i am in desperate need of a new road bike, as my lemond zurich is too big and too long for me - according to the guy at the LBS. started getting really sore lower back during races last year. every time, i would hear the guys voice, “This bike just AIN’T gonna work for you!”
so now i am getting ready to take the plunge for the best value carbon/ultegra level road bike, in the hopes that i can scrape a few more pennies together for a tri bike for th 09 season.
so visiting my LBS, i was looking at a felt z25, roubaix comp(i think), and then they pull out an 06 serotta fierte TI with carbon seat stay and ultegra components.
anyone have feedback on the fierte? doing normal google searches pulls up quite a bit of positive feedback for the steel fierte, so i would imagine a TI/carbon combo would be that much better (?)
i think the price may be $3000. deal or no deal???
DEAL! That’s a heck of a bike.
Call Get a Grip Cycles in Chicago for more info on Serotta (773.427.GRIP)
I ride that bike as my roadbike, and ride a custom guru for tri.
I REALLY REALLY love that frame. Its incredibly comfortable, really compliant.
As you probably know, the fierte along with the roubaix is a “high front” roadbike- the front of the frame is higher than a traditional racing roadbike. Although all can be corrected with different stems, that frame in general is suited for people who either want to ride more upright for comfort reasons, or who (like me) arent very flexible and have very long legs, so they have their seats way up in the air and cant reach all the way down to normal drops.
$3K also seems like a very good price for a builtup frame- i think the frame alone in current model year is about $3K
I say “deal”
my plan is to get a tri bike next year - and live with this bike for my two half irons this year.
i am pretty flexible, but figure for lots of longer rides that the high front results in less fatigue over time?
maybe i am way over-correcting - my current bike is a lemond zurich that is too big for me - so i am really stretching forward.
last half of the season last year, every race about 5 minutes into the bike my lower back started aching. i am really hopeful a properly fit bike is going to eliminate that.
My business partner has one. Fantastic bike. Actually, any Serotta is a great bike.
Id suggest getting a really good fitting done- perhaps by someone who is NOT trying to sell you a bike. Then you can make a really well informed decision.
I love my serotta- right now its set up “high” for training, but you can always use the stem and spacers to drop it low if you really want to for racing.
I have that bike in my living room and it’s great. I ended up needing a new stem once I got used to the bike. The only other thing I’d like to change is the amount of toe overlap, but once I was aware of how much there was I can work around it. It’s not enough to make me go buy a fork with more rake, although I’d like to test it out if I had access to forks for free.
Is it 3000 for the whole bike? What wheels/fork was it? I think I paid about 4K for mine with bontrager race X lites and a full carbon Ouzo Pro new. It’s definitely worth it I’d say at the price, but can’t say if it’s a great deal or not.