I bought this bike mainly for winter riding because of the fender mounts. This bike rides better than I expected, and I've been riding it all year. It feels quick, handles well, and rides very smooth. It won't let you down on the faster club rides, considering it's an endurance bike.
There are a couple of things that keep this bike from being excellent. The fork rake...The front wheel is out there more so than most bikes, however, the only times it's noticeable are steep climbs like over 10%, hard, out of the saddle efforts, and tight cornering. It's almost like your chasing it, but the rear wheel is tucked under you more and keeps the bike feeling quick on starts and accelerations. Stock weight is the other biggie. My small weighed 21lbs. I changed the wheels and went down a tire size and saved over 2lbs., which transformed the bike immensely. I also changed out everything else except the shifters and derailleurs and got it down to @17.5lbs. Fenders are easy, but the front will require some extra work, because of the way it mounts under the arch of the fork, but you don't need to be a mechanic to make them work. The 105 12 speed is another highlight. It's so effortless and quick. I was thinking about putting electronic shifting on it, but it shifts so good, I'm not sure I will. I also changed out the stem, which seems proprietary, but it's not. I added a Zipp carbon stem and had no issues with cable routing.
All of my other bikes are Look or Time and cost way more than this one, but this one is almost right up there with ride quality after the upgrades I did. Even if you just change the wheels, it will make this bike so much better.
This is a great bike. My friend has one and he thinks so too.
I wish there was more to say about pedal cleats, but they work well and do their thing. I'm a trainer/racer/commuter rider, and when I come and go from work, I have to use a loading dock ramp, which is coated with epoxy. In carbon-soled bike shoes, it's interesting in the wet, but I've noticed it's far easier to walk around with the grip cleats vs the all plastic ones.
It may be placebo, but I do feel that these stay more secure in the pedal once clipped in. They last longer for sure if you walk a lot, I get 6 months or so and I don't do any walking other than in and out of my house or work. Keep 'em lubed with some dry wax and they are good to go.
Catch a sale and stock up.
This is my go to cleat when replacing worn out cleats. The small pads really do help keeping me from 'ice skating ' when stepping off the bike. The pads did not interfere with clipping in/out. Give them a try'
For context, I bought these for a gravel bike used primarily on the road, wearing Shimano RX800 wide shoes with Silca SPD cleats, and am an old guy with sketchy knees. Have always used traditional XT/XTR pedals for this type application but wanted a more planted, road-like feel. So I pulled the trigger on a "race carbon" pair.
For me, these pedals are a huge improvement in that the shoe/cleat/pedal interface feels waaaay more planted and stable....much closer to a road feel. My sketchy knees have noticed the difference, too. Even clipping in seems easier for some reason...no more hit-and-miss (my same shoe/cleat combo). On the scale and in use, their weight and stack height are equal to or a little better than my old pedals. They are too new to judge their reliability, but so far the only downside is that I wish I'd have bought these back when they first came out.
