Specialized bikes - need opinions

[Nightowl]

I have a 47 y/o friend with a Vita and she loves it. Hasn't had a day of buyer's remorse. It is zippidy.

[Kano]

I'm 52, I ride a Specialized Roubaix. I also have and ride a Trek 730 -- older than yours, but I love it too!

Karen in Boise

[Crankin]

A good friend of mine, who wanted to upgrade much in the way you do bought a Vita about a year ago. She loves it. I have been on quite a few rides with her and she has never had any issues with the components, etc.
And, she made it up Oak Hill on her Vita, despite the fact she was cursing me the whole way...

[Sadie]

I have a Specialized Sirrus and I love it!

[kimikaw]

Gotta jump in with another vote in support of Specialized. This fall as I looked at bikes I was looking between Trek and Specialized. Decided on a Specialized Dolce (compact sport) road bike (once I narrowed the brand/LBS, it was between Vita and Dolce and in my case decided on the traditional road styling). Decision was a combination of things - knowledgeable bike friends also seemed to think the component set was a bit better on the Specialized. But it really came down to the LBS. The three Trek dealers I visited turned me off, and I felt right at home at the LBS with Specialized.

In fact we like them so much, that my hubby just also bought his first road bike from them - a new but former year model of a Specialized Sequoia, on which they gave him a great deal.

[featuretile]

I have a 2008 Vita sport which is equivalent to the 2009 Vita Elite. I can't compare it to the Trek because I have not ridden one. I really like it. I am 57 years old and also did not want the drop handlebars, but wanted a lighter bike that could keep up.

I looked up the 2010 models that you are looking at and have some suggestions. Do you live in an area with hills? The Comp model has a 12-25 cassette and the smallest chain ring is 30. The Elite and the Sport have smaller chain rings and the cassette goes up to 32. My bike has a 48-38-28 ring and the cassette was 12-25. It was too hard to get up the major hills, so I changed the cassette to 11-28. That works great. It seems like the Comp could use a cassette change before you buy it (if you have big hills). On the other hand, the lower models with the 32 cassette seem like granny gears that you would never use.

I also changed out the 700x28 tires to 700x25 tires. That really increased the speed of the bike.

The reason I am telling you this is that you could potentially get these things changed before you bought the bike and perhaps you would not have to pay as much (or anything) since the components would not be used. I would talk to the LBS about making changes before you bought the bike.

[ciao_bella]

The Comp model has a 12-25 cassette and the smallest chain ring is 30. The Elite and the Sport have smaller chain rings and the cassette goes up to 32. My bike has a 48-38-28 ring and the cassette was 12-25. It was too hard to get up the major hills, so I changed the cassette to 11-28.

Featuretile, I live in Michigan, and there are no major hills in my area, in fact Michigan is fairly flat most places, which is good news for me . I have to admit that I'm not that sophisticated when it comes to bicycle components, so I'm a little stumped about what you mean about the cassette/ring numbers. Is the VITA Comp I'm looking at not good for hills? Is one of the other VITA models better for hills?

Thanks for all the great input ladies!

Ciao