Hi all,
I have found all the support on this forum to be incredibly helpful over the last couple of years and so I followed the advice to get a proper bike fit (with a fitter in the ST directory) when finally deciding to buy a triathlon bike. I was hoping to get some feedback and advice on my experience and to help me choose a bike after the fit I had last week. When discussing bike options after the fit they told me that Shimano 105 is really not good and that the components would need to be replaced soon. They really emphasized that it was not worth getting anything below Di2 which seemed pretty odd as I have racked up plenty of miles on my road bike with an inferior group set without any issue (having only replaced the cassette). As some background I have completed a 70.3 as well as numerous century rides on my current road bike and while I have no aspirations of being FOP I would like to get a good tri bike as I start to train for an IM next year, which is what I plan to focus on in the future. The bike is by far my strongest sport.
The bike recommendations they made are approximately $4k (advising against anything with Shimano 105). I am fortunate in that I can increase my budget pretty significantly but I would prefer to buy a bike that I can keep for many years instead of trying to upgrade in a couple of years. If I'm looking at spending at least $4k (assuming a cheaper bike won’t suffice) I'm really wondering if I'm better off buying a Felt IA 10 at $5k (which is admittedly more bike than I need), but then I won’t be looking at upgrading in the future.
Are the Shimano 105 components really so bad that I would need to be replacing components after a season? Does anyone have serious regrets having not purchased a bike with Di2 a year later as the bike store wants me to believe?
Is the Felt IA 10 worth the extra money compared to a $4k bike?
I really appreciate any feedback that you may have in helping me assess what makes sense here. Thank you.