First road bike shopping

Hello everyone!

As the title suggests, I’m currently looking into buying my first road bike. I currently ride a fixed gear Crit bike, and use it primarily as a training bike for Fixed gear racing. Unfortunately where I live (Vancouver, Canada) the hills and mountains can be a bit too much for my one gear; Plus it gets pretty old riding the same city roads everyday trying to cram my 60km’s a ride. I’m looking to start doing mountain climbs and 200+ km training rides, with the odd club ride and road race sprinkled in eventually. I’m not really looking for a bottom of the barrel road bike, but something a little more race-able.

I’m currently eyeing up the Specialized’s Allez Sprint and the Amari SL4 for possible bikes. They are both at the top of my price range, and have I heard they are both a good racing bike for beginners. I have read that some people find the Allez Sprint to be a harsher ride than the Amira SL4, due to a stiff frame and more aggressive racing geometry

Has anyone had any experience riding either? What are your thoughts on either as a first bike?

Thanks so much!
Alexi

Im used to riding men's frames, as fixed crit bikes are almost never women's specific. Being on the short side (5'6") for men's bike sizes, I use a shorter stem and have my saddle a bit further forward, and I've never had an issue. But those are only for two to three hour rides, so I wasn't sure if I should look into women's specific bikes for longer rides.

I have mostly been looking into Specialized as they are the more common brand in the area, or at least the stores have better stock of. Trek and Cannondale are really the only other accessible brands, but I'm less familiar with their bikes.

Thanks so much for the awesome info! I hadn't actually considered it before you pointed it out, but I very much agree that the seatpost of the Sprint poses a big issue, especially for replacement options. With some poking around, the Amira SL4 seems to be the best of Specialized bikes for my needs. I will have to track down a bike shop and give your recommended bikes a test ride. They all look like great alternatives if the Amira doesn't work out. Plus more options are always better!

Thanks again for being a fountain of wisdom! As a newbie to the road bike scene, its an immense help.

I highly recommend going WSD if you can find a WSD bike that meets your requirements. If nothing else, it gets you a women's saddle, at least. :) Sometimes gets you a narrower handlebar, too, which is important for us gals. Looking back at the many, many bikes I've owned, over the years, the ONLY bikes I've ever bought that needed no mods were WSD bikes. The best fitting, long distance, all day ride road bike I ever owned was a Trek Domane WSD. Seriously, on the MTB and fat bikes I ride, there is next to nothing in WSD bikes, so I am always tuning a new bike to get it to fit me.

Also, for all day in the saddle, I think you are way ahead with the endurance class of road bikes like the Domane WSD I had. Short and fast sprinty cyclocross or race specific bikes are fun for the first few hours, but when fatigue starts to set in, you'll be glad to be riding an endurance bike. I only ride flat bar bikes, now, so not familiar with the current market offering in drop bar bikes, but pretty sure Trek and Specialized offer WSD endurance class road bikes.