Bumping an old thread!
The other day I got sick of being flabby and I made up my mind to finally get back into shape by cycling. I'm looking to buy my first road bike, likely funded by selling the ninja (haven't been riding much recently :/ ). I'm formulating a goal to do some long distance rides next year, although I'm not quite sure what a reasonable goal is yet -- maybe just a metric century in 6-9 months (I'm *REALLY* out of shape!).
Since the local roads are decently hilly, plus I'm carrying extra weight and I'm not exactly fit to climb Alpe d'Huez, I'm either getting a compact or a triple. I'm leaning towards the triple, but I'm looking for input from the more experienced cyclists if anybody has suggestions.
I'm currently eyeing the Trek 1.5, maybe the 1.2 if I can deal with using sora shifters in the drops, unlikely but possibly the 2.1, the Cannondale Synapse alloy series, and maybe a CAAD8 5 or 6. What do you guys think about the differences between Tiagra and 105 grupos? I think that more than likely the Tiagra will more than meet my needs just fine while being easier on the budget, but is the 105 significantly more durable / better designed? I'm not concerned about component weight on the bike until I get my body's components significantly lighter
