Quote Originally Posted by Hi Ho Silver View Post
I'm always surprised by the remark that the Zertz equipped bikes are less responsive. I think maybe people are inappropriately equating "responsiveness" with tactile and/or auditory feedback, because I find that my Ruby accelerates well (er, as well as this old engine can power it along) and responds immediately to steering inputs.
I would not attribute my perceived lack of responsiveness to the zertz. It could be simply the geometry, perhaps I was put on too big a bike. The contrast for me was a Cervelo RS I rode the day before (which was a bit big for me). That bike was *fun*. It was comfortable and felt fast: whatever power I applied to the pedal, resulted in acceleration. The two Specialized bikes I rode, by contrast, felt like molasses to me. It was a disappointment, especially because I had expected to buy a Specialized (several friends have them and like them).

At the end, I went with a Cannondale, which also rode very nice for my "taste", but in part it was due to the different attitudes of the bike shops. The Cervelo dealer would not order a bike in my size without a commitment to buy from them (and I have been going to that shop for 10 years). The Cannondale dealer went out of his way to allow me to test a bike with the components I wanted.