waddaya think?
I have a Douglas scandium alu that I've been racing. It's light, it's comfortable, it's crashable, but I've sort of been wanting something a little more solid. I have a steel Pegoretti and a CF Fondriest that I'm too chicken to race in a crit.
Merlin is running a promotion right now, and the list price is down around $2600 for frame/fork.

waddaya think?
I have a Douglas scandium alu that I've been racing. It's light, it's comfortable, it's crashable, but I've sort of been wanting something a little more solid. I have a steel Pegoretti and a CF Fondriest that I'm too chicken to race in a crit.
Merlin is running a promotion right now, and the list price is down around $2600 for frame/fork.

i believe the rule of thumb is
if you can afford to replace it, go ahead and race it

FWIW

Oh, I've already wrecked one Pegoretti, which was a dear thing to wreck, I promise you. I'm hoping someone will tell me that I shouldn't worry as much about wrecking a titanium frame in a race, because, despite its low weight, the extralight will be sturdy enough to take a little rough and tumble -- more than my Pegoretti could take, anyway. Also that the extralight is a decent race bike and not just an overpriced luxury item. Which it may be, as well, of course.

Oh, I've already wrecked one Pegoretti, which was a dear thing to wreck, I promise you. I'm hoping someone will tell me that I shouldn't worry as much about wrecking a titanium frame in a race, because, despite its low weight, the extralight will be sturdy enough to take a little rough and tumble -- more than my Pegoretti could take, anyway. Also that the extralight is a decent race bike and not just an overpriced luxury item. Which it may be, as well, of course.

So showing up at a cat 4/5 race with a Nag C50 is not so smart? My Seven Axiom Ti has custom geometry that is scary twitchy in a tight field...I had a heck of a time keeping it smooth at the Krispy Kream race on Sunday. My other ride is a C50...handles like a razor and climbs like a cat...but yikes, she aint cheap to replace.

waddaya think?
I have a Douglas scandium alu that I've been racing. It's light, it's comfortable, it's crashable, but I've sort of been wanting something a little more solid. I have a steel Pegoretti and a CF Fondriest that I'm too chicken to race in a crit.
Merlin is running a promotion right now, and the list price is down around $2600 for frame/fork.

Every time someone tells me about multi-thousand dollar FRAMES, I love my $445 (shipped) S-Works E5 frame and fork better and better!

Its a farging BIKE! Even better: its a RACING BIKE! Buy something nice, but inexpensive and ride the snot out of it. If you crash, no big deal.

My $.02

M
but if it makes ya feel good to ride around on something more expensive than my last motorcycle, go for it!

$445 (shipped) S-Works E5 frame and fork
man, I just did a quick search of S-Work E5 frames -- if you got the frame/fork for $500, that's quite a deal, and, more importantly, that's a deal that I don't think I'm getting.
Pro deals don't count.
we had a deal with Abici. They're all right, but the guy who runs the company got hit by a car or something, and he went sort of batty.

So showing up at a cat 4/5 race with a Nag C50 is not so smart? My Seven Axiom Ti has custom geometry that is scary twitchy in a tight field...I had a heck of a time keeping it smooth at the Krispy Kream race on Sunday. My other ride is a C50...handles like a razor and climbs like a cat...but yikes, she aint cheap to replace.
Whyn the heck did you design the 7 to be so twitchy? Actually don't most crit racers like a quick responding bike? Agree about the Colnagos though. I have a MXL and it is very stable, but not the quickest responding bike out there. Suits me fine for my mostly non-racing needs. Merlin for racing? I owned a pre-Litespeed MXL and it is now property of the insurance compnay after a car/bike crash. They can be broken. Not a bad race bike though if they haven't changed the geometry. Was pretty responsive.

waddaya think?
I have a Douglas scandium alu that I've been racing. It's light, it's comfortable, it's crashable, but I've sort of been wanting something a little more solid. I have a steel Pegoretti and a CF Fondriest that I'm too chicken to race in a crit.
Merlin is running a promotion right now, and the list price is down around $2600 for frame/fork.

1. Your Douglas Scandium is a re-badged Rocky Mountain Scandium. These were notorious for breaking at the junction of the chainstay bridge and the right chainstay. The first sign is a crack along the weld. Of course the Rockys were white so the crack was easy to pick out. FWIW, I broke two of them - one at 3600 km and one at 3500 km. Sorry to bring this up, but you should have a look at your frame to make sure it is OK.

2. I had a Merlin XL, 2002 version. It is a