2nd road bike to compliment gravel bike
 

I'd like to add a second bike, a road bike, to my stable as I want something I can use primarily for Zwift but also take outside on occasion. I just bought an OPEN U.P., it is the perfect tool for 90% of my riding, but would like a dedicated road bike to compliment it...I know the Open is a perfect swiss army bike but I don't want to swap wheels and don't want to constantly mount/dismount it from my smart trainer.

My only road bike experience are on endurance-geometry bikes and I am very comfortable on those. But I'm wondering if a lightweight "race" geometry bike might be a better compliment (less overlap) to the OPEN but concerned about how less-comfortable a bike (say Canyon Ultimate or Specialized Tarmac) might be from an endurance geometry bike like the Canyon Endurace or Trek Domane.

Is there really that noticeable a difference? And yes, I would be happy to test ride a bike to see for myself but not a single bike shop in my metro area has any race geometry bikes in my size to test. (!!!)

N+1 is always recommended,, Here.. Trek & Specialized have dealers for test rides,

There is a noticable difference between endurance and race geometries for some brands. There is less of a difference for other brands.

Figure out what geometry you like, then find bikes that fit it regardless of how the bikes are categorized.
Your Open is a good start. Find out the stack, reach, bb drop, chainstay length, and trail. Use those and compare to potential paved road bikes.

I dont set my gravel bike up much differently than my road bikes because i don't see a reason to. I set all my bikes up to be equally comfortable. Setting up a bike to only be comfortable for up to 25mi or so seems quite limiting and questionable in logic.
Likewise, I wouldn’t want a road bike that is 5cm shorter in stack and 3cm longer in reach compared to my gravel bike. To me, that means I don't actually know what is comfortable. Gravel roads aren't special around me- they are just a bit bumper and steeper than paved roads. I want the same geometry for paved roads as unpaved roads.


You figure out what you like. If it ends up you want a road bike with 5cm less stack and 3cm longer reach, then perhaps question which bike geometry actually fits properly.

Based on the usage you mentioned, buying an expensive carbon bike seems overkill.

Steel bikes in any geometry are more comfortable anyway and some decent ones run less than a grand. The best ones can be extremely expensive.

If it isn’t going to get a lot of road use I wouldn’t buy a carbon bike.

Jamis has a line of steel bikes with high quality tubes and components that sounds like what you need.

My every day bike is upper end steel bike.

Be leery of affordable carbon bikes.

I have ridden the Tarmac SL6, which is the prior generation, and it is a great bike. Snappy, agile, fast and comfortable enough with the right tire for long rides.

Or get a 2nd set of wheels, 28mm road tires and whatever cassette, and swap wheels for the road. About $550 for a decent configuration.

I know many feel differently but I never enjoyed using my gravel bike as a road bike. IMO, a true complement to your gravel bike would be whichever type of road bike you would use the most. An aggressive race bike would be the most different from the gravel bike but would it suit you for all of your pavement rides? Depends on whether you want to go out and ride hard for a couple of hours or stay out all day. :foo:

For indoor Zwift and occasional outdoors, I think your idea of a completely different bike makes sense. As you say why have overlapping bikes? Something like the Trek Emonda or Specialized Tarmac (as you suggested) would be nice choices. Trying them is the key and you may just have to wait it out until shops have stock again. Do you have any friends with race bikes your size you could ask?