Go with the triple if you will be doing a lot of hills like San Francisco style hills! Compact is good for everything else and is lighter,

OP says he lives in Florida. He should be able to get over the local hills, err, highway overpasses with a 56-42 up front and an 11-21 in back...

Florida can be very flat in certain areas but most of the cyclist travel once in a while to Clermont (20 mins depends of your location) and we have quite a few hills back to back. We do a lot of 100 miles and triathlons here. I'm riding a compact because of the hills here and it helps me so far. I asked Performance Bike last week the same question because I'm getting the 6800 and they say to stick with a compact. Good luck.

I did a google image search for Florida hills:

http://m3.i.pbase.com/o2/75/6975/1/1...oridaHills.jpg

Don't get the triple

Love this logic...you are ready-made for this sport/hobbie. ;)

That looks familiar... ;)

What is the difference between compact and triple?

http://bikewar.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/gears111.jpg

A compact crankset has two chain rings, usually 50- and 34-tooth. A standard usually (now) has 53- and 39-tooth chainrings. A triple has three, usually something like 53-, 42-, and 30-tooth each.

And half of that rationale ends soon with 5800, 11 speed 105.

In two years they'll probably have Di2 with 105. ;)

I'm guessing it'll be at least 4-5 years unless SRAM pushes them somehow.

They all look the same....

That's racist!

Well as I said I do live in Florida and there aren't many hills, and as for the triple I don't think I would ever use it to its full potential. The bianchi is lighter and has little better parts. So bianchi is the winner!

The purpose of a triple is to get more low gears to handle difficult climbs without sacrificing gears in the high range. Unless you live near Clermont, the biggest climb you're likely to encounter is a 60' bridge, so you really don't need the extra low gear a triple offers. But it won't hurt you either (beyond the extra weight it adds).

For us Florida riders, gearing is almost a "don't care". I have a road double (39/53) on my road bike, a single chainring (42) with 10 speed cassette on my CX bike, and I've seen one guy do our Sunday 20 MPH group ride on a fixed gear vintage track bike :)

[QUOTE=RPK79;16800042]I did a google image search for Florida hills:

Lol, good one, In that's going to Cocoa Beach.....

Get the Scott, save the $400, for any/all of: a new seat, tires, pedals, shoes, shorts, jersies, sunglasses, helmet, gloves, etc. (That $400 will disappear rapidly.)

The difference between the components on the two bikes is relatively minimal. If you rode and liked both and still couldn't decide, pocket the money to pay for all that other stuff and then go ride your sweet new bike!


Regarding a double vs. triple: You will do fine with the double up front as you don't have any hills to speak of to really warrant a triple.

I tried to share the same logic, it seems the OP has made up his mind to go with the Bianchi because of the Ultegra parts. As we all found out, he will find out what all those accessories do to the wallet.

I have the speedster 20 and love it.

My only regret is not waiting and saving for carbon.

I already have the shoes pedals bibs shirts. I just want the best bike for my money I saw a bmc gf2 with full 105

I wouldn't get a triple in Florida (and I happen to be a triple fan). That is an important consideration.

I'm hoping that if the compact is on the more expensive bike, you can afford it without hardship because that's an important decision factor and worth the extra money for several reasons (1, the bike will work better, and 2 the components are more expensive and therfore are fairly valued). I'm also hoping that if it's on the cheaper bike, that you don't think you're missing anything functionally because they'll both work really well for you.

Functionally, as a new rider, you'd never notice a functional difference between any of the components you're talking about. But that doesn't mean the price difference isn't real in the marketplace or that one is a better "value" than the other. They're probably equal "value" in terms of the market price of the parts.

But as someone said early in the thread, the wheels are also an important value adder/reducer. It's not only Ultegra/105 vs 105/Tiagra. That alone, on paper, might be worth $400, maybe not (I'm not all that well versed in the prices of the components). However, if the Ultegra/105 bike has better wheels (fairly likely) that could be worth an additional couple hundred in value.

But look at the crank - that's the most important difference.

Hope this helps.

Local bike shop has a speedster 20 for $1100

What is your budget Shawn? Sorry if you already posted it. Do you know what size you need? Are you against buying without riding?