I’ve been using a borrowed Argon18 Nitrogen and would highly consider that. It’s got an awesome feel and is understated as far as bight colors and graphics but pretty gorgeous with it’s gloss finish.
Other one to chuck into the equation then is the 3T Strada. If it was a cost no object vanity purchase that would definitely be on my list! I’ve only seen one in the flesh and it looked awesome, and more rarity value than the Venges and Madones.
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Just got myself a Madone SLR 6 with disc brakes, awesome machine although my fitness isn’t great currently so not getting full potential yet but that’s being worked on. Venge is also a great machine but happy with my choice.
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Yeah that was a finalist for me this year. But the fact is it is due a redesign to clean up the front end. What is the point in an aero bike if you have cables flapping in the wind? They gave it a new paint job this year that was all. So I went for an S3. The S5 was a bit too aggressive for my aged arse.
So far so good. Stiff bugger. Can take 32s. My LBS left on the 25s. Will swap those next year to my commuter for winter set up (mudguard clearance). Stock wheels weren’t so hot so I sacrificed the DI2 option for better wheels.
Now I just need to HTFU enough to be worth riding it 
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Are the disc brakes needed because of frequent rides in the rain? Disc brakes are less aero, costing you somewhere between 3-8 watts depending on angle of wind.
If I only limited myself to the bike that my fitness deserved then I’d stick to a cheap alloy bike. Half the thing about having a really nice bike is that it flatters me, inspires to me improve myself and really rewards that improvement.
@simonicusfacilis I’m a bit put off the aeroad by the fact that its due a big update, and because quite a few of the canyon owners I know didn’t have good experiences in the buying process and with dealing with warranty issues (all really happy with the actual bikes though).
One of the advantages of going for the cervelo over the venge would be the option to not have Di2, and spend the money saved on the wheels of my choice.
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I just massively prefer how disc brakes perform - the modulation is lightyears ahead of anything you can achieve with rim brakes, especially at my non-expert skill level.
In terms of aerodynamics it’s not necessarily true that they are less aero. It certainly used to be the case, when disc brakes were essentially just added to a frame that was initially designed with rim brakes in mind. If though you design the frame from the ground up for disc brakes then different design choices can be made, especially around the fork crown area, that mitigate the less aerodynamic rotors (hence why so many of the current top level aero frames are disc only)
I am on a P1 Madone with H1 geo. It is a lovely bike but I would not buy one again. The lack of adjustability is a major pita. I would love to get into a more foreward position but there a only so many options with no zero offset seatpost available.
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Have you looked at an Orbea Orca Aero? Good value and you can pick your own colour, not that pretty colours should sway a grown adult 
IMHO disc brakes are mandatory for CF wheels. Separation of that function from the rim is an engineering no brainer. There are a myriad of reasons why braking surfaces on CF rims is just daft. The primary one for me is that a braking surface is a consumable item on a bike. OK for pros NOK for real world. Rather it wasn’t my expensive plastic rims. Running close second is that it constrains the rim shape to be off optimum from an aero perspective, to fit the calipers. So I would argue that the statement that rim brakes are more aero is too simplistic. It also depends on the disc installation.
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And you can get your name on it too.
The whole exercise is a vanity throw anyway. So the aesthetics were a deciding factor. In the end if I got one it would be like being strapped in a chair staring at a picture on the wall, hung just off square.
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Mine have a secret training aid: An embarrassingly loud free hub. I am staying on power all the damn time. It kills me. Instead of catching on and recovering once I get to a group I have to immediately get on the front or deafen every one. 
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I’d be very tempted for either a Cannondale System 6 or the latest BMC.
Yeah I was too but my god the prices?
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My problem with the BMC is all the fork steerer failures they’ve had - forcing the recent recall. When they have that many problems with a single part it’s obviously a design issue.
My problem with the system 6 is the look of the front end - aesthetically (to me) it’s just unpleasant
Agreed…but as I noted, there is some flexibility and workability that comes with exposed cables.
MVP has been spotted riding a new version of the Aeroad with a fully integrated front end. When it will be available, though…
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I hear you on the adjust-ability side of things. I love the Trek Madone but looks like a pain in the butt to work on. I hope the new Emonda coming out in the future is easy to work on.
I think this has improved on the latest iterations of bike frames to where the advantage has flip flopped in favor of disc brakes.
I suspect it’s more the case that disc brakes still carry a small aero penalty but that aero improvements in the rest of the bike have offset or outweighed that penalty. If manufacturers were throwing as much resources into building aero rim brake bikes as they were into aero disc brake bikes then I think the rim brake versions would still be marginally more aero. But all of the R&D dollars in the last few years have gone into disc brake bikes, as far as I know there is no big manufacturer still working on improving their aero road bikes, some bikes like the Aeroad are still available as either disc or rim brake versions but the rim brake version hasn’t been updated in 3-4 years.
All theoretical of course, the bike industry has decreed that the future is disc brakes, and who am I to argue?! Even if somebody did swim against the stream and develop a rim brake bike with all the latest aero tech that was a watt or 2 faster than the best disc brake bikes, then better braking is still of more real world value to me than a very small aero advantage.