MacMan

2003 E5: $1650
2004 E5: $1050
2005 E5: $900

My LBS is telling me the 2003 E5 is the bomb and is better than the '04 and '05. An email to Specialized themselves got me little help - all they said was each year used the same material except the '03 had the better fork but either way it is an awesome frame and I'll be happy yadda yadda. My LBS is saying that there *has* to be a difference in the frame since the prices are so different. I don't know if this is because there are 4 '03 frames hanging from the ceiling in the shop or not. I like the '05 partly because I want the black one! I'm almost decided that I'm going to build up an E5 as my new bike, but am now confused as to which frame I should get. If there is a big difference in quality, I don't mind spending the extra few hundred (the LBS will sell me the '03 for around $1200), but if there isn't a difference, then I'll get the '05 in the colour I want at a cheaper price.

Does anyone out there *really* know what the hell the differences are??!!

Cheers,
MacMan

geneman

Maybe the presence of the Tarmac in the lineup has resulted in a lower price on the standard E5. You'd think they'd all drop though ... strange.

mark

MacMan

Exactly my thinking. It's almost a strange policy since the E5 is such a proven race frame and at $900 you'd think it might even hurt sales of the Tarmac ... unless the real Tarmac buyers aren't racers in the first place. Either way, I'm getting excited just knowing I'm going to build up a new bike!

Serpico

I think that you'll find with most salesman in general is that the "best" product is whatever inventory they're trying to move.

Good luck.

Chucklehead

sounds like they're phasing out the E5. can't wait to see what comes after it. sounds like they can't, either...

cryogenic

Good lord... for the price difference you can BUY a nice carbon fork if you really want to. I say go with the 2k5 in the color you want. $300 is $300 no matter which way you slice it. I seriously doubt that even with the 2k3 having a better fork that it's better by $300.

joejack951

It's possible that the material they used for the tubes was once really special (like in 2003) and now in 2005 it's not so special so they can't command the same premium. No one selling the frames will probably ever admit this though. Although it's not quite as drastic, I'd liken it to computer hardware where one year a 8x CD burner is $250 and two years later you can get it for free with a rebate.

Grasschopper

Right if the frame is essentially unchanged and the material is no not THE HOT material, to sell it at similar rates they will have to discount it. Plus after the first 2 years they probably have paid off and development costs for the design and with the Tarmac it moves down their scale. This all adds up to: buy the 05 and if you don't like the fork buy whatever you want. IMO They should be selling the 03 frames (assuming they have it sitting on their floor) for the same or less than the 05s.

BikeWNC

Your LBS is sitting on four 03 frames that in my mind lose value everyday. I personally would not pay more for a 03 than a 05. Offer $850 to take the 03 off his hands or order the 05 frame. YMMV.

Grasschopper

I just did some looking and the frames are the same IMO. Same angles and same descriptions every year. With the 05 you get a Pave carbon seat post that you DON'T get with the 03 unless the shop is throrwing it in. The fork may be different but is it a bad for or just a different fork. The 05 is the best deal here without a doubt and I would NOT pay more for less in the 03. When you tell them you want the 05 and they offer the 03 for the same price tell them they have to throw in the Pave seat post as well and the price needs to be lower than the 05 because they are just clearing old stock. FWIW I have seen used 03 frames (the one in question in good condition) go for half (or even less) of what the new 05 is retail.

MacMan

I think you're all right! I'm so crap at making decisions when I start to think about things. Impulse buys are so much easier! I'm not that impulsive to buy a $5000 Tarmac though. I think I'm going to go with the 05 and start to build it up between now and the spring. It *is* almost Christmas afterall

cryogenic

Also, that columbus aluminum tubeset is now used in the more "mundane" Allez model now. There doesn't really seem to be that much special about that frameset anymore. So I'd have to agree with the above poster in saying that they more or less HAD to reduce the price of the frame.

Grasschopper

Plus the fact that they use it on the Allez means they aren't paying as much for the material since they are buying significantly higher volumes.

cryogenic

Seems to me that the E5 is just a slightly tweaked Allez frameset with an s-works logo. The Allez isn't currently available as a frameset, I see. Then again, doesn't seem like they'd even bother with such a thing with the availability of the E5. They can slap the S-works logo on it and charge a premium.

Rushfan

Got this from another forum (Bicycling.com) from one of the better posters, a guy who owns a shop and is a Cat 1 racer. His favorite bike is an '03 E5, and if I remember correctly, he said that the first year they came out, the frames were all made in California by Specialized. The craftsmanship on the welds was much higher than with the '04s, which were made in Taiwan at the usual factories for Specialized.

That's something that you might be able to notice at the store-look at the weld quality on the '03s in the rafters and see how it compares to the others you're looking at.

But I think you're looking at a great bike. And since those '03 frames have been getting dusty for a while, I'd try to get some sort of deal.

MacMan

That's very interesting and a little detail the Specialized rep didn't mention in his email back to me. Unfortunately, my LBS isn't budging on the price of the 03 frame which I have to say has pissed me off a bit since in the last year I bought a $1800 bike, carbon road shoes, a set of CX-6 pedals, and a host of bits and pieces. I may have to widen my search and see if any other dealers around have some 03 models they are willing to make a deal on - it isn't as if they are leaping out the door!

Thanks.

d2create

Just get the frame in the color you like best. Even if you are able to see a difference in the weld quality when looking really close, who cares? Is that going to make any difference in your riding enjoyment? Nope. Specialized makes great frames/bikes no matter which factory they come from.