Okay... I currently have a Felt V85.... which I love and just completed a century on YESTERDAY! (WOOT! MY FIRST ONE!) But I know that next year I want to do more centuries, possibly even longer rides (Ride Across Wisconsin is 175 miles) and I am getting into the whole Duathalon thing (run, bike, run)... so I want to go faster and get a lighter better more awesome bike! I also recently fell in love with electronic shifters so I know this puts me into the next big bracket of bikes.

That being said... once you get in the $3,000+ range of bicycles... what is reasonable and a good choice? Is a $5000 bike really that much better than the $3,000? I don't think I want a TRI bike so I think what I'm looking for is a true road bike.... now it's just a matter of how expense I go I guess?

I would probably pick out a bike and then wait til the dead of winter to try to get my LBS to give me a deal.

My other plan is to go to the bike fitter guy (who made my Felt V85 go from okay to AWESOME with some minor changes that really helped my position and fit on the bike) and ask him to recommend something.

Stats: 5'8", woman (with longer legs so usually don't NEED a woman's bike fit)
Longest ride so far: A Century! (with plans for more)
Also a runner... doing my first Half Marathon next month.

Any advice/ thoughts/ advice as I possibly enter into this new tier of major life expense?

A friend just ordered a Felt FR2W that listed for $4999, got it from LBS for $3500. Very light and has Ultegra Di2. The gearing was more aggressive than she wanted so the shop swapped out the crank and cassette, no charge. I doubt the pricing on 2017 bikes will get any better unless you happen to find what you want already sitting on the shop floor.

Put SRAM etap groupset on your bike and buy some better wheels maybe. A new bike probably won't offer much, if any, performance advantage, but new bikes are great.

Wow. Congratulations. I remember when you started on a hybrid before quickly upgrading to the Felt. I would ask why if your Felt is indeed awesome, would you switch? Maybe upgrade wheels or just leave well enough alone for another season or 2.

I would be looking for something with electronic shifting, especially if I was thinking of putting aero bars on for Tri type rides. Being able to add extra shift buttons (i.e. on the aero bar ends) would be pretty handy.

If you have a good bike tech (which it sounds like you might), buying on the used market with his advise as to condition and fit might be a way of getting into a very nice bike at a very good price.

Hopefully you get what you pay for.

This is what I would do. It seems to me your Felt is perfect for long rides.

A bike that will really perform on a sprint Tri is not one you would want to ride for 175 miles, imo. I'd find a good used aluminum framed road bike, nice and stiff.

Everything over $3,000 will be AWESOME so just pick whichever you like best.

My advice is think hard about your cycling goals and whether a new bike will really help you achieve them.

Personally I'd upgrade the wheels on your current bike if it fits you really well, and ride it for another season and see if your thoughts about what you want are still the same.

But if you just want a new bike, nothing wrong with that. Just realize a new bike isn't magic...faster will come with more riding, more hills, more intervals, and more aero positioning (that you can maintain for longer periods). The bike itself will get you marginal gains.

This an interesting comment.

My understanding has always been that generally women have longer legs and a shorter torso for the same height male, and that's what a women's specific design addresses (shorter top tube for a given size). I've always understood that women with longer torsos are the ones less in need of women's specific geometry.

Right; pretty sure the OP has it backwards. WSD came about because many women have relatively shorter torsos and longer legs than men. Either way, good luck with the upgrade.

I do have that backwards... sorry! I just remember being told that I didn't need the womens specific bike... I was thinking it was due to leg length but now that you mention the torso, I recall that was the reason.

Agreed on the practice and hills and such... Definitely my plan this winter to hit the hill spin workouts hard twice a week on my home spin bike.

Also... totally agreed that I don't NEED a new bike... and the "improvements" are probably 95% psychological. I have had an extremely hard year (emotionally, three big deaths that were back to back and had a huge impact) but I have accomplished a lot (running/biking/duathalons/century). This desire for a new bike is part reward, part motivation, part getting the bike that is going to take me through the future goals.

(also.. my boyfriend upgraded to a bike almost entirely like mine so there is some one-upsmanship going on here)

I didn't think upgrading my current bike to electronic shifting was an option... off to explore what that would cost. (I really hate when I'm trying to go up a hill and my shifter doesn't work or skips a gear... maybe it's user error but I would like to eliminate that frustration)

I doubt anyone has ever regretting getting electronic shifting or, more generally, a nicer bike. If your bike was not designed with routing for electronic shifting, retrofit is likely to be a less than satisfactory kludge. Go for it!

