My two road bikes couldn’t be any more different, the 2016 CAAD is beautifully simple with mechanical shifting, inner tubes, easy to service cable driven everything, and a very “engaging” ride feel with skinny and hard tires is a constant reminder of how things used to be.
The 2024 Madone however, is a superior performer in every way: faster, lighter, considerably more comfortable, with sharper shifting and handling. I also think it’s one of the best looking bikes made, especially as new Aero bikes from Ridley, Dare, Storm and others get less and less attractive in the never ending pursuit of performance.
The last decade sure has brought a lot of changes, are you more into the old or the new?
by freewallabees
9 Comments
In general, new. But I will go to my grave (much like the ones you appear to have put your bikes on) in staunch opposition to that seat tube concept.
Old for me. The newest bike I ever owned was a 2000 Trek Alpha SL.
Everything in my stable has downtube shifters. My personal favorite is a 1987 Schwinn Prologue with Dura Ace. It’s pretty damn quick. Not sure how much faster I’d be on a newer bike. I like not having to plug my bikes in to charge the transmission.
That Madone looks sick, though!
I’d be curious to see your cycling data on both bikes on the same route multiple times to see how much better the 2nd one actually is.
GCN made an interesting video comparing a modern “superbike” to a really old one and the difference was 10% on climbs 15% downhill and 7% in the time trials. I have a similar bike to your first photo, so it would be interesting to see the speed data.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdb7KEc7xJI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdb7KEc7xJI)
It’s cool until you want to adjust your saddle height or change your headset bearings or do any work on your bike whatsoever.
Fuck those seat masts to hell. We’ve had so many customers with issues of them getting stuck, paint chipping, slipping, etc.
Right there with ya! My road bike is a steel Gunnar Roadie with mechanical Campy and rim brakes… the gravel/main bike is a Time ADHX45 with some fancy wheels and AXS shifting. Its wild how much difference is there with the modern tech.
In this post, OP uses a bunch of buzzwords to justify their $8k+ bike to strangers on the internet.
A 2016 bike is a classic now. Let me check myself into a nursing home.
You’d have been better served upgrading your cannondale
Man, real friendly crowd here 🤣