As I mentioned, for each bike I pick out, there is a contender from both Specialized and Giant. I posted earlier about the Giant Composite 3, this is the one from Specialized, the Roubaix SL4 Sora. Now I really dig the looks of this one. Just like with the Giant, we are looking at an entry level composite bike, definitely not top of the line. The Specialized has some advantages over the Giant bike, I’m looking at the internal cable routing as one. I like the idea of keeping them cables out of the elements. There are also inserts on the frame and forks which are supposed to help eat up the rough roads a bit more. I’m not certain how much they do, but every little bit helps I’m sure, espcially around hours 5 and 6!
The one thing I’m not certain about here is the Sora components. For those familiar with past offerings, the Sora have been upgraded in 2014. They don’t have the awkward thumb shifter anymore, they now have the same type of shifter you’d find with Tiagra. But are these comparable to Tiagra? Do I want to try this out? We are looking at the top end of my budget here, the next round of bikes I’m going to mention tomorrow will definitely be outside of my budget. My concern really, is alloy with 105 components my best bet, is composite worth it, if so, composite with Tiagra/Sora or save a while longer and go composite with 105?
I’m really open to input here, that’s the whole reason I’m posting all of these!
