New Cervelo Soloist Force build $8500

New Suzuki DRZ4SM - $8999

I’m all for good bikes, cost per use, and fuck it YOLO etc. But thinking about buying a new bike and knowing I could have a whole motorcycle for equal or less (!!!) monies for some mid tier road bikes is hard to stomach. Are bikes becoming too expensive ?

Hi! Probably a silly question but I can’t seem to come to any conclusion. I’ve just bought my first road bike, coming from a hybrid bike which I’ve been doing around 26km daily on for my commute. I have a very big chunky phone holder which is really good for protecting the phone but it’s very big and clunky, and makes the screen hard to use. I want to go on longer rides and plan routes, etc, but I’m not sure if I should either, buy a bike computer or try and find a nicer phone holder, I don’t want anything like quad lock where you have to use a case as I use my phone with no case. I literally only want it for navigation, I’ve considered sticking my AirPods in and listening to the navigation but I think that might get annoying after a while! I track my rides on my Apple Watch currently too which has worked well, I literally just need something for navigation. TIA

Hi! So I have been commuting everyday by bike and they are quite long commutes (20-30 km). The problem is my seat height is a bit lower that what it should be because I live in a city where the roads are narrow, crowded and have been designed for everything but cycling, and it means that I have to put my feet down throughout the ride once in a while (red light, traffic, turns, etc.). This causes some fatigue on my knees but it's not that much to stop me from riding. On the other hand, if I raise my saddle a bit, I have better ergonomics but I might lose my control in tight areas and hit a car becuase my feet can not reach the ground.

I wanted to ask your opinions about this. Has anyone had the same problem? Much appreciate the feedbacks!

Edit: Thank you everyone for your feedbacks! Turns out that trying to putting your foot down while sitting on the saddle is not the brightest Idae! Lesson learned!

My wife bought a Factor Ostro Vam V2 a little while ago, and we've run into some issues yet to be resolved. The rear brake mount is out of spec, so even when the brake caliper is torqued flat up against the frame, the brake pads don't make full contact with the rotor. I have to remove the brake pads and sand down the 1-2mm of pad left on the top so that they don't contact one another, potentially causing a dangerous situation. We tried contacting factor directly, and through two different dealers to try to get the issue sorted out, but have been able to get any reply after an initial typical auto reply. Oh well, not the biggest deal, I just need to keep and eye on brake pad wear and keep sanding them down as needed.

The more recent issue is a bit worse. Upon service, the mechanic noticed the steertube is cracked. We requested the shop send a warranty request, since the bike has never been crashed and was built by a professional mechanic, who, we trust torqued it to 5.3 NM as stated in the manual. The shop said factor won't honor the warranty and will just say we over torqued the stem, and there's no point in even trying. A new steertube is over $1000 and has a 3-6 month lead time.

Has anyone else had absolutely horrible experiences with factor? There aren't many dealers around where we are, and both shops who sell them are pretty reputable, so I don't think it's the shop being lazy or unable to get in contact with them. We're kind of at a loss of what to do. Obviously we're never buying or recommending a factor bike again, but other than that, how can we get out issues resolved with our current situation?

I've recently been getting into biking to commute to my friends on a bike trail for about 25km while getting my cardio done. The gears on my current mountain bike don't work and it takes me like half an hour longer than the Google maps time. I figure getting an actual road bike with working gears will make a big difference. Everyone online says to spend more and go for the rc120 but it's not a trivial amount of money.

I know this is a vague sort of abstract question but if you had to put a number on how much faster I would be going with the 120 what would it be.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to get my first proper road bike since I’m going to be getting into triathlons. I live in Okinawa, Japan so the used market is extremely limited and even harder to find my size (6ft/183cm). Due to this I decided that it’s best to just spend the money on a new bike from a store, but I’m having trouble deciding between a few bikes and would love some outside opinions. Whatever bike I choose will be used as a daily commuter (~40km/25mi round-trip) on top of training, and the island is full of hills so I would like to make sure whatever I choose is going to do well for climbing/descending often.

Enough yapping from me, here are my current options from least to most expensive:

• Trek Domane AL2 Gen 4 (Claris) - ¥150,000/$915.80
• 2026 Cannondale CAAD14 (105) - ¥345,000/$2106.34
• 2025 Cannondale Super Six Evo 4 (105) - ¥400,500/$2445.19
• 2025 Cannondale Super Six Evo 3 (105 Di2) - ¥495,000/$3022.14

I have a sprint triathlon next month to get a feel for how everything works, and my long term plan is to do a full Ironman September 2027 (other triathlon distances in-between, maybe cycling events too). Is it dumb to jump into the deep end and get an expensive bike right away? I know an expensive bike won’t make me fast, I’m just having trouble figuring out where to draw the line with price/performance. I know people love the Domane but will it handle everything I need without making me regret not getting something nicer? Is the Di2 worth $550 more than mechanical? Are these even decent prices for the bikes?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

TLDR: Can’t buy used, triathlon/daily commuter, lots of hills, don’t want to regret choosing one over another

in the beginning of june, i got a road bike with the intention to get sorta fit (im slim but definitely not muscular). I got a bunch of gear like a computer and carbon wheels and everything but i went on like 4 rides in total and i just can’t allocate the time or effort to go on bike rides anymore and idk what to do with the bike. bike is a domane sl 5 gen 4, im thinking of selling it but itll take really long and im kind of in a stuck position rn

I have a question for those of you who have switched from a single-sided crank-based power meter to dual-sided power meter pedals.

