My current ride (Cannondale Synapse 5 Feminine) is nearing its 1 year birthday.  But for months I have been wanting...no, NEEDING something with more aggressive geometry and a less upright position.  We've flipped my stem and swapped 2 spacers up, but I still feel like I need to stretch a bit more, especially in the drops.  I don't really have the ideal body proportions for a WSD frame--I have the relatively shorter legs and longer torso like a guy, so fit-wise I would have likely done better on a unisex frame, but the Synapse Feminine has short-reach shifters, which I need for my smallish hands.  And it was a great starter bike for me to become more comfortable and confident on the road.  Perhaps a more aggressive frame would have put me off early on.

At one point I thought my next ride should be a cyclocross bike, since we have a fair number of unpaved roads and a great XC race series in our area that I could get in on, next year.  But then I started to really weigh the pros and cons of my next bike being a 'cross frame vs. a more performance-oriented road bike and the road bike is winning.

I have never done 'cross.  I think I would like it, but I can't say that for certain.  I also have a f'd up ankle that I'm not sure will ever be right.  It's been 4 months since I badly sprained it and abused it further in the first 24 hours after the sprain (continuing to run nearly 10 trail miles during a relay, not elevating it, drinking beer, walking around, etc.).  I fear that it may be permanently screwed-up, which would not lend itself to riding cross.

I have done a duathlon...just 1, but even under horrible weather conditions I had an absolute blast and hope to do at least 3 dus in 2011.  I am also planning to do some centuries, including one big fundraising ride in Death Valley in Oct., so I maybe wouldn't want to do 'cross races so close to that event, anyhow, given my risk of re-injury of my bum ankle.  I may try to squeeze in a HM next Fall, too.  I wasn't able to do a half this year, thanks to the ankle, and I miss that distance.

Most of my bike time would still be on roads...lotsa chip-sealed roads (at least 3/4 of our roads are chip-sealed in these parts).  Not so nice with my aluminum frame.  I've been getting in some miles with DH on our steel tandem and the difference in the level of vibration transmitted from these frames is like night-and-day.  My hands, feet, and ass are a lot happier on the back of the tandem, even on roads that make me really miserable on my Synapse.

I do like Cannondale and they and our LBS offer a 20% discount to JDRF fundraising riders, so I'm really eyeballing this bike.  The SRAM shifters will adjust to my smaller hands and the carbon frame should dampen road vibration a good deal better than my aluminum frame.

Anyone here have any experience on the SuperSix?  Did you like it for both long rides, as well as fast rides?  I'm thinking that if/when I pull the trigger will be closer to Spring, so that I am not tortured by having a shiny new ride that I'm stuck using only on the trainer.

Thanks, Troy--I definitely appreciate your take on things...'cause you know your stuff.

BTW, how are you feeling almost 2 weeks out from Kona?

 

 While I do have an aluminum bike that is very comfortable and is one that I have outfitted as my "Touring" bike What T-Bone said is true. The light weight aluminum bikes transmit the ground bumps straight to your arms and a$$.

 

I just bought a new bike yesterday....although this one is not fast sleek and sexy. It's a steel frame Surly Cross Check. I didn't buy it to do Cyclocross.....I bought rather to do a new type of endurance riding that has been growing in popularity around here. It's called Gravel Grinders....Typically a weekend long bike ride that consist of traversing midwestern gravel roads.

 

Anyway.......I have a Six13 and I love it....It's stiff, it's responsive and it's fast. It's a combination of fiber and aluminum.  BTW.....now is the time to buy bikes in the midwest. Dealers don't want to be heading into the winter with a bunch of last years models when all the roadies have been salavating over the new models displayed in the Dec and jan issues of BICYCLING.

 

I ride with many different people and ride for many different reasons......so I have 5 bikes. A Fast road bike, a Party Ride/Touring road bike, a MTB, my daily commuter and now a Beef Gravy Brown (butt ugly color...I would have named it Dog Shit Brown) Surly Cross Check. 

 

http://www.surlybikes.com/frames/cross_check_frame/

 

Ha, yeah....at one time I had looked at that Surly and that color just makes me want to hurl--and I loves me some beef gravy!  I have to remind myself that it's not a beverage.  I know it's silly, but I kind of ruled that bike out simply for looks, but also weight.  If/when I go cyclocross I'd probably end up with a CAAD10 or Redline.

Someday I hope to have different bikes for different purposes.  Now that I have a good idea what I REALLY want in a road bike I will be able to get something for a different purpose for my next ride.  Like you we have a really cool tour that follows mostly gravel/sand roads.  That's one I'd like to do, someday.  It's supposed to be really fun and have some fairly challenging hills, too.

As much as I would love to get my hands on a 2010, I am almost certain that our shop doesn't have any 48cm (I'm a shorty) Six or SuperSix models in-stock, at least not in a unisex frame and I know they don't have any SRAMs.  I think this might be the first year that Cdale is offering several SRAM-equipped models in each series.

As far as Gravel Grinders.....There is one here that in 6 years there have been 175 different people attempt it... there have only been 49 different finishers.  330 miles, 2 days, in April - - In Iowa. There's some video on Youtube.....search under Trans Iowa.

Wow, that must be absolutely brutal! 

Yeah, buying a frame and building a bike is something I've thought about, too.  Though in the past Cannondale has offered a 20% discount on bikes for anyone registered to do the JDRF fundraising gig, which I will be.  I'm thinking I may not be further ahead with a 2010 frame and components, since I'm not certain they apply that same discount to a la carte purchases.  Definitely something to ask about, though.