In the "Reviewing Options" Stage
 

I'm new to the site and just as new to road bikes. All mt bike history for me. I picked up a CX (Santa Crux Stigmata) for training and now I'm liking the road enough to be in the market for a dedicated road bike. My first pick is Trek Domane 6. I'd go Emonda Disc as well. It's a hefty price tag. I'm familiar with Trek and while I do not enjoy the price tag, I do enjoy the quality. I have 2 Trek mtb's I built up (1 al and 1 CF). I also trust the Bontrager line.

I do see a Domane frame offered in AL but it's not disc. A few items I am pretty much set on is disc brakes (blame the mtb for that) and Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Red or Force 1 groupset. Checking out comparable Cannondale and Specialized I see what looks to be some really good bikes BUT I don't have that same trust in the OE parts. Price wise same boat situation.

I find the Domane really intriguing and compare it to the Roubaix. Not sure if I trust the head shock on it. I also see a lot of them for sale online and fewer Domane's for sale. I don't mean to put it down as I don't know it. Just my observations.

I have some time before I'll choose. What else should I be looking at? Specs I'd like:

Disc Brakes
Thru Axles
CF preferred but good quality AL can be a ok as well.
Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Red or Force 1.
I'd like to have room for wider than 28 tires as well.

Looking forward to hearing your advice. And of course, test ride and fir it essential.

Have you just considered buying a pair of new rims and tires dedicated for the road for your CX bike? I have a CF gravel bike with thru-axles and discs and honestly if I could go back in time, I wouldn't even bother with a dedicated road bike. Instead I'd just buy a second pair of rims and tires for the road.

Yes I have. That was my first thoughts. Geometry of the Stigmata is a limiting factor along with the 11 x 1 arrangement.

Bontrager is nothing special. You can do worse but you can certainly do better.

I understand brand loyalty but you will always be limited.

If you can afford any bike you want---and it seems you can---you should probably not make a choice based on a build list, but rather on test rides. You have no idea what bike might suddenly sing to you, or which might have all the right parts numbers but just not fit You as a whole.

Also ... at any given price point, most bikes have equivalent components. Bontrager is just Trek's house brand ... no better or worse than any other brand at a given price point.

If I were you i'd look up every bike within my price range, see which offered what geometry, try a few out to find out what I really liked---racy or relaxed or in between---and then narrow my search to bikes that seemed to fit ... but it all comes down to riding (else why buy a bike?) so I'd ride whatever I saw that looked good, just to see.

After all, if you are sincerely interested in buying a fairly expensive bike if it fits you ... you need to find the one that best fits you. Stores shouldn't mind so long as you are sincerely planning to buy the Right Bike when you find it ... and if they do mind, screw them and shop somewhere else. You deserve a decent bike for the money. Go find it and bring it home and ride it.

First things first, understand that Trek HATES Sram and is trying to force Shimano down everyone's throats. So you'll find that Red eTap is the only Sram group that Trek offers, and only on it's top-end bikes, and only because eTap is the best group out there. So you're not going to get a Sram disc group of any variety from Trek, unless you do a Project One Domane SLR Disc build.


Second, the Domane ALR4 Disc is an aluminum frame disc model, it just has 10-speed Tiagra, and you can't buy just the frameset.


Third, there isn't a disc offering in the Emonda lineup.


Lastly, you have the following choices from Trek:


1. Domane SLR6 Disc
2. Domane SL6 Disc
3. Domane S6 Disc


All three are Ultegra builds. Simply pick your carbon frame of choice.


It's a real shame that Trek doesn't offer other Sram groups. You'd think that, being an American company, they'd want to offer another American company's products. But that's not the case.

I ended up buying a Cervelo C3, advertised as an endurance bike suitable for gravel. It has Ultegra, disc, through axel, 28 tires with room for 32. My intent was using it for gravel and dirt trails but I now ride it almost completely as a road bike. It's comfortable on the road with the endurance geometry, good for gravel, and doesn't lose much over a road bike on fast riding.

Pretty much all the bike manufacturers make similar bikes to choose from.