Originally Posted by
elemental
While I have never ridden a Synapse, I have ridden similar bikes (my mother, who rides a 56, has a Pilot that I've borrowed when I can't bring a bike home). The front end is very upright, which is comfortable, but for me I feel like I have much less control, especially on descents. Perhaps it's not enough weight on my hands or something, but it's eerie. The Synapse is a similar style, intended for comfortable road riding (the marketing doublespeak for these bikes always involves something about being comfortable allowing for all-day speed or something silly like that). If you prefer a more upright riding position, the Synapse will be the right choice.
I think the Synapse and Pilot are pretty different bikes,
of course this is just looking at the specs as I've never rode the pilot. The Synapse, while not being a pure race bike isn't exactly all that plush. The head tube is taller than the Caad9, by by just a bit and the overall geom just a little more slack. I'm 6-2 220 lbs and find the carbon to be a pretty stiff and responsive frame. It's my first carbon bike so I can't claim the SAVE geom smooths the ride or if I'm just feeling the carbon frame...but it's nice.
With the 1" cone and 3 extra spacers under the stem I'm at about 2-5/8" of drop, so still plenty of room to get down when my fitness improves.
That being said, if I was going to be racing (i.e. sprinting) a lot I'd probably want a real race frame, but if I get back into it this summer/fall I won't have a problem riding the carbon Synapse.
And all that being said...had I had the option at that BMC at that price I might have jumped on it instead
