Giant Liv Invite Comax

[Helene2013]

I don't know Muireen.

I spoke to the owner of my LBS (the guy I liked). He said a Specialized Tricross would have been good but not carried anymore. He called them directly and stocks are all gone (for our heights anyway). He told me to look at the Crux on the Specialized site and get back to him with what we'd like and he'll do all he can to get a good price for our 2 bikes.

I just don't know yet if I'm ready to put that much into secondary bikes.

I know so little about bikes that I can gobble way too much without knowing. At least my LBS is pretty honest in the feeling I'd get on the road, and luckily, when he has a size in a bike I like, he lets me borrow it for a weekend so I can give it a long ride. Their service is so good that it would kill me to buy somewhere else. But I know too that they can't carry every singl brand on the market.

[Helene2013]

Just toooooo much. Love it, but that is way more pink than I could tolerate. hahahaha Thanks for sharing.

Today we went to see my LBS. I knew it would be more than I wanted to pay for 2 bikes. But he is making us a deal that will be hard to refuse. But still much more than I want to pay. Normally I ride a 51cm (and hubby too) and he told us for that one it would be Crux Sport E5 for me and hubby would take the Sport E5 Evo. Same price anyway. Said I would think about it. In the end, we're nearing $5000 for 2 bikes, that are not going to be our prime bikes. I hate that they don't have any in stock. It's by order only. So not seen it, nor test-driven it. If he orders for us, we have to take them (I have not negociated that part just yet!). Not putting pressure as we don't know what we'll do. Lots of thinking. But because he knows us well, we can pay with a few cheques (like over 3-4 months) and still get the bikes now.

Then we went to another store to take a look at some bikes. They had none in stock, no matter what manufacturer. It would need to be ordered. The man said in Europe, crossbike are THE thing. In North America, it's not catching although they are pushing for it. I believe him as no one carries any in stock.

We then went to another store to look at some and saw 2 Cannondales. One is a modified CAADX disc on full shimano 105. The other is a synpase Alloy, modified too. This store makes us a good deal for $3,472(cdn). Reason too that costs are so high is that all bikes have increased a lot with the 30% dollar exchange with USA (I'm Canadian if you have not noticed hihi). So we end up paying a whole lot more lately for many purchases. Also, Caad would be shipped around May 12 and Synapse June 2....if not delayed. Colours are ok, but not the end of the world. Again...mostly blacks. arggggh But one could be with some red.

Then we went to LBS where hubby bought his first road bike and goes to spinning. He looked through his manuals, order books, etc for Giant. Huge inventory shortage as Tawain reduced shipping production by 10%. So he's not even sure he would get one.

So what we will do tomorrow is call a few Specialized stores around and see if they have one Crux in what we want to at least see "live". I just can't purchase a bike I have not seen and tried. Been burnt once...not going to be twice.

At least all stores we visited were really knowledgeable and did not try to sell us stuff we did not want, no pushing and very accomodating since we were looking into purchasing 2 bikes.

So the saga continues...tomorrow.

[Helene2013]

Thank you for sharing.

I will take a look for sure. Nothing to lose, but I certainly can take a look at savings.

The CAAD he was telling me about would be modified so we could use it "off-road" some. Although, we know it won't be touching mud. haha

[Helene2013]

I am not too sure Muireen. I'm in bed and my notes are downstairs. Would have to look it up as I can't recall the things on synapse and caad.... but i think it had to do with tires. We'd probably take those narrower than the 35 they come with. We don't intend to ride on mud, nor mountains, etc... it would be better than our current old hybrids for 100km rides through a mix of gravel and asphalt.

Also, my husband was really impressed on how light both cannondale were for the type of bike.

[Owlie]

My CX bike has 32s (Kenda Small Block 8s--started life as a MTB tire). The Synapse is a road bike. I don't think it would take tires wider than a 28, which eliminates the majority of tires with any sort of tread. It's also quite flexible, yet not a comfortable ride on pavement. The CAAD10 is an excellent ride. (Haven't tried the CAADX, because no one carries them in my size.) I'd go with the CAADX or the Giant. (I really, really want a CAADX, but it doesn't look like it would fit...)

