Originally Posted by
nesdog
Tested the Domaine 4.5 today. First impression is that it was easily the smoothest riding of the bikes I've done so far. Just clean as can be. The brakes, as on the Giant, nearly catapulted me off the frame compared to my OCR. The Ultegra/105 mix seemed okay. The test bike could use a tune up. Size of the shifters for my hands was fine.
Compared to the Scott, it seemed slightly more sluggish on the take off. It's hard to know for sure as I had my pedals and shoes on the CR1 and only had tennis shoes with me on this one. The Trek tracked nicely on the small hills around the shop. I'd like to hear from other Trek owners on the acceleration question.
They only have the black/white combo for this bike. Not my favorite overall but decent. Trek has these on sale at the moment so the pricing is good.
Seems the Scott is first, but only by the narrowest of margins, followed by the Trek. However the CR1 is definitely not as smooth of a ride and that could tip the scale.
The Giant is off my list as it just didn't do much for me.
I have that bike. I didn't have the Scott to compare it to, but I did compare it to the SL4 Roubaix. I came from an entry-level aluminum from REI so anything to me felt quick, but the Domane is very quick. I am surprised to hear it described as sluggish.
I felt the Roubaix felt more solid and the Domane more lively, even though the road isolation with both of them is impressive. In fact, several times I was riding the Domane on a favorite loop and wondered 'what's that sound?' only to realize that it was a familiar rough road that I couldn't feel the vibrations from, and I didn't hear it on my old bike because I couldn't go as fast without being shaken to pieces!