rangerfan

I am looking to upgrade my Specialized Secteur Elite to something carbon. My budget is $3000 give or take. What would be on your short list of bike models to shop and why. I am looking hard at a Roubaix but would like some options to compare. Thank you in advance for your input.

seymour1910

Do you want to stick with the same style frame? Do you prefer a relaxed geometry? If so you can try the Giant Defy composite or the Cannondale Synapse Carbon.

Elvo

Roubaix, Defy Advanced, Domane, Gran Fondo

Campagnono

Look L96 Mondrian. You can find a crashed-out and expertly repaired one for just a tiny bit above your budget.

Kludge a rear derailleur onto the track ends, use an old school Phil Wood 120mm 5 speed free wheel hub, run it 1x5 for shock effect, kludge the brakes, pipe clamp the cabling, white tires.

No one in the world has this bike. Everyone will love you. Or else they will hate you. Win. Win. Win.

Make it happen.

dalava

At budget of $3000, you have a lot of good choice, and you really can't buy a bad one. I would definitely look into:

Cervelo R3 or S3
Cannondale EVO or Synapse
BMC Gran Fondo or SLR TeamMachine

I would expect at least Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Force level in component, and would pay attention to the wheelset. The bike should not be more than 16 lbs all in.

SundayNiagara

There's a Trek Emonda with full Ultegra for $3150.

Bacciagalupe

What's the motivation to upgrade? What do you hope to accomplish? Do you want another endurance bike, or something more aggressive? Disc brakes or rim?

fstshrk

Domane 4.7 for that price./

rangerfan

I think I can loose about 3 to 4 lbs and get a nicer ride with Carbon. I like the endurance geometry and would like to stay with something like that. Rim brakes are fine. I see no need to go with disc brakes. I bought the Secteur as a first road bike to make sure I wanted to ride and enjoyed that style of riding. I love it and would like to upgrade my equipment.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

ckFoxTrot

Check out the Cannondale Carbon Synapse Ultegra since you seem to prefer that sort of geometry (you could always look at the Cannondale SuperSix Evo 3 too).

coppercook62

New Cervelo R2 is 2500

a1penguin

Ultegra + carbon = $3000. There are no bad bikes in that price range and they are all similarly equipped. Let the test rides begin!

I love my Synapse Carbon 3. If you want more aggressive ride, the Supersix comes in a lovely shade of blue. The Trek 5.2 was the runner up; I shopped right before the Domane was available and now there is the Emonda. Specialized, Giant, Felt, Cervelo, BMC all have offerings in the $3k price range. If you aren't itching to have 11 speed, you might find a good deal on 2013 or 2014 model. The 2015s will be hitting the streets later this summer if you want to wait for sales.

jwalther

Focus Ergoride: Focus Izalco Ergoride 2.0 review - BikeRadar

Terry66

Do you like your Secteur? If so, then I would say check out the Roubaix. The obvious choice will be the one you pick after a test ride. Personally I would test ride all of the comfort, plush, endurance or whatever they are calling them this week. I've ridden most of the bike in this class and my personal favorites are Roubaix, Synapse, Domane in that order. I own a Roubaix and will be upgrading the frame during the offseason. I'll wait till the '15 models are out and test them all again.

gamby

Exactly what I was coming in to say. ~16lbs out of the box. That's ridiculous for that price point.

coppercook62

Man thats a killer deal

hailandkill

Jensonusa.com has focus cayo evos on sale. 2013 focus cayo evo with 10speed ultegra di2 is $2399. The geometry isn't as aggressive as the izalco but also isn't as relaxed as the izalco ergoride. (Btw if you call them you might be able to get it cheaper)

seymour1910

I agree with this, not a bad buy at all Focus Cayo Evo 2.0 Di2 CP Bike 2013 > Complete Bikes > Road Bikes | Jenson USA

busygizmo

I would add Scott to the list since I'm a happy owner of a 2008 CR1 that still puts a smile on my face everytime I ride.

I agree with the waiting for the end of the year scenario. I had a lower budget but was able to pick up the CR1 ($3K MSRP at the time) for under $2300 at REI around September of that year.

One piece of advice that I got from this site that was really useful was to ride the bikes before purchasing. The ride of the Scott was what sold me, there were other bikes, also on year end pricing, that would have gotten me better components but I didn't like the ride as well.

As mentioned before, at $3K you should get a great bike with good components so find one that you like the ride and look of.

rangerfan

Thank you all for your responses and opinions. Very valuable information and helpful when putting a short list together.

Jaeger99

I tested a whole bunch of bikes in that price class, and I can tell you without reservation that none of them sucked. Some fit me better and / or generally felt better underway. Some had a stronger aesthetic appeal. My recommendation - make a short list by riding the long list - not by tallying forum recommendations. You may miss out on the bike that's really "right" for you, if you do. For example, I rode the Felt Z5 - priced closer to half that target bracket - just because it was sitting in the same store that I test rode the Pinarello and a couple Cervelos. I was amazed at how much I liked that thing. Had I not walked into a sweet deal on the Pinarello, I would have been tempted to ride that Felt out of the store, wobbling in the saddle from the giant wad of cash still stuffed in my pockets. Before you part with $3k, put a leg over as many saddles as you can.

FWIW - the Emonda really impressed the heck out of me. The Cervelo R3 is just bloody outstanding if you can put up with the firm-ish ride. The R3 is over your price point, but 2015 will bring a less expensive R2 with the new 11-speed 105 group. The Synapse and Defy I liked a lot, but fell short of love.

JohnJ80

The ride is going to be influenced a lot more by the tires, tire pressure and wheels than by the frame material. I have both steel and carbon frames and frankly, moving the wheels and tires around is a LOT more noticeable than is which frame I'm on. The steel bike is a custom geometry taken off the settings from the fit on my carbon frame so I'm pretty much in exactly the same position on each frame. Seats are the same.

You might want to try a wider tire with slightly lower pressure (i.e. go to 25 from 23mm tire and drop the tire pressure a bit). I think you'll be surprised.

Then again if it's a fashion thing, go for the for the new bike first.

J.

Garfield Cat

There is no such thing as a $3,000 budget for a carbon frame bike. Yes, out the door it can be $3,000. But its afterwards. That really nice wheelset upgrade. Then other stuff.