[pll]

Helene: How fun that you are considering a cross bike. Look at the Focus Mares, too. The AX series is aluminum and the CX is carbon. I have a Mares CX which I love. Don't underestimate the fun you can have with it --- I absolutely love my cross bike, maybe even more than the road bike. I use it for gravel rides and I've traveled with it for that reason. I would not go with the Synapse for gravel, even if you plan on avoiding mud. Mud cannot always be avoided... The wider tires are not just about mud; they also smooth your ride on bumpy roads and you can choose the type of tire you need. For example, right now I have a pair of 38mm 'file tread' tires (Challenge Gravel Grinders), for dry conditions. During the cross season I put on 32mm Clement PDX.

Competitive Cyclist sells Ridley online and sometimes they have good discounts on them. I like the look of the Niner RTL (they just came up with a steel one) and an orange Santa Cruz Stigmata makes my heart skip a beat each time I see it. A great option if you travel a lot is a Ritchey Logic Break-Away bike -- you can do your own build. I know it's more than what you want to spend, but you can always chose whether to put road tires or cyclocross ones.

I am sure there are some gravel roads around Montreal, but if you consider traveling with your bikes, Rebecca's Private Idaho is possibly the most beautiful ride I've done ... I am going back there this year. Last weekend I was riding in the Flint Hills area in Kansas (the area where the Dirty Kanza 200 takes place), hundreds of miles of dirty and gravel with beautiful sights. You can also take your bike to some MTB single track trails.

[Helene2013]

Muireen,
Makes sense. I did not think of the lower ground thing. Not that we would go in the wild with them, but there are roads we will be using that are partially wooded. Did them with our current bikes and it was not a great ride at all but no choice as we could not really turn back and though it would be "bad" only for a short drive and ended up being over 20 minutes. It is long when not good conditions for our types of bikes.

We are planning to call a few shops around today to see if they carry in stock a Crux and Ridley X-Ride. And of course, yesterday was super sunny, a nice 14c...now it is a snow storm, with a -2c. Very windy. And bike shops I need to go check out are an hour drive from here. We'll see as sun is to come out later so roads may be clear from snow/icy condition.

Thank you PLL
We can't really order on line (we're from Canada) and customs fees and exchange rate (at 30% now) would kill any deal, not counting warranty is void unless I cross to the USA to have it honored. Ridley is rare here and as far as I know, only MEC carries that brand for Canada. Correct me if I'm wrong. Went to a store nearby and they have none in the show room. Will try to call the other store away from home and see if they have some to look at.

We're not planning driving so far this summer but we will be in the Boston area and Nashville (2 different trips). For Boston, it would be the cross bike and for the Natchez we're taking our road bikes. We can't take the 4 bikes as no room for so many.

[pll]

The Ridley web site also has Maglia Rosa Velo Shop as a dealer: http://www.magliarosaveloshop.com

PS: Oh, and I fly to Idaho (and Kansas)... I can't fathom driving a couple of days.

[Helene2013]

I found a store where they have the Crux Sport E5 in my size. So we'll go check it out. That way, we'll know exactly what to expect and can order through my own LBS if we decide.

And the thing I like about my own store is that we can get the bikes, take them home, and not even fully pay for them. Just give him post-dated cheques and he's fine with this. Not many stores can do this. Not many stores either (at least in my area) will take the bike back and trade for something else if I don't like it, even the following cycling season.

The nice thing dealing with owner, and having a good trusting relationship. But it is still more money than I had wanted to pay for a second bike but since we purchase for long-term, in the end we have to take what we like and still look for good quality/good store.

The guy at the store we'll go visit says he has a version of this Crux (2014) and he says it is the best crossbike he has used. Goes anywhere, smooth ride, geometry is not aggressive. He mentioned we'd be luckier than him as the new version has hydraulic breaks, which is new for 2015.

To be continued.... we should go visit today, if the storm can end. They said at noon it will be sunny and it is nearly 11am and still falling hard.