+1 on the domane, whats is it like to ride?
OK, I went to look at a Giant Defy Advanced 2 (£2k bike of the year 2013 and still top 3 in 2014).
They let me take it for a test ride and it was great, lively, slick, great handling...everything I expected after reading countless reviews.
Make no mistake, I'd spent 18 months establishing that I wanted..needed..the Defy Advanced 2.
Then I noticed they had the Domane 4.3 (also a highly rated bike in same reviews).
They let me take it for a test ride and, within 50 yards, I knew they could keep the Giant.
I won't say that the ride is astonishing because it's actually quite like my Condor Fratello but...that is quite astonishing I suppose. My Fratello is a "magic carpet ride" of curved steel stays and the Domane is made from collossal rigid tubes.
You'd expect a bike made from tubes this big to be quick but painfully harsh but everything they say about the "De-Coupler" seems to be true. It really does smooth out Hampshire roads.
(Note. The De-Coupler allows the seat tube to pivot at the top-tube, it isn't a rigid joint. It pivots and allows the whole tube, down to the bottom bracket to flex over bumps. It's a sort of suspension seat-post but with a smaller amount of saddle travel.. Of course the wonders of Carbon design allow for this vertical compliance without sacrificing any compliance in the drive-train components. The bottom bracket, head-tube and chain-stays are monsters and designed to keep you going forward and where you pointed it.
My experience of Carbon road bikes is limited to 2 test rides, both of which as classed as "Sportive" geometry (tall head tube, longer wheel base....for long-distance comfort). I'm in no position to say that the Domane is better than any other similar bike. However, the difference in ride quality, between the Giant and the TREK was instantly noticeable, something I really hadn't banked on.
So, I went just to look at a Defy and bought a Domane.
I'll let someone with a broader experience of carbon road bikes comment on whether or not the Domane is noticeably smoother then the rest of the bunch.
Now fitted with my Selle Ti SLR saddle.
I think that "Sportive" bikes are probably what most MAMILs I see riding "Road Race Bikes" would be better off on (the Defy Advanced, Specialized Roubaix, Domane..etc). They are a much more civilised geometry and are about riding on the hoods, looking for cafes, rather than in the drops, trying to remember the phone number of your osteopath.
