awesome bike. Now, lets work on your photography skills ;)... but no joke... AWESOME bike.

Congrats! I'd flip the stem, go with black grips, and upgrade to a better looking bottle cage.

How much did it cost you?

Black tape, instead of red tape, will make it look totally stealth.

Don't flip it. Presumably, you were set up into a comfortable position when you bought the bike, and it would be foolish to sacrifice that for mere appearance. That's not to say your position won't evolve as you spend more time on the bike.

I know "flip it" is sort of an in joke around here, but I sometimes wonder how many novices who casually or infrequently read this forum have followed that suggestion and ended up miserable on their bikes.

CAAD's are just awesome bikes!!! congratulations on your purchase and good decision!!

This is very true, however I think the speedplay zero's are a great idea. Good luck and ride safe.

Yeah, trying to get the shifting down while riding clipless can lead to 0 mph tip overs. Practice lots of slowing and and stopping until you have a routine down. I learned pretty quickly that I want to get into the gear I'll be using after my stop. I can then worry about traffic, braking and getting out of the pedal.

Very nice bike, Chu!

I flipped it because of the forum, back was killing me and decided to get fitted. Fitter placed the stem back to stock but longer for reach. The bike felt much more comfortable but I developed a knee pain, that's a different story though.

Oh, I forgot, nice bike OP, I have the 2011 in red. Preferred the black but LBS gave me a deal on the in-stock bike. You will be happy.

Good job, you will enjoy it.

nice bike. whats the bbq reference? because its black like a grill?

Yeah, but you'll have the same setup as the guys you see in the pictures in cyclingnews. ;) It dioes not matter if it's correct. It just has to look good.

Really nice bike. I don't get the red handlebar tape at all though.

Nice bike.

Needs black tape.

And bikes don't have gender, they are inanimate.

Yeah I was kidding when I recommended to flip and slam the stem, I did it when I first started riding cause I thought it looked good, turns out I wasn't as flexible as I thought and the more aggressive position made me absolutely miserable. I'd recommend leaving it as is, and flip and/or remove spacers as you see fit. I slowly lowered mine until it was all the way down as far as it would go, ended up putting spacers back underneath before I found my sweet spot.

Just remember, if it's uncomfortable or causes pain, don't do it. Your "fit" will evolve as you put more miles behind you, make SMALL adjustments if you decide to change anything.

Very Nice!

The LBS did a real good fitting on me for no charge. They measured everything on me and since I have a longer torso then my lower extremities, they sub'd the stem for a slight longer one. And yes, cilpless definitely a must!

BBQ is for the CAAD's matte black color. I don't know how BBQ got started though.

I just went for it because I'm looking for a red/black/white theme for this bike. The bike already has minor red components from the factory, so why not? I was really looking for a darker red but this is what they had.

I'm not going for black stealth look...at least not right now hehe.

I rode the platforms for 1 week and then went clipless. There isn't that much to get used to. Expect to fall over @ 0mph once or twice. It's a right of passage.

Nice bike...:thumb:

yup... my first time falling over came about 30 minutes after bragging to some friends that i'd been riding clipless for 3 months and hadn't fallen once :(

Very nice looking bike, OP. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am enjoying my new road bike. Ride it like there's no tomorrow.

I have to agree with those that suggest you go clipless ASAP before you get too used to riding it with platform pedals. You'll be glad you did.

Awesome bike! NOW RIDE!!!! :D

I'm liking the red bar tape.....

CAAD10 5 twinsies (there are a bunch of other 10 5 owners in here)!

Have fun with it. Thinking of switching over to clipless very, very soon. If you switch, I'll switch. ;)

WOOOOOOOW! I rode 12 miles today and feels like I could have gone wayyyy more! She rides like a dream, couldn't be happier!!