 If you've just landed on this station, this is where I do cycling videos, both inspirational and entertaining stories, do a little bit of vlogging, very much focused on cycling, and also some deep dive road cycling product reviews, which is what I'm gonna do today. So if that sounds up your alley, consider subscribing below. Or if you like Bradley Wiggins, apparently I look a lot like him. That could be another reason to get on board and subscribe. Now in this video, what I wanted to do was share with you my personal experiences and review my own personal road bike. For the first time ever, you see I run a company called Bike Chasers, an online marketplace for bikes, and over there I've done a ton of road bike reviews in the past. But never have I reviewed my own personal road bike. And after riding this thing for 12 months now, I've got some interesting insights I think I can share with people out there, particularly those that are in a similar boat to mine. So an experienced road cyclist versus an entry level road cyclist. And I think because this bike is at an entry level price point, two and a half to $3,000, there are a lot of entry level cyclists that would have this on their contemplation list. Now I built this bike down at my local bike shop, Hampton Cycles, about 12 months ago. And the way it's been built is very similar to the current specialized LA Sprint Comp, which retails for about two and a half thousand dollars. So this bike comes with Shimano 105 gearing. I've got an old quark power meter, just down here, and also some Fulcrum V wheels. So sort of entry level aluminum wheels. And the 2019 specialized LA Sprint is no different to this one here outside of the fact that specialized in 2019 are offering a disc brake version. So the two primary things that I wanna focus on today was one, why do I personally like this bike? Number two, if you are an entry level cyclist, what are some of the things you need to be thinking about if you are looking at this bike? And what I wanted to do here is compare this bike, which is predominantly aluminum, to a carbon fiber row bike at a similar price point. Before we go deep on these two aspects, let's have a look at some of the key characteristics of the specialized LA Sprint frame set. Now specialized HQ go on about this DeLuccio Smart World technology. I think I've said that name, right? Which strategically places more welding material where it's needed, resulting in an aluminum bike that's more compliant and considerably stiffer. According to specialized, but where I like to focus just as much as my time on material is that frame geometry. And this bike right here is very similar to the specialized Tarmac, which is the all-round race bike from specialized, but perhaps even more similar to the specialized Venge, which is the aerodynamic race machine. So it takes bits and pieces geometry-wise from both of those bikes, but is more similar to the Venge and even more aggressive in some aspects to the Venge. An example of that would be the head tube right here. Now the head tube on the specialized LA is 130 mil. On the Venge it's 133 mil, and on the Tarmac it's 143 mil, which basically means the rider on the LA is gonna get down and super aggressive. Now you've also gotta take consideration the length from the bottom bracket, which is considered to be the stack. That basically runs from here up to this point here. And the LA is more aggressive than both of those bikes combined. So this really is quite an aggressive proposition from a geometry perspective. Now because the specialized LA is aluminium, in order to reduce some of the buzz you traditionally get with alloy frames from the road, what specialized have done is they've got carbon fiber forks and this is taken from the Tarmac S-Works and the seat post here, the carbon seat post, that comes from the specialized Venge. So really it's a blend of both bikes, perhaps leaning a little bit further towards the Venge and more aggressive than the Venge in a number of ways. Now what do I personally like about this road bike right here? When I sold my Tarmac S-Works SL5 last year, I was looking for a road bike that was gonna tick four primary boxes. The first one was I had less than $3,000 to spend. Number two, I wanted a road bike that looks sexy. I'd come from a specialized S-Works SL5 and I only had $3,000 to spend and the LA Sprint Graffiti Frame here looks super hot and specialized due to a good job with the LA's of releasing new models every year, limited edition models that really tick that box. Number three, I wanted a road bike that was good for criterion racing and also good for fast bunch riding. I raced in the local Crits here in Melbourne and I also do a number of fast bunch rides. So something that was aggressive in geometry and something that was also aerodynamic. The fourth box I wanted to tick was a bike that I could sort of bang around a little bit. I ride on gravel roads a fair bit here in Melbourne for training purposes and I also travel with my road bike a fair bit. I put it in a bike bag and take it on a narrow plane and in the past with a carbon fiber high-end road bike, I did get a little bit nervy with stone chips and the bike being damaged whilst on a plane. Now this bike does an incredible job of ticking all those four boxes. In fact, as you look at it right now, it's a little bit banged up. I came off in the Dandenong's about three or four weeks ago and the bar tape here is a bit banged up. I do have to fix that. And it's also rather dirty because I've been riding on the gravel trails over the last number of days. But that doesn't really bother me. Although I did recently get told off by a very well-respected cyclist here in Melbourne about the state of my bike. All right, we just finished our ride. I'm getting a little bike lesson here. So what have I done wrong? I'm just disgusted with the state of the... Back end of the bike here, look at this mark. Looks like it hasn't seen a washing. So that's what I really like about this bike. The next thing that I wanted to talk about is if you're an entry-level cyclist and there's a fair chance there is a lot of you out there that are entry-level because this is in that price bracket, $2,000 to $3,000 which is an entry-level price bracket. What are some of the things you need to be thinking about? What are some of the considerations when it comes to this road bike? Now, what I thought would be interesting here, I recently road tested the Trek Amanda S5. And it was because I was actually away with the family and it was a higher bike. But it's at a very similar price point to this bike here but it is carbon fiber. And the reason why I wanted to focus on carbon fiber versus aluminium and there's many rabbit holes we can go down here, right? There's molding flexibility, there's price, there's stiffness, there's weight but I really wanted to focus on the comfort side of things because if you are an entry-level cyclist, I think comfort is very important. You're probably less flexible than somebody who's riding into their road cycling. There's probably a fair chance you're less tolerant to road buzz and feeling the bumps throughout the bike going into your body. And you've probably haven't spent a lot of your life in a bike riding position. So having something that's a little bit more comfortable is perhaps gonna be better suited to your riding needs. Now to be fair with the Trek Amanda S5, it does have a much taller head tube here. So you sit up a little bit higher on the bike but your weight still does go into the rear of the bike and into your lower back. And what I found with the Trek Amanda S5 or a carbon fiber road bike is it really does absorb the road a lot better. It takes a lot of the buzz and bumps throughout the whole frame and doesn't deliver them directly into your body. Whereas the specialized LA sprint, one because it is an aggressive road bike, you're down a bit lower, you're in an aerodynamic position and it's aluminum so it fills the road quite a fair bit more is if you're gonna be riding say over 40 or 50 kilometers at a time, particularly on roads that are less forgiving out in the country, you're really gonna feel the impact of this bike. Now personally, because I'm riding to road cycling and I use this bike for training purposes as well as racing, but I plan to actually go and buy a high end road bike at some point in time and use this for training. I kinda like the fact that this bike is a little bit less forgiving. It's a little bit harsher because it means that it's gonna make me a stronger cyclist if I'm training on something like this versus a $10,000 road bike. But I'm conscious that if you're an entry level cyclist and you're just looking to get out there, ride with some friends, you're not really racing, you're not really using for training purposes, then I would personally be more inclined to go for something that isn't so aggressive in geometry and perhaps something that is carbon fiber. In summary, if your needs are similar to mine and you've got similar boxes to tick, I would definitely put this bike on your contemplation list. For me, it does a great job. However, if you've got $2,000 to spend, you're an entry level cyclist, just getting into the sport, I would definitely consider a bike that has more relaxed geometry and perhaps going down the carbon fiber route would be better suited to your needs. When I sold my Tarmac SL5, now what do I personally like? I was looking for a road bike that had to tick four primary boxes. Now what do I, before we go deep on these two points, let's have a look at some of the key aspects. Nope, stay, stay.