Road Cycling - Kestrel Talon / Talon SL / Evoke

Due an accident, my Felt F1 Road is destroyed and I'm in the market for a new bike. I had the older Answer Felt with full 7005 Easton Aluminum...very nice bike which will be missed. Anyway, I got the craving for a carbon frame, and I'm very interested in Kestrel since I have a local dealer. I have test ridden a Trek 110 OCLV, the Giant TCR, and the Kestrel Talon(although I would get the Talon SL). The Trek is nice, but I just prefer the others. I really like the TCR and have test ridden them extensively. I like the Kestrel Talon because if feel stiffer in the bottom bracket, but I think the TCR seems to handle better. I am coming off of a rather twitchy bike that handles very well. Here are some questions I have.

Is the Talon SL suitable for crits? I am slightly concerned since it is also marketed as a tri bike, and I don't seem to feel as confident in tight turns with it...although I would assume I would get used to it.

I have not ridden the Evoke...so can anyone comment on how it compares to the Talon SL? I have heard that it will be a little more comfortable and a little less stiff than the Talon SL.

Any other thoughts on the Kestrel road line would also be appreciated. I am strickly concerned with this bikes for road racing, mostly crits, and it seems unlikely I would get the opportunity to test ride the Evoke before I make a purchase. I tend to prefer the Talon SL because of the increased stiffness and the sizing would fit better than the Evoke. I would be a 55 in the Talon and either 54 or 56 in the Evoke.

I have had the opportunity to ride both the talon sl and the evoke since I work for a kestrel dealer and my personal favorite is the evoke. I found it to be very stiff sprinting and a nice handling bike but I also tip the scale at about 140 lbs. The talon sl is just as light as the evoke, about 15 lbs with Dura Ace. I can certainly see that the talon is possibly a little stiffer because of the shaping on the tubes. There are some local racers here that ride talons in criteriums normally, I believe the geometry is very close to other manufacturers road frames although I do not have the chart in front of me. It is not a tri bike, it just has an aerodynamic shape. I think that you would probably be happy with either one of the bikes, my only beef with the talon is that it has internal cable routing and with a sensitive 10 speed system on it the brass cable stops that fit into the holes in the frame sometimes leave a little "slack" in the cable tension making shifting a little sketchy. The only way to solve it is to do away with the brass inserts and run full housing to the rear der. The evoke has external cable routing and shifts fine.

-Ryan

my only beef with the talon is that it has internal cable routing and with a sensitive 10 speed system on it the brass cable stops that fit into the holes in the frame sometimes leave a little "slack" in the cable tension making shifting a little sketchy. The only way to solve it is to do away with the brass inserts and run full housing to the rear der. The evoke has external cable routing and shifts fine.

-Ryan

A friend has the talon and his cable would rattle around in his frame. I'm pretty sure it was because the brass cable stops were missing. Once he put those on the rattling stopped.

I have had the opportunity to ride both the talon sl and the evoke since I work for a kestrel dealer and my personal favorite is the evoke. I found it to be very stiff sprinting and a nice handling bike but I also tip the scale at about 140 lbs. The talon sl is just as light as the evoke, about 15 lbs with Dura Ace. I can certainly see that the talon is possibly a little stiffer because of the shaping on the tubes. There are some local racers here that ride talons in criteriums normally, I believe the geometry is very close to other manufacturers road frames although I do not have the chart in front of me. It is not a tri bike, it just has an aerodynamic shape. I think that you would probably be happy with either one of the bikes, my only beef with the talon is that it has internal cable routing and with a sensitive 10 speed system on it the brass cable stops that fit into the holes in the frame sometimes leave a little "slack" in the cable tension making shifting a little sketchy. The only way to solve it is to do away with the brass inserts and run full housing to the rear der. The evoke has external cable routing and shifts fine.

-Ryan

Thank you very much for your response. What exactly did you prefer about the Evoke compared to the Talon SL. Also, how does the Evoke compare to the any other carbon frames you may have ridden, like the Giant TCR or Trek OCLV?