Since I have a little over 2,000 km on the bike, I thought I’d do a short update.
I'm a little conflicted about the bike, but it has nothing to do with any problems with the bike itself—rather, it's about the bike it's intended to replace.
I built it to replace my Rose Reveal endurance bike, as I wanted something that looked faster and cooler so I could show off my race rig in front of my mates on a coffee ride and try a more aggressive position. Since I don’t race, actual performance and aerodynamics make little difference to me. I was mostly going for looks, weight, and fit.
The bike is awesome. Frame quality is really good—it's stiff, and it’s the lightest bike I’ve ever owned (currently 7.3 kg ready to ride, with pedals and Garmin mount, in the largest size). So far, so good.
The cracks are starting to show, however, when I switch back to my old bike for some rides. After riding exclusively on the Speeder for a few months, it's instantly clear how much better the Rose is—at least for me.
Comfort is just a night-and-day difference. I wouldn’t say the Speeder is necessarily uncomfortable—I'm pretty happy with my position (even though I still struggle with saddle choice)—but my old bike is just on another level.
I don’t usually notice things like “compliance” or “rolling resistance,” but the Rose just floats over rough surfaces in comparison. I have the same tires set up tubeless on both, at the same pressure. I also used the same saddle. So the difference really comes down to frame and seatpost compliance.
Frankly, the Rose has a gimmicky, super-flexible seatpost which—until now—I thought didn’t make much difference. But the front-end comfort is also superior on the Rose, so it's not just the seatpost.
I initially planned to sell my endurance bike as soon as the new build was finished...
But now I have to keep both bikes
