# Recommendation needed ASAP: Specialized Road Bike for a big and strong young rider...



## BruceBrown (Mar 20, 2011)

My son is 21, 6'1", weighs 204 and is a moose on a bike in terms of his power output. Think football player type that squats amounts of weight that are off the chart.

Anyway, he's riding a 2006 (or 7, can't remember) Allez size 58cm. So far this week, he's broken a chain, destroyed a BB, knocked two rear wheels out of true - all with basic riding and cranking along. I think it is time for a new bike now that he is bigger, stronger and older than when I bought it for him. I can't keep this one up and running anymore and I hate to throw any more money at it.

He's so strong - what kind of recommendation would you all give that we look at in the Specialized line up? Looks like we eventually will need custom built wheels with more spokes to handle his strength over whatever stock wheels it will come with, but we are also limited to what the LBS has in stock in his size. They've got a Roubaix SL4 Sport, but is that tough enough for a big strong guy? They've got a Tarmac Elite in stock in his size as well.

Suggestions please? TIA from his father - a skinny aXX rider.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

Hi Bruce,
As I recall you mentioned your son is flexible. He's young and apparently strong.
To me, he's a candidate for a Tarmac...I like the Expert level bike personally.
If you are going to go custom wheels, consider picking him up a frameset off ebay or craigslist. That way you can build with the groupset of his choice. To me the economics doing it this way make the most sense, in particular if you are going to change the saddle, stem, handlebar etc.
You should be able to transfer parts from his Allez as well to save money and buy what you need that is broken. Lots of love for the Allez frameset here as well...like a Smartweld, but my personal choice would be a Tarmac SL4.
Have fun.


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## vertr (Aug 22, 2006)

Asap?


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## BruceBrown (Mar 20, 2011)

roadworthy said:


> Hi Bruce,
> As I recall you mentioned your son is flexible. He's young and apparently strong.
> To me, he's a candidate for a Tarmac...I like the Expert level bike personally.
> If you are going to go custom wheels, consider picking him up a frameset off ebay or craigslist. That way you can build with the groupset of his choice. To me the economics doing it this way make the most sense, in particular if you are going to change the saddle, stem, handlebar etc.
> ...


Thanks, Roadworthy!!! Glad to see you back in action.:thumbsup: 

Well, we just picked up a Tarmac (they had one of last year's model) in 58cm in stock. He tried a lot of bikes out today (Scott Foil, Trek Domane, Giant All Road, Allez, Roubaix, Tarmac, etc...) and his two favorites were the Scott Foil and the Tarmac. We went with the Tarmac. Before we start monkeying with the bar height, etc...

https://flic.kr/p/o6jZv6 https://www.flickr.com/people//

He's out on his maiden voyage at the moment. I'm pretty sure he's going to want the bars down a bit.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

BruceBrown said:


> Thanks, Roadworthy!!! Glad to see you back in action.:thumbsup:
> 
> Well, we just picked up a Tarmac (they had one of last year's model) in 58cm in stock. He tried a lot of bikes out today (Scott Foil, Trek Domane, Giant All Road, Allez, Roubaix, Tarmac, etc...) and his two favorites were the Scott Foil and the Tarmac. We went with the Tarmac. Before we start monkeying with the bar height, etc...
> 
> ...


Looks nice Bruce. He very well may be a candidate for a more level stem and lowering the handlebar since you mentioned he is very flexible. 
If you extrapolate from the pro tour which very few of us can....6'1" pros...lets take the strong rider Cancellara...he rides with 625mm from saddle tip to handlebar center. Now I am 6'1" also and that is a bit too stretched out for me and like Cancellara I have long arms, but have to say most make the mistake of not enough reach...independent of bar height which hampers proper weight distribution, comfort and power to the pedals. 
Have fun riding with your son Bruce.
Btw, I ride a 58cm with same length top tube as that Tarmac with 130mm stem.


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## BruceBrown (Mar 20, 2011)

roadworthy said:


> Have fun riding with your son Bruce.
> Btw, I ride a 58cm with same length top tube as that Tarmac with 130mm stem.


That stem it came with is only 110mm, and with that amount of rise - it shortens it up even more. I've got some 120mm stems we can swap to, and if they don't work, we can go back to the LBS and swap out to what he needs. I took a spin on it for a few minutes. Huge improvement over the old Allez he was riding!!!

Off on a week long riding adventure tomorrow morning with him where we hope to get in about 450-460 miles.


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## roadworthy (Nov 11, 2011)

BruceBrown said:


> That stem it came with is only 110mm, and with that amount of rise - it shortens it up even more. I've got some 120mm stems we can swap to, and if they don't work, we can go back to the LBS and swap out to what he needs. I took a spin on it for a few minutes. Huge improvement over the old Allez he was riding!!!
> 
> Off on a week long riding adventure tomorrow morning with him where we hope to get in about 450-460 miles.


Awesome. Hope you put the 120mm stem on his bike before you set out. Come back and let us know how your riding adventure went. I know you tweaked your position on your Roubaix a while back as well.
Ride safe and watch out for those pot holes on descents in particular.


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## BruceBrown (Mar 20, 2011)

roadworthy said:


> Awesome. Hope you put the 120mm stem on his bike before you set out. Come back and let us know how your riding adventure went. I know you tweaked your position on your Roubaix a while back as well.
> Ride safe and watch out for those pot holes on descents in particular.


Flipped the stem negative and he was good to go. We had a great week!! Here's junior in the middle of our 108 mile (first ever Century ride)...

https://flic.kr/p/osvEnY https://www.flickr.com/people//


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## SilverStar07 (May 18, 2011)

Glad to see he is up and running again and great choice. I am going to make a suggestion though, get some custom hand built wheels. From your description and looking at his picture, your son and I seem to have similar builds, (I am 6'2" and 210lb) and I had a set of wheels built for me which has made a huge difference. They are stronger, lighter and more comfortable and so far I have put a couple of thousand worry/ trouble free miles on them.

SS-


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## BruceBrown (Mar 20, 2011)

SilverStar07 said:


> Glad to see he is up and running again and great choice. I am going to make a suggestion though, get some custom hand built wheels. From your description and looking at his picture, your son and I seem to have similar builds, (I am 6'2" and 210lb) and I had a set of wheels built for me which has made a huge difference. They are stronger, lighter and more comfortable and so far I have put a couple of thousand worry/ trouble free miles on them.
> 
> SS-


I hear you on the custom wheels. We didn't have time to get a custom set built up in time before the trip, so the shop suggested the Mavic Aksium S wheels to "support" my son a bit more than the DT Swiss 3.0 stock wheels (which my wife or I can use on our bikes). If they fail to hold up, I'll certainly get a purpose built custom wheel for his strength and weight. The kid is a moose on the bike and is as strong as an ox. Which all points to the obvious need for a custom wheelset.


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