th bday gift for myself, maybe for my 45th I will get a cf one..


No. That 2.1 is a perfect rain bike. Slap fenders on it and go get a Madone 6 series.


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## evo_test (Dec 2, 2011)

Different people have different views, Do what do you want to do only.


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## tottenham21 (Nov 8, 2011)

evo_test said:


> Different people have different views, Do what do you want to do only.


I know what you mean mate, I don't care what people thinks I like my 2.1 trek, for now I sure as hell can't afford to go blow 3,000 plus on another bike just for the sake of having a cf on it, I'm married and have a little 17months old baby that needs that money and more way more than me getting a new bike, my trek is a 2011 model, anyways my single youngest brother just called me to tell me he got himself a cf bike and that i should get one, I told him well anytime you want to buy it for me I will gladly take it...


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## CABGPatchKid (Dec 5, 2011)

Congratulations! Very nice bike and it was everything you were looking for!
Excellent choice IMHO. 
Enjoy
and Hooben, that was funny!


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