Ruby or Amira?

[Owlie]

I lived in Cleveland for 4 years (and I bought my Avail up there). I'm all too familiar with the pavement!

Yes, the TT on the Amira is longer. I'm short-torsoed, but I have longish arm and my back prefers a little more stretch. The Amira felt better to me.

See if you have a Specialized dealer with a well-developed trail network nearby. There's a better chance to be able to rent bikes at those places.

[indysteel]

I lived in Cleveland for 4 years (and I bought my Avail up there). I'm all too familiar with the pavement!

Yes, the TT on the Amira is longer. I'm short-torsoed, but I have longish arm and my back prefers a little more stretch. The Amira felt better to me.

See if you have a Specialized dealer with a well-developed trail network nearby. There's a better chance to be able to rent bikes at those places.

I could have sworn that the Ruby has a longer TT than the Amira in a size 48 (522 mm on the Ruby compared to to 506 mm on the Amira), but the Amira has a shorter headtube, so I assume that's where you're feeling the extra stretch.

[TigerMom]

I could have sworn that the Ruby has a longer TT than the Amira in a size 48 (522 mm on the Ruby compared to to 506 mm on the Amira), but the Amira has a shorter headtube, so I assume that's where you're feeling the extra stretch.

Weird! I called Specialized to confirm this and they do agree that the Ruby has a longer top tube but the Amira has the racing geometry for a more stretched out (less upright position...which is why I thought that the Amira had the longer toptube length).

All I can say is that I felt hunched on the Ruby, but that I am wrong about the top tube length.

[ny biker]

I don't know anything about the bikes you're considering, but I really wonder how much faster you would be on one vs the other, especially over a relatively short distance.

I do know that being in pain can slow you down, especially over a long distance.

[Caren]

I think the best thing to do is to just rent them both if they will let me. I already know I'm going to buy a bike there and they credit all of the rental fee to your purchase so other than a trip back and forth to Cleveland, I'm not really out anything. And I suppose I could rent it for just one day and doing my riding for the day there and drop it off before coming home so I don't have to make a trip back.

I don't expect the bike, either one, to make me any faster. It's like my 8 year old trying to tell me one pair of shoes over another make him faster. I know a lighter bike, or me dropping some weight would help, but over all it's about me and my fitness. The pain though is actually the real issue and that's why I'm getting so overly stressed out. I have a bad shoulder from flipping a jet ski when I was to young to know better and I have arthritis pretty bad in my hands. Most days the max I can ride is 40 miles, my hands just can't take the drops on my bar and that's how I prefer to ride. I know riding 50+ miles something will probably be achy somewhere at some point, but I know I can make it better and I also know I won't be in the financial position I'm in to buy a great bike again for a long time.

And I'm just obsessive. About everything. So getting it "right" will drive me over the edge until I know for sure that I've found "the" bike. Besides, worrying about a bike is a break from worrying about my real problems.

[Kiwi Stoker]

The Amira came about because semi pro and pro riders where finding the back end of the Ruby too flexible for their power out put.

My friend, who after coming 11th fastest woman in a 160km event (with over 10,000 riders) decided to get serious. She got a Ruby but found that the power output she had make the rear end "wag" when she dropped the hammer.

OK so who is the Amira designed for? Someone who is truly racing, like crits, road races etc who is averaging 35km/hr+ speed wise and is doing national road races etc looking for gaining places in professional teams, national cycle teams etc. Take a look at the rear stays of the Amira- they are so much thicker than the Ruby and the head tube is lower to be more aerodynamic. That is not to say that someone else cannot ride this bike- if the fit works best for you, buy it. Just that the Amira is designed with a different purpose to the Ruby.