Road Cycling - Advice about a Devinci Podium 2003?

I plan to buy a Devinci Podium 2003 but I fear this bike may be a little too stiff because of the aluminium frame and not that confortable compared to a steel frame. I can get a fairly good price on this bike (1200$CDN), considering we are in winter... I found out that a good steel bike goes for 1700$-2200$ and I wonder if the Podium is a still a good choice... Does anyone can give me their opinion and experience on that bike? I am a 47 y.o. recreationnal rider that pedals about 100-150km a week. I already have an hybrid bike but I would like to have a good road bike for longer rides. I've done quite a lot of touring in the 80's and I feel more confortable with the road bars than the flat bars. I live in Montreal, Québec and the Devinci bikes are quite easily available (as other good bikes...) Thank you in advance. :D

Wow, $1200 for the Podium does sound like a good price. (Was this at Lacordee) I had looked at the Podium as well as several others before deciding on a Marinoni. When I last saw it, it was closer to the $2000 mark so I'm kinda of going :eek: when I hear that price. I beleive that the Podium has a mix of Campy veloce and another manafacturer (brakes) and Gipiemme Techno 024A wheelset. This (http://www.devinci.com/image/gabarit/Podium2004-test.pdf) is the 2004 version. I liked the ride. I've also ridden several of their mountain bikes which I thought were great.

I decided to go with steel for several different reasons, one of them being the perceived comfort difference. But honestly.... I can't say if it's real or imagined. What ever you get will be different from what your used to. And will be nice.

The hardest part about purchasing in winter is not having the oportunity to test ride the bike. You'll have to go with your gut feeling, but imho, you won't go wrong with a Devinci (of course I relatively new to roadbike so who knows ;) )
What other bikes have you looked at?
I went around to a few shops in Montreal, Laval and finally chose one in the West Island.
Good luck.

Richard

I looked mainly at the TCR2 and OCR1 (2003 models) from Giant, both of them mounted in 105. The TCR2 is a very nice bike, but too racy for my needs and quite more expensive. I was told the OCR1 was very stiff and not very confortable but I read other (positive) opinions on the forums. I can get the OCR1 for the same price as the Devinci Podium but I think the Podium is a nicer (I did not say better...) buy, considering that it comes with a Campy Veloce 9speed groupo... :roflmao: