Road bike upgrade / shopping advice welcome 😇

Looking to upgrade road bike / advice welcome 😇

Hi everyone 🙂 I am 40F, relatively new in the world of road cycling (started in late 2021 while recovering from a running injury) and looking to upgrade from my 2016 endurance road bike Felt ZW4 Disc. In short, it feels like a dated entry level carbon bike with unreliable mech disc brakes and relatively heavy at officially stated 8,8kg (though in reality it must be even heavier).

I am mostly riding with a local cycling club and we live in a hilly area, so the usual rides are 60-100km/600-1200m ascend.

Bike will also be used for triathlons (looking forward to my first middle-distance this season), so it would be optimal to be able to fix aerobars on it.

I live in Germany, and will be buying via job leasing, so looking into best buy German brands such as Canyon, Rose or even Cube makes sense to me. I am not excluding other manufacturers, they just seem to offer similar components for 20-30% more money.

My budget is between 3000-3500/absolute max 4000 EUR.

Electronic shifting is not necessary and if I could I would look for mech Ultegra or comparable.

I have also been suffering from Long Covid since February 2022 and it has been mostly affecting my ability to do high intensity in training (read: climbs). While I am quite decent on flat and during running, I suffer during climbs, so I absolutely need easier gears (I had to change cassette and consequently rear derrailleur on my current Felt from 11-32 to 11-34 105 and it has made a visible positive difference). This hasn’t improved with training one bit (because it’s a pathological process, not deconditioning), so I don’t expect this to improve and have to count that in. I don’t want an E-bike.

This throws me in the direction of endurance bikes, but I don’t want a slow, upright, heavy bike, too (as I already have that with current Felt lol). So probably either looking into race-ier/lighter endurance bikes or a race bike that I can easily and not too expensively change the cassette later. I don’t mind riding in a sportier position, but most race bikes come with 10-28 or 10-30 cassette, which is way too demanding gearing for my Long Covid. Ofc, bigger cassette will increase weight in a race bike.

What do you think makes more sense? It seems like unnecessarily complicated and cost prohibitive to change the cassette (and likely the rear derailleur with it) immediately after I buy a bike. I will certainly not be able to ride with gears offered on 10-30 or 10-28 cassettes bc of Long Covid, so I either need a model sporting a 11-34 or 10-36 cassette from the beginning, or a model where rear derailleur is compatible with these larger cassettes, so I don’t have to spend so much extra money…

Can Ultegra with 11-30 or Rival with 10-30 take 11-34 (Ultegra) or 10-36 (Rival) cassette, if I decide to take a race bike and tweak it?

These are some of my picks, all advice is welcome, as long as it fits into my budget, needs and location.

CANYON:

Probably best buy would be [Endurace CF SLX 7 AXS](https://www.canyon.com/en-de/road-bikes/endurance-bikes/endurace/cf-slx/endurace-cf-slx-7-axs/3087.html?dwvar_3087_pv_rahmenfarbe=BK%2FBK) with revamped, race-ier geometry, 10-36 cassette, powermeter and Sram Rivat eTap at 3800 EUR, though it is not the lightest at 8,7kg and seems sold out in my size XS.

Their old geometry endurance bike [Endurace CF 8 Di8](https://www.canyon.com/en-de/road-bikes/endurance-bikes/endurace/cf/endurace-cf-8-di2/3709.html)with the new Ultegra 2×12 and a 11-34 cassette at 3800 EUR, also seems decent, though also heavy at 8,4kg

[Their Ultimate series](https://www.canyon.com/en-de/road-bikes/race-bikes/ultimate/cf-sl/ultimate-cf-sl-7/3790.html) unfortunately will not fit my needs, as I can only afford entry level model with 105, which doesn’t seem like an upgrade big enough, both in terms of weight and groupset.

Rose:

Their bikes are much lighter than Canyon on the average and [Reveal 04 Ultegra Di2](https://www.rosebikes.de/rose-reveal-04-ultegra-di2-2702563) with 2×12, 11-34 cassette and at 7,6kg seems like just a thing for me, though it’s already above my budget at 4100 EUR and seems currently sold out in my size 53.

I don’t know whether it makes sense looking into [their race bike series Xlite](https://www.rosebikes.de/fahrr%C3%A4der/rennrad/race/xlite), which offers new Ultegra 2×12, but with 10-28 cassette, which is absolutely not enough for me and would needed to be changed…?

Cube:

This [AGREE C:62 RACE](https://www.cube.eu/de-de/cube-agree-c-62-race-carbon-n-black/d3c24ded01f0b52c27caca216a293153) with new Ultegra and 11-34 cassette at 3600 EUR sounds like a best buy, though it is not exactly the lightest at 8,3kg

Also this [AGREE C:62 PRO](https://www.cube.eu/de-de/cube-agree-c-62-pro-white-n-orange/aae3b2734cf09e10331a45c999db6ac0) with Sram Rival eTap and 10-36 cassette at 3200 EUR seems nice, but it’s definitely very heavy at 8,9kg.

Perhaps even this women specific [AXIAL WS C:62 SLX](https://www.cube.eu/de-de/cube-axial-ws-c-62-slx-team-ws/2a9b4a772237828d7453351421f96418) with the same Sram Rival eTap and 10-36 cassette at 3400 EUR and somewhat lighter at 8,5kg? As it is the same frame and groupset as Agree Pro, I presume “shaved” weight is due to measuring smaller frame size…

Cube sounds great for my case, because it is not only best deal when it comes to the offered components, but geometry – as far as I read, Agree C:62/Axial WS (it’s the same frame) sits somewhere between race and endurance bikes.

Orbea:

I am also considering [Orbea Orca M35](https://www.orbea.com/de-de/bicycles/road/orca/cat/orca-m35-2024) at 3600EUR, as it comes with a set of Carbon wheels. It is supposed to be light, but I haven’t been able to find the exact weight for this version.

Ofc there is an eternal AXS vs Di2 question, which seems like a kryptonite for Redditors. Honestly, I want reliable brakes (is Rival really that bad?) and easy maintenance. Rival obviously has a better gear range for climbing with 10-36 cassette but bikes sporting it are palpably heavier. Also want a power meter one day, so perhaps Sram is better in that sense?

Giant:

[Giant Defy Advanced 1 2024](https://www.giant-bicycles.com/de/defy-advanced-1-2024) at 3700 EUR with updated (sportier, more aggressive endurance) geometry and 105 Di2 with preinstalled 11-36 cassette at also sounds like something that could be up to my needs, though it is certainly on the heavier side with 8,76kg. And I don’t really like the offered colorways 😬

Feel free to suggest 😇

Ofc I will have to try all bikes before buying (except for Orca, I haven’t found any available nearby and not so sure about Giant) and although I support the importance of bike fitters, splurging 300 eur on a bike fit at the moment sounds like a lot.

by MacaroonPlane3826