The two bikes are as follows
2017 Specialized Allez 2017
Full Sora 9speed
Superteam 50mm Carbon wheels
cheap
thousands of miles before retirement to the trainer
2022 Scott Addict 20
Full Ultegra 11speed
Aluminum stock wheels
v v expensive
Insured
under 750 miles total
Both are set up the same. I ride the Allez indoors as it si quickrelease rather than thru (scott also states that trainer use voids warranty), and the Scott outdoors during group rides.
I know cat5/4 are demo derbies, though I am wicked confident in my riding abilities. I know that I should be worried about others, and should only ride what I can afford to replace, but with the insurance, I would just have to submit a claim.
hahaha… I wish that were the case… $4000 is about as cheap as it gets these days unfortunately. But it’s all relative I suppose, and thats not meant as an affront on you, but rather a jab at the bike industry. I’d probably go Allez with 50mm wheels, as that depth will help at higher speeds, and mentally it sounds like the idea of crashing your Scott might cause you some hesitation, which won’t win you races…
allez or caad.
For the simple fact that you can use QR wheels and therefore likely either borrow or use neutral spares in the pits. This might take doing a 11spd upgrade but going ultgra mechanical is dirt cheap these days with the spare parts and you wont have to worry about wrecking your scott, which its clear you are otherwise you wouldnt have asked this question.
Even if the Scott is insured, who knows how long it will take to replace it? I have raced crits on a 1987 bianchi with down tube shifters and was just fine.
Fun story:
When I bought my SL7 I deliberately kept my old Vitus Vitesse so I didn’t have to risk the S-Works in Cat4 crits. Earlier this summer I had a run of good circuit race days and started feeling way more confident on the Tarmac than I’d ever felt on the Vitus so I decided it was finally time to take the SL7 to a crit.
I arrived late so only had time for two warmup laps. Decided to smash it and ride them as hard as I could to get a feel for it before the race started. I drilled it into corner 1 of lap 2, felt amazing, and then started to pedal out of it a bit too early. I clipped my own pedal so hard that by the time the back wheel came back down the bike was almost sideways and I went OTB. I have never ever crashed that hard or made such a stupid own-goal like that before. I mostly race gravel and am pretty technically able so it was really out of the ordinary for me to do that.
Relatively minor crash all things considered and (after a full body CT scan at A&E) I walked away with just a bit of road rash. Damaged helmet, shoes, glasses, skinsuit, and scuffed shifters/bartape so I decided to make an insurance claim even though it was clear everything on the bike was functionally just fine.
Because of the SL7 headset recalls insurance insisted on sending the bike away to be ultra-sounded by the carbon repair experts (even though my bike came with the updated headset parts to begin with). Ultra-sound confirmed all the carbon parts are completely fine and still as-new, so all they needed to do was replace some scuffed components. I didn’t mind so much because I was away doing an ultra-endurance race on a gravel bike all Summer, but I’m amazed at just how long I’ve been without the bike for. I crashed on 29 June and I will get the bike back tomorrow (15 September). 11 weeks (though I think it probably took me a week or two to actually box it up and send it off so might be a bit less than that).
So now I feel a bit differently about ‘it’s insured so it will be fine’. Am still going to sell the Vitus but I will now be building an Allez Sprint or similar once I can get hold of a frameset I like. It’s not just about being able to replace it - it’s also about how long you can be without it.
Going to echo Alex’s comments, raced my ‘number 1’ bike as it was insured and much nicer than my old bike, had a crash which caused a crack, deemed repairable by Laka and sent to carbon bike repair. It was very professional but the whole process from crash to having my bike back fully built was months, not weeks. It certainly put me off doing similar in the future.
know nothing about bike insurance so forgive my ignorance…but most warranties / insurances are MAJOR profit centers for companies…then when it comes time to pay it’s a hassle
so I know this isn’t a financial advice forum but no need ever (imo) for insurance / warranties on anything you can afford to replace. no idea your situation but almost anyone who bought a $4k bike can come up with $4k (even if it took a few months.)
so I’d vote, drop the insurance and upgrade your wheels on your newer bike and race that
lol
Either way, I’d be tempted to race the Allez. At least the first few, just to get a feel for the risk. If you think moving to the nicer bike will make you faster, do so after you’ve done a few.
You can crash and destroy your bike on any ride…and the reality is that crashes in races are rare and crashes so severe they destroy a frame are even rarer.
IOW, there is risk every time you ride. I won’t not make a decision about what bike to ride based on a worst case outcome (which is rare) and instead base it on the bike which gives me the best chance at a good result.