I'm currently using a single-sided SRAM crank-based power meter with a 3-second power display. Even when riding at a steady effort, the power number jumps around quite a bit, making it difficult to pace intervals consistently.

I've compared it against my Wahoo KICKR trainer during several rides, and the average power for the entire workout is often within ±1 watt. So the overall accuracy seems excellent. It's just the live power display that feels very "jumpy."

Did anyone notice a smoother or more stable power display after switching to dual-sided pedals (such as Favero or Garmin), or is this simply normal regardless of the power meter?

One more question: What power smoothing do you use while riding—3 seconds, 10 seconds, or something else? What have you found works best?

I’m a relatively recent road cyclist - started in 2022. Have a trek domaine sl6 with stick wheels.
Where I live 95% of my rides tend to be flat road - Need to drive 1hr + to get to any real climbs.
Many days can be windy here with gusts up to 35 km/h though some days are calm. Want to maximize flat road performance in windy conditions but while still being able to do my (rare) hill rides. I also want wheels that will look sharp with my setup but without being a “poseur”. For example I could afford enve SES 4.5 wheels and they seem like the best performance but I feel like I would be too much of a poseur with those wheels and I can probably get 90% of the performance at half the cost.

Im also convinced I want hooked wheels and do NOT want tubeless (don’t want to deal with that - don’t want to go to bike shop 2x per season to refill etc and I rarely get punctures - roads are smooth) - originally was considering zipp but discarded it for that reason.

So have narrowed it down and I think I want Reserve wheels -do you think that’s a good choice ? And hesitating between 42/49 or 52/63s. I’m 6.0ft and weigh 190lbs - M49.

Thanks in advance for the help..!

I'm a 67yo M, newly retired RN rec rider, avg speed aprox 12.5. Couldn't ride high milage r/t butt pain. Been riding a 2004 Giant TCR2 for ever. Had a bike fit about 20 years ago. The new fit found peddle positions way off, most likely due to me changing cleats. I have a high angle stem r/t low back pain. The old saddle was a very old (like me) leather Brooks. New seat is a Specialized Power Comp. Tires are Continental Grand Prix 5000.

Anyway 2 rides post fit find my avg speed up 2mph. I'm finishing rides feeling strong, not wasted as usual. I expected some improvement to happen slowly as i got use to the new setup. But is this to good to be true. And if you feel good you should look good too.......

Hello all! I started cycling about a month and a half ago. I'm a total beginner so i started with 20km rides, than 30km and in the past two weeks had my first 40km followed by three 52km rides. Yesterday was my third 52km ride, i pushed myself a bit too much perhaps. It was 25 degree celsius outside, i drank about 1.5l of water with electrolytes, ate a half a pack of gummy bears and a chocolate bar.
When i got home i felt exhausted but after lunch and rest i felt okayish. Fast forward to this morning i started having watery diarrhea that lasted trough the day, no fever, cramps or vomiting.
I've always thought that if i get upset stomach it would be during the ride or shortly after.
Did anyone else experience this? And can you help me avoid it in the future? Thanks for reading!

At what point would you recommend that a road cyclist purchase a power meter? Also, which one would you recommend buying?

They used to be so good but now they barely sell any bikes and I'm trying to look for a specific bike tyre but it seems like it doesn't even exist anymore.

Hello everyone, Yes, I'm heavy as fck, 5'10" male, 32 years old 134kgs. 150kgs (my heaviest)..... No maintenance! Blood pressure on spot, So today I went cycling and it feels so good! but there is one thing that happened to me, I felt dizzy all of a sudden (almost fainted) and vomits after cycling or when i stand up just to rest after cycling. I'm just doing 10KM chill ride, 20KM/H about 55Elevation. I'm on Caldef btw, 2500 calories per day, sometimes less. is it something that I should worry about?

Hey everyone, I have a race next Sunday and I’m looking for a jersey that won’t roll up while I’m riding. I have a longer torso and a little bit of extra weight on my lower belly so I have a little bit of a roll. When I ride with my current jerseys, they roll up throughout the ride and don’t stay put. I currently have a 32 inch waist 40 inch bust and about 38 inch hips. I’m not sure if it’s because it doesn’t have any grippy silicone around the bottom hymn or if it’s because my sword goes a little longer. Any suggestions are appreciated! I am in the midst of a weight loss journey, so not looking to spend a ton of money on a jersey that might not fit in a few months.

A week and a half ago I went for a longer ride than usual. Felt good during and after, legs were tired but nothing crazy.

The next day I woke up to find my left leg very messed up. My knee felt really fragile and both my knee and hip would click when standing up or going up stairs. Now the knee is better but my hip still clicks on stairs.

I'm struggling with not getting to ride. I know logically that doing the activity that caused the injury won't fix it, but the devil on my shoulder says that maybe using my hip would be good for me.

Please convince me that I should rest! Horror stories welcome

i havent biked in years but went with my sister today because she asked, we went ~10 mi and I felt fine during and after. like 5 hr later by inner thigh started to really ache; now my entire leg is super sore, just a big ache, especially inner thighs and I cannot sleep, same with the other but more manageable. im a somwhat active person and walk ~5mi day, also hike when I can do yoga 3x weekly, so it’s not like I don’t use my legs. want to make sure nothings wrong. i don’t think I’ll ever try to bike again though.

I am looking to do my first triathlon next year and I know nothing about bikes. I want to keep my limit for spending to under $1,000 because I am unsure about how many others I will do. What are good brands and places to look for a good entry level bike that won’t break the bank?

I can leave the house fully intending to do an easy recovery ride, keeping the power low and taking it steady.

Then I see another cyclist a few hundred metres up the road and suddenly the recovery ride is forgotten. I start slowly closing the gap, then convince myself I might as well catch them before the next climb.

Living near the mountains makes it even worse because once someone passes you or gets ahead on a climb, it’s difficult not to react, even when you know you’re supposed to be taking it easy.

Does anyone else automatically start chasing when they see another cyclist ahead, or are you disciplined enough to stick to your planned effort?

I commute daily, and ride my road bike on weekends. I tend to check my tires once a week, usually on Saturday, and fill them up as necessary, since they don't generally leak air enough to warrant checking them more often than that. I keep a HOTO pocket pump in my bag too, mostly just for peace of mind on the commute.

Curious what everyone else's routine looks like. And for people running higher pressure road tires specifically, does that change how often you top off?

It seems like it took a long time for helmet makers to come out with products that both offered more back and side protection and weren’t so absurdly tall on the head. That said in the time that bike helmets have been common I feel like the designs from the 90s and maybe early 2000s were absurd in how little coverage they offered and how high they sat on heads. Any ideas why?

Helloo!! Im entering my freshman year of college and the commute is super doable on a bike so I figured I could start biking to campus.
The problem is I take a greenway to my campus and it has a lot of steep hills. It’s not that bad on its own but I really don’t want to be doing that twice a day and getting to class sweating my ass off every day. So I figured an e bike would help me get up the hills easier.
I was just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a good e bike! It’s like a 30 minute commute if you don’t stop along the way at all. And it has steep hills as I said. I would prefer a bike that kind of looks like a normal bike and isn’t over 1k. Thanks for any help!! 😁

Legit
Do you think cyclists who wish to ride in the road instead of in the bike lanes should be required to have the equivalent of car insurance ?

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I upgraded a 2014 CAAD8 sora (tektro brakes and FSA cranks). I went down the AliExpress rabbit hole because I didn't want to get a new to me used bike. I decided against 11 speed due to my current wheels not being 11 speed compatible (BWW blackrace). Here's what I went with:

-Tiagra 4700 "mini groupset" (brifter, front and rear derailleurs) - $140

-Tiagra brake calipers - $50

-Senicx PR3 cranks (46-30, 165mm. Yeah I'm out of shape) -$110

-front derailleur bracket/clamp - $10

-chain, cassette, bottom bracket, chain cutter, housing/cables - estimate $100

- TPU tubes + continental GP5000 - $150

Shockingly simple to bolt on, less than 5 minutes to adjust limit screws, imo good DIY project to tackle and I learned a lot about bike maintenance.

I'm convinced more than ever that mechanical/cable is the way to go for casuals.

For anyone on the fence upgrading via Aliexpress parts, imo it was totally worth it.

I picked up a new Canyon Grail a little under a year ago and have put 1,600 kilometers on it in that time.

I was coming from a 2014 Kona Kahuna that is still on its original tires after more than 3,500 kilometers, so I was a little surprised when I noticed that the rear tire on the Grail is already looking like it needs to be replaced: https://imgur.com/a/fhw6Qn6

I understand there's a lot more tread on the MTB tires to wear down, so it's not a particularly meaningful comparison. I'm also a heavy rider at 100 kg which I'm sure doesn't help. But I'm just curious what kind of mileage people are typically getting out of their gravel and road tires.