Originally Posted by
Dave Cutter
I love a bargain... but it doesn't kill me to over-pay from time-to-time..... if it's something I really want. We don't live forever.... and we only get one shot. But the right bicycle will call to you. You'll know it when you find it, don't sell yourself into buying anything, particularly a bicycle.
Grand advice. I think I'm going to go with a new Specialized, either the Allez or the Secteur. I rode Giant defy 5's today, A Jamis and a Trek 1.1 and a Masi. I like something about the Specialized. The Secteur is more than I wanted to spend but the comfier saddle helps close the gap between it and the Giant. The stock saddle on the Giant Defy 5 was straight up painful. And the aesthetics are probably more important to me than I want to admit. I'm a designer and a little subtler matte gray with a splash of electric blue is really refreshing at this price point, which seems to be populated almost exclusively by the oatmeal trinity of black, white and red.