Advice needed Cannondale or Merida

[bomber65]

Hi Everyone
New to forum and need advice/comments on purchasing a new road bike.
Have just completed Murray to Moyne (approx 200kms over 2 days) on my Gt Tachyon 1 flatbar and am now looking to upgrade to a road bike due to borrowing a mates on a 25km leg a couple of times and the difference was amazing.
Can get a 2014 Cannondale CAAD10 105 and a Merida Scultura CF905 for similar money.
I know the Merida is carbon frame but the Cannondale gets great reviews.
I mainly ride for fitness but since the M2M have got the bug and will be looking at doing longer rides.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[silentbutdeadly]

Only by riding each of them will you know the answer...though I suspect the Merida has a more reasonable warranty.

[biker jk]

I might be mistaken but both those frames are race rather than endurance geometry. How flexible are you?

[cowled]

Get the 'Dale. You won't be disappointed.

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[macca33]

Hi Everyone
New to forum and need advice/comments on purchasing a new road bike.
Have just completed Murray to Moyne (approx 200kms over 2 days) on my Gt Tachyon 1 flatbar and am now looking to upgrade to a road bike due to borrowing a mates on a 25km leg a couple of times and the difference was amazing.
Can get a 2014 Cannondale CAAD10 105 and a Merida Scultura CF905 for similar money.
I know the Merida is carbon frame but the Cannondale gets great reviews.
I mainly ride for fitness but since the M2M have got the bug and will be looking at doing longer rides.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Well done on the M2M mate - I rode my CAAD10 for around 340Km of the distance between Echuca to Port Fairy also, last weekend - weather was great, just a bit head-windy!

I own 2 x CAAD10s and a good mate has a Scultura. I know what I prefer, but you may be different - best is to test-ride them, then see how you feel afterwards. Both are very good bikes for the $$$.

cheers

[rodneycc]

Depending on your budget, I'd test ride CAAD10 along side a 2014 Cannondale Synapse and then if you liked the Synapse compare it again with a Trek Domane 5.2.

FYI http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... =9&t=74281" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For your type of riding I'd personally be going for an endurance based bike... (and a good one at that!)

Cheers!

[bomber65]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Have a bit to think about and try to test a few now !!

[macca33]

Depending on your budget, I'd test ride CAAD10 along side a 2014 Cannondale Synapse and then if you liked the Synapse compare it again with a Trek Domane 5.2.

FYI http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... =9&t=74281" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For your type of riding I'd personally be going for an endurance based bike... (and a good one at that!)

Cheers!

I'm not so sure I'd agree with that. I did a 190Km stint Saturday and apart from tiredness from pushing into the wind, felt fine on my bike. Well enough to crack out another 60 that day, then the 90 the following morning.

Whilst I'm sure the 'comfort/endurance' geo bikes have a purpose, they are not the be all to end all IMO.

cheers

[rodneycc]

Yeah was just a personal opinion. Of course you need to factor in your fitness and flexability level (thats why I suggested just comparing). The technology in the new endurance bike craze is pretty good in my opinion. These bikes rely more on the technology side of things than the actual geometry (and technology that actually half works for a change and not the advertising crap!). But for long rides on an older body its a no brainer for me...

[cowled]

Only by riding each of them will you know the answer...though I suspect the Merida has a more reasonable warranty.

As I understand it, Cannondale bikes come with a lifetime warranty.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[bomber65]

Just an update. Ended up with CAAD 10 105 from Port Melbourne Cycles who were absolutely brilliant. Certainly worth the 800km round trip in a day.
Turns out that I was flexible enough for the CAAD geometry.
Have had 2 short test rides of 10km each and already improved average by nearly 1.5kms/hour without pushing.
For a newbie road bike rider this thing feels and handles like a Porsche !!
Thanks for the advice everyone.

[RRalphy]

good choice on the CAAD10, I also got one from PMC (had it shipped to Sydney) and am very happy with it. Like macca I use it for endurance rides as well as racing and dont find the race geometry to be an issue on the longer riders (have done 250km in 1 go and no issues other than shattered legs...)
Enjoy it mate

[silentbutdeadly]

Only by riding each of them will you know the answer...though I suspect the Merida has a more reasonable warranty.

As I understand it, Cannondale bikes come with a lifetime warranty.

We've been through this before.

They do...except it is a limited lifetime warranty and it expressly doesn't cover 'frame fatigue'.

http://www.cannondale.com/aus/terms-policies/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[macca33]

Nice choice mate - enjoy the ride!

cheers