saint mucus

Looking for advice, I started riding last September after an injury kept me from working out, I bought a Diamondback Insight 1 just to keep me active while I healed. It was the first time I'd ridden a bike in years, turns out I fell in love with ridding (who knew), I'm completely healed now and cycling is now my main source of exercise.
I think I've out grown the Diamondback, I keep bending rear axles, broke one completely into. I'm 6'1" and weigh 195 lbs, I replaced the hybrid tires with road tires, I ride on the road and bike paths, I don't take it off road. I'm not a huge muscled up guy but the last axle I bought, the guy at the shop said I may just be creating more torque than the bike can handle. I was thinking about just converting to thru axle but now that I'm riding a lot and know what type of riding I like (road) I think I want to buy my first road bike.
After watching Youtube bike reviews and reading forums I think I'm leaning towards the E5 or E5 sport, I ride alone, I'm not racing or trying to keep up with anyone, I do compare my avg speed and distance with local strava groups, I'd like to be a little faster but my main goal is exercise / health. I try ride 20 to 30 miles when I ride but have ridden 80 miles and lots 50 plus mile rides. I bought the hybrid thinking I would do some trail riding but I don't, I only ride on pavement so I think a road bike would serve me better. So with all that said what do you guy's in the know think, could the E5 be the bike for someone like me with my intentions and goals? Any useful information I'm leaving out? I'm basically just an X - fat guy who never wants to be fat again and recently discover the joy in cycling.

Maelochs

Specialized Allez E5 Sport review - BikeRadar

Looks like a decent bike. Any review is going to gloss over the flaws and accentuate the strengths, but it looks like a solid choice.

I suggest test-riding a bunch of bikes. A bike like the Allez might be a little aggressive--riding position too stretched out and low—or that might suit you fine. Some folks can stay bent over for several hours at a time, some prefer a more upright posture.

You can do a lot with stem length and angle, but ultimately you want the frame to fit you perfectly and to suit your riding perfectly.

If you are coming from a hybrid, a road bike might feel weird for a few weeks—and unfortunately you might not know the road-bike fit you like until long after you have bought and paid for it.

gsindela

Allez is highly regarded as are the CAAD and Emonda ALR. Can't go wrong with any of those.

saint mucus

Thanks guy's. I'm really leaning towards the Allez, sucks we don't have a Specialized dealer in our town, we just lost them this year. I'm going to drive over to the next closest town this weekend and hope they have one. I really want a new one, don't really care if it's a 2016 model but I'd rather buy new. If I have to order and assemble I can, I bought my Diamondback and my wife's flat bar road bike from Nashbar so that's no problem.

Wittyname

Going by your location, the closest Specialized dealership to you is in Kingman (this is according to Spec's dealer locator)

Bicycle Outfitters, LLC
3001 STOCKTON HILL RD STE #1&2
KINGMAN, AZ 86401
928-753-7538

saint mucus

Yeah that's the store I'm talking about, I just live in the desert so that's about a 70 mile trip one way but got to do whatcha got to do.

San Pedro

What kind of dealers do you have? You might want to choose a brand you can get locally. Most brands have really good bikes, so think about choosing the bike shop and then the bike.

Dan333SP

@saint mucus I'm curious how you were snapping axles in half. Do you mean you were bending the rear skewer? Was it tightened properly? Are you pedaling at a super low cadence and trying to put as much torque into the bike as possible or what? I ask because even at your weight if you're pedaling at a "normal" 90 rpm, even if you're putting out a lot of power it seems unusual for the bike to have that sort of failure unless something else is going on.

SCRcat6

It's more likely that you're generating too much torque with your hand by over-tightening the skewer.

zymphad

Yup, I learned doesn't take much. Also with carbon drop outs, even more important not to over-tighten. Good advice.

saint mucus

It very well could be operator error, I'm a new rider, 8 months. I ride for exercise so I'm pushing myself and the bike hard or as hard as I can, I'll put it in the highest gear up hill for short sprints just to get a good burn in my legs. Even if it is something I'm doing wrong, after riding for the last 8 months and knowing what type of riding I like I know I want a road bike. I bought the hybrid thinking I'd ride both trails and road but I hadn't ridden in years and honestly I thought the bike would just be temporary until I healed and could start exercising again. Turns out I really enjoy riding, I don't want to get rid of my bike I want to add a road bike to the stable, I really like the looks of the Allez and haven't read many bad reviews, most of the negatives I've read are that you're mostly paying for the frame and the name, other bikes in the same price range can be had with better group sets. I plan to hit all the bike shops in two cities this weekend and try on some bikes, but there's something about that satin black Allez that's calling to me lol. I know may sit on it and say no way but as of right now, for me it's winning in the least important category, looks.

rjones28 

This

rjones28 

For the kind of riding you describe, consider looking at bikes in the "endurance" category. The design goals of these bikes are focused on rider comfort and are a great choice for serious non-racers (some even work pretty well for racers).

In Specialized's line-up, I'm talking about the Diverge. If your looking at shops that sell Fuji, it would be the Sportif. All of the major brands have an endurance-geometry bike offering priced around $1,000. If you can stretch to $1,100 or $1,200, you can often get Tiagra 10sp drivetrain components. Current series Tiagra is a nice groupset.

ptempel

The Allez looks like a little over $1000 bike. Like others have mentioned, keep the field open and also consider what your local shops might have close to that price. Others to check might be Cannondale CAAD8, Specialized Diverge, Giant Defy, and maybe Scott Speedster if you come across one.

Edit: Forgot to mention the Nashbar 105 carbon bike:

https://www.nashbar.com/webapp/wcs/st...99_-1___204687

Its a good value for $1099. There's a thread around here somewhere that talks about this and some other 105 bikes.

caloso

My son recently tried out an Allez and we were very impressed. He'll be outgrowing the frame he's on now, but still not big enough for my old bike. I'll be looking for a Allez frameset in the meantime.

NormanF

Go for an endurance frame - allows to you ride upright. And if you feel drop bars aren't your thing, you'll be happy riding with mustache bars.

caloso

Yeah, I'm wondering about the bent axles too. I know some guys who can put out over 1300w and as far as I know they haven't bent any axles.

saint mucus

Well if the bent axles are from me over tightening the skewer that's a good thing, I really hope that's all it is. Now back to my next bike, just checked out the Nashbar Carbon 105 Road Bike, with the discounts they run that bike is right in my price range. I'm still going to hit the shops this weekend but that Nashbar bike is on the list. The BS that I like to buy my parts from is a Giant dealer so I'm looking at their entry level road bikes too, I understand it's not the most important thing but the lines of that Allez just look great to me. Fixing to do a lot of research on that Nashbar Carbon 105 Road Bike and Giants sub $1000 road bikes.

rjones28 

The Giant Contend 1 looks good under $1k. I like the spec on the SL disc 2 https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/contend-sl-disc-2 as a stretch option.