Road Cycling - Newbie question: time to decide

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I'd like some input to help me on a tough decision.
I've been ride bike for a long time, but lately only mountain bikes. I'm buying a road now, and these are my two contenders:

Giant TCR2: Great frame for the price, very light, but I don't "love" the 105 group.

Pinarello Surprise w/Daytona: Better group than the 105, heavier frame, probably the bike is 1.5lbs heavier, and it's 400 bucks more. But it's a Pinarello, and the name sells by itself (I mean, if I have to sell it, it'll be easier).

Thanks I lot, I'm glad I found this forum!

Unless you're going into serious racing, why worry about 1.5 lbs heavier? It sounds as though you find the Pinarello much more attractive than the Giant, and that's important--the only question, weight aside, would be whether it's $400-more attractive. My advice in this case would be three words: "Follow your heart!":)

Originally posted by Felipe Nacif
But it's a Pinarello, and the name sells by itself (I mean, if I have to sell it, it'll be easier).


Don't let your hopes for a good resell value influence your decision. You will only get a fraction of the value of a bike if you resell it. In that regard, you could say that the more you spend, the more you will lose when you resell.

Sure, you might get more money for a used Pinarello, but you certainly will not get back anywhere near the $400 premium you have to pay for the Pinarello if you resell it.

There may be many reasons to buy the Pinarello, but resell value is not one of them.

Thanks fellows!
Good points so far, and Jon is on the target: I'm not a full time racer to care about the extra weight, and I like the Giant looks and stuff, but the Pinarello seems to offer more even with the extra 400. In the long term I guess the Pinarello will be a better shot, but I really haven't decide yet!

Felipe

Servus!

I would say go with the Pinarello. I have made this sort of "do I want X now or do I want to wait for Y in the future" decision poorly. Get the Pinarello, you will be happier in the long run.

The main thing I'm considering about the Giant is the fact that I could upgrade the bike to Jalabert specs with +/-1200 if I wanted, since the frame, fork, seatpost and headset are the same, and considering the very atractive 2.2lbs frame weight, it's a very easily upgradeable bike.
To tell you the truth, my personal feeling about cycling move me towards the Pinarello, but I gotta consider everything:rolleyes:

Thanks again!

I decided to go for the Pinarello for two casual reasons:
-The shop selling the Giant is local, but small and does not have all seatposts that are required for proper fit, since there are 7 sizes of them to adapt the rider in one of the 3 frame sizes.
-The second reasons comes in a good time: I called the shop that sells the Pinarellos, and the guy said they've just got a 1-month used Surprise frame in, 56cm (my size:)), that the guy returned cause he found out the 54 was his size. Pretty mint, but that will save me 170 bucks :D :p

I'm really anxious to get the bike, it's been more than a year that I don't seat on a road bike! Thanks everyone, I'll report about my bike ASAP!