Honest Road Bike Reviews

Any good recommendations for sources with honest road bike reviews?
I know everyone has an opinion but I'm trying to cut through the typical 'praise' reviews to see the big picture. For example;
- I understand Ridley had a few years of making cockeyed frames, when was this?
- Nobody talks about Felt because they have no style, are they good bikes?
- Cinelli make great bikes but they're overpriced for what you get, why?

Let 'er fly!

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Any good recommendations for sources with honest road bike reviews?
I know everyone has an opinion but I'm trying to cut through the typical 'praise' reviews to see the big picture. For example;
- I understand Ridley had a few years of making cockeyed frames, when was this?
- Nobody talks about Felt because they have no style, are they good bikes?
- Cinelli make great bikes but they're overpriced for what you get, why?

Let 'er fly!

You're not wrong about Cinelli having premium pricing generally (that's just where they've positioned the brand; no different than Santa Cruz extracting a premium for a frame) but I would recommend going into Strada Cycles and talking to Jason or Joey-Lee (husband/wife team who own the shop). I ended up buying my gf a Cinelli Saetta with Campy Athena from there and it turned out as a pretty good deal in the end. They were also very good about doing proper test rides vs. parking lot tests (I ended up buying myself a Bianchi based on a 40km test ride).

I hear ya on the 'praise' reviews - only way to figure out whether you like them is to ride them!

Or you could draw on our collective wisdom.

Bad road bike choices tend to revolve around buying the wrong size or wrong tool for your application. I can think of few "bad" mainstream frames, brands, or component groups.

No doubt, I've come around to the idea of buying from a solid LBS instead of used or from MEC (no disrespect) for a proper fitting and selection.

Again I'm thinking of big picture warning signs of frames, brands, components to avoid.

Again I'm thinking of big picture warning signs of frames, brands, components to avoid.

Again, I can't think of a mainstream frame or brand to uniformly avoid or that is a dog (other than Costco/Walmart/CT bikes). Road bikes just don't get enough abuse to see tons of failures. It is more about price point, getting sized properly, and right bike for right application.

I'll say "Cervelo" … frames have a lifetime warranty against defects in workmanship and materials excluding paint and decals.

I understand Ridley had a few years of making cockeyed frames, when was this?

Everyone's hating on Ridley right now because industry drama and MEC.

Nobody talks about Felt because they have no style, are they good bikes?

Nobody talks about Felt because they dump their money into R[HTML_REMOVED]D and not advertising. The new AR's look great!

Cinelli make great bikes but they're overpriced for what you get, why?

Cinelli reinvigorated their brand via lifestyle appeal, and that can sometimes create a backlash. For an A-level brand, their pricing is extremely attractive; a Saetta Radical is almost identically priced to every other identically-spec'ed 105-level bike on the market.

Or you could draw on our collective wisdom.

Collective wisdom is a valuable resource, but it comes with the caveat that there's no browser plug-in currently available to filter out the BS.

Bad road bike choices tend to revolve around buying the wrong size or wrong tool for your application. I can think of few "bad" mainstream frames, brands, or component groups.

THIS. A THOUSAND TIMES THIS.