Road Bike Racing - Dedicated TT'er looking for RR worthy road bike

I'm a Cat 3 that focusses mainly on TT's. I use hard group rides and local club races to hone my form after a couple of months of intervals. This year, due to a hit-and-run, I lost my carbon bling bling road bike. Crushed.

I'm looking at the Kestrel up on bikes direct, and also the Scattante (sp?) on performance bikes. I'm sure this sh@@ gets asked often enough, but am I setting myself up for disappointment? The Kestrel seems so appealing because Ritchey WCS is rock solid; I'm a bit sketched by the Ritchey Protocol wheels though. And Scattante is a brand I know less than nothing about.

Of course, continuous ebay/craigslist scouring is going on. I also found a Ti (my preferred material) at about 2,500 used, a Guru. It seems like a great offer but I haven't seen pics yet.

If anyone else has any suggestions, that'd be great. I fit a 57-60 and would like to get < 17 lbs total bike weight.

And another of my jejune threads detonates on BF!

I'm a bit sketched by the Ritchey Protocol wheels though.

What weight and riding style?

I weigh ~165lb and am not a sprinter :( I have logged 3-4000km on them and they seem to have withstood my weight fine other than needing retruing the front wheel a couple of times...

Cannondales have a good reputation as a Crit bike and are pretty reasonably priced in the States. I've got an aluminium Wilier I picked up the frameset for ~AU$1000 (~US$880) but has the rest of the kit from my previous bike which I'd snapped the chain stay (an Avanti).

I can't comment on the Kestrel are Scat... Sorry.

If anyone else has any suggestions, that'd be great. I fit a 57-60 and would like to get < 17 lbs total bike weight.

I own two PedalForce bikes and two BikesDirect bikes, all in size 58. I've been very happy with them. You can certainly pay more, but I'd argue that there are lots of bikes in the sub-$2000 sub-17lb range that are plenty nice for racing.

--Steve

I'm a Cat 3 that focusses mainly on TT's. I use hard group rides and local club races to hone my form after a couple of months of intervals. This year, due to a hit-and-run, I lost my carbon bling bling road bike. Crushed.

I'm looking at the Kestrel up on bikes direct, and also the Scattante (sp?) on performance bikes. I'm sure this sh@@ gets asked often enough, but am I setting myself up for disappointment? The Kestrel seems so appealing because Ritchey WCS is rock solid; I'm a bit sketched by the Ritchey Protocol wheels though. And Scattante is a brand I know less than nothing about.

Of course, continuous ebay/craigslist scouring is going on. I also found a Ti (my preferred material) at about 2,500 used, a Guru. It seems like a great offer but I haven't seen pics yet.

If anyone else has any suggestions, that'd be great. I fit a 57-60 and would like to get < 17 lbs total bike weight.


I don't have them myself, but a couple team mates ride/race the Ritchey Protocol wheels and like them - they certainly haven't had any reliability issues. Don't know anything about the Kestrel frame or Scattante bikes.

I've got a Cannondale that I absolutely love, a 2006 R5000. Its their caad8 frame with dura ace and a full carbon fork. Its 17 pounds with the stuff I have on it, including fairly heavy wheels (ksyrium elites), a bar/stem combo thats more stiff than light, and a seatpost thats a plain brick. Its still one of best bikes out there for the money, though its kinda low on bling. Light, stiff, quick handling and still manages to ride pretty darn smoothly.

Sadly, you already know my answer. If you are a TTer and ride RR like one, then you perhaps enjoy aero advantage. Cervelo Soloist.