Gran fondo question

If you were going to do a 100 mile gran fondo with 6K feet of climbing and descending, which bike would you choose and why?

  1. Giant Defy
  2. Canyon Aeroad

Thanks!

Either would do the job. What bike do you have now?

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Gearing differences?

Tire/wheel differences?

Comfort differences?

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I have the defy, but looking into getting an aeroad

Good point chad
I
Defy has compact gearing, aeroad is standard gearing. Both would have 700cX28mm wheels and tires. Comfort, I guess that’s subjective to the rider but I’m comfortable in the drops on my defy but harsh roads are not fun.

I did one last weekend on an aeroad with 100 miles and 4000 odd feet of climbing on an aeroad.
I didn’t find comfort a problem at all, and would like to think (when I look at my bank balance in pain having just built the aeroad lol) that I did it quicker than if I had just stuck with my synapse

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Buying new gearing is much cheaper than buying a new bike. I would say that if you don’t know why a new bike will help you, you probably don’t need it. Training harder and shedding some pounds will make a much bigger difference to your event.

That said, if you’re looking for community support to buy a new bike … then go for it!

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@TRusername Depending on your experience (i.e. is a 6kft GF easy or hard for you) gearing would dictate the bike choice for me. Presuming it is difficult (since you asked the question), the very simple answer would be based on the mechanical advantage of your lowest gear. That is, late in the ride as your muscles are fatigued, you will be thankful for having the lowest gear at your disposal.

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Are you trying to ‘win’ or just to finish? The Giant will likely be a more comfortable geometry for fondos, although either bike would be just fine. If I were trying to squeeze every bit of possible speed out of it, I’d probably ride the Canyon, but if I just wanna chill ride, the Defy. As others have said, gearing might come into the decision IF the 6K of climbing is up any serious grades - I’m guessing 6K over 100 miles on a typical fondo route, your compact gearing would be just fine.

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Assuming identical fit, probably the Canyon but, it would comedown to what I thought would be faster wheels. In general the wider internal/external rim widths the better imo.

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I did a similar century a few weeks back which had lots of climbing at the end, nearly 8000ft in total and rode my road bike with compact gearing as opposed to my aero bike with semi-compact. Being able to spin easy gears makes a difference later in the ride.
It’s also setup less aggressively than my Propel which helps with comfort.
If I had a Defy I would have ridden that…it an N+1 option I’ve been mulling over

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