Buying a new road bike and criterium bike

Im looking to buy a new bike that I can ride for road racing and criterium. I cant afford two bikes. Looking to get something around 2 to 3000. Just wondering if anyone know of a good bike for both.

1 Like

the Cannondale CAAD and Specialized Allez seems to be a popular choice for this very thing.

I do not own either models but I have lots of friends who do and they love them. What I can say, from discussions with them, is that they’re both super nimble but come at the cost of comfort. But who needs comfort for a crit :slight_smile:

They both come at a super reasonable price and also in disc brakes if you were inclined to choose disc over rim. Look the business.

2 Likes

Adding to those, the Trek Emonda ALR is another option.

3 Likes

The Canyon Aeroad starts at 3K with a 105 groupset and Reynolds 58mm carbon wheels.

2 Likes

I bought myself an Allez Sprint Disc 2019 complete bike in May 2019 after breaking my trek emonda SL in a crit race and have been quite happy with it. Stock standard size 49 weighed in at 8.9 kg (19.6 pounds). Its definitely not light but in crits, doesnt really matter. It feels rock solid and it just makes you want to push harder instead of taking it easy.

It was either the Allez or Emonda ALR disc but I decided to go for the Allez because of its legendary status of being a crit bike. Also, i was tired of aligning my seatpost, I kinda liked the idea of a non round seatpost (one less thing to fiddle - dumb but it was the final point in my pros vs cons list).

the Allez Sprint 2020 is priced at 2200 USD and comes with a specialized power saddle stock standard (unlike the toupe on mine). If thats your current saddle, its pretty much buy it and ride it. If your budget stretches to 3000 usd, I’d get myself some light bicycle carbon wheels and some plush 28 mm gp 5000 and that would make it a sweet ass crit bike with more versatility.

The caad13 is also a bike you should consider, it’s not that pretty, has better tire clearance and comfort and is priced slightly higher (at least where I live).

If you want to save even more money and weight, I’d recommend a used rim brake allez sprint or a used caad12. If however, you want something future proof want to jump on the disc brake wagon, a complete bike will save you loads of money.

Finally, if you’re racing crits, get something you dont mind replacing. I found that out the hard way last time round. Definitely spend on bike racing insurance.

Best part of buying a bike is deciding and making a table of parts you want to get. Good luck.

2 Likes

I am actually looking at getting a canyon aeroad for my all around road bike. For $3k you can get 105 groupset with aero wheels at under 17lbs or $4k gets you ultegra with disc brakes at 7.8kg

1 Like

Unless you want to go full-on Belgian Kermesse bike (overbuilt and unrideable for more than 100k – find some beast’s old Merckx SPX rig for an idea), any good road bike is also a criterium bike.

Forget nonsense about pedalling through corners or “quick crit geo”: crits are all handling and tactics, and the same nice road bike that you would take for a road race is a fine crit bike. Any off the shelf Cannondale or Trek or Specialized or Giant or Canyon or whatever will do. After that. it’s up to you.

12 Likes