I do like modern aero bikes for what they do well (namely, thru axle stiffness, powerful disc brakes, frame clearances for wider rims and tires, etc), but I still sometimes miss my 11-yr old Felt ar1 with di2 Dura Ace and staggered CLX rims with 28mm gp5s (15.5 lbs, pic below)... what with its stupidly simple internal brake cable routing (housing easily slides through the top tube "housing tunnel") and general ease of self-service. If it was slower than my Aeroad, I sure couldn't tell. OTOH, the ar1's hi mod carbon layup offered more bottom bracket stiffness and overall responsiveness than the mid spec CF SL carbon... which felt soft by comparison on hard out-of-the-saddle efforts. Makes sense as the ar1 was $10k in 2012 dollars. But at the time I didn't want to spend even more than that for the Aeroad CFR's layup.


Similar frame shape of my Aeroad (later sold to upgrade to an aero disc bike with top tier carbon)


Back to '92 aero design


vs other modern shapes



Maybe $11k for something like a Tokyo edition CFR isn't that crazy (people were spending that 10yrs ago on high end rim stuff)... assuming one has insurance for riding/race/crit mishaps!