Good on you for staying with the bike despite the bad year. I would do the same since I know cycling helps to keep me sane. I guess you need to figure out if you will be doing more duathlons or not. If yes, then keep the Felt and get a used TT bike. Maybe upgrade the wheels on the Felt also. Otherwise, then road bike upgrade it is.

Ah, ok. $5000 bike then.

I checked the specs of the V85 here:

V85 - Felt Bicycles

But they don't mention anything about the frame/fork being ready for electronic groupsets. Maybe shoot an email to Felt support and see what they say. It looks like a pretty nice bike as-is. Whatever you decide, keep on "upgrading" the motor.

I hope my comments didn't make you feel bad about wanting a new bike! Wasn't my intention, and if you want it by all means go for it. In that case I'd just put some wider tires with a little tread on your Felt and use it for dirt / gravel / commuting rides.

As for the shifting - if everything is adjusted well mechanical shifting works great but there are times it does require a bit of finesse. That will come with time.

Thanks! I say the running and the biking is the thing keeping me sane. My coping mechanism is to keep myself busy with healthy activities... otherwise I think I'd default to eating junk food and playing video games and possibly drinking too much.


I know right?


I just checked with my bike fit guy and he said getting electronic shifters would be 1/3 of the cost of a new bike. Then he proceeded to point me towards an 2017 Emonda SLR 9 that was originally listed for $14,999 and is now on sale for $7,199.

It's pretty but I was hoping to stay under $5,000

If I was looking in the price range you are, I'd consider a custom bike.

Oh not at all! I just wanted to acknowledge that my Felt is super awesome and the biggest improvements I will see will all come with training and practice.

And yes... I'm not sure why I keep having shifting issues... took my Felt in today for them to give it a once over and adjust things. I have a 66 mile ride this Sunday I want to be prepared for.

If you want value (and I almost hate to post this) but Ti frame and SRAM e-Tap for $3K.

Save Up to 60% OFf SRAM e-Tap eTap Road Bikes | Titanium Road Bikes | Roadbikes - Motobecane Le Champion Inferno Ti

I would qualify my statement by saying - take the geometry info to your bike fitter and see if it can work for you.

I have been eyeballing that off and on for a while now. However, one guy I ran into in the county park I go to has the frame but had a complaint about the headset. I think he mentioned that a bike shop told him that the headset internal cups were not machined as level as they could be. I think he has have an issue with the HS becoming loose. So I would try to ask other owners about this before pulling the trigger on this bike.

Thank you for remembering me! This forums advice really steered me correctly towards the perfect bike for this summer. I did gravel trails... I did longer distance rides, I did duathalons... the Felt was awesome for me going from "I haven't ridden a bike in years" to falling in love with challenging myself to longer and longer rides and even "racing" in a duathalon.

I don't think I mentioned this but my riding gave me the confidence to sign up for a 6 day 300 mile cycling "vacation" in Vermont last month. The touring company gave us bikes to use so I didn't do them on the Felt... but I conquered mountains and hills that I never would have thought I could do a year ago. I wasn't always fast and some of those 75 miles days felt pretty long... but the sense of accomplishment after doing a 6-10 mile climb was GREAT.

All this stuff wouldn't have happened on that hybrid I had purchased at first. The Felt was a great bike to try out all these things and realize all my 2017 goals. Passing people on a duathlon course who run faster than me is a great feeling

Woof! Too rich for my single income with one child blood. You also don't *have* to get a Shimano Di2 groupset. I think you could still improve on the Felt V85 with a really nice used road bike assuming that you didn't care about riding gravel and/or needing up to 40mm tire clearence.

Edit: Just did a quick perusal of my local craigslist and saw a Cervelo R3 disc for $3500, Cannondale Super Six Evo w/DA 9000 for $3000 and a Trek Domane 5.9 with Di2 for $2600. So some nice stuff should be out there. If you go this route, then I would probably have a good local bike shop check out the bike as a condition of the sale. Its still a fair amout of cash and you don't want any surprises.

$5,000 plus is some rarified territory. Seriously, life is long and today's $15,000 super bike is yesterday's news in a few years. (Already is if it is selling for $8,000). Given depreciation, the same bike, or something like it will be selling for $2,00 or $3,000 in a year or two. Frankly, if I were considering a $5,000 bike, I would probably look to something custom.

No reason a 1 year old bike should have shifting problems. Especially modern 11 speed 105. It probably needs an adjustment.

My only concern going with "custom" route is that I feel like I don't know enough to be able to do this competently.

I am scheduling an updated bike fit to see what frame sizes would be ideal for me going forward. I had a bit of lower back pain on my century ride which I attribute to poor posture (my fault) but he mentioned my seat could be too low. So we will see about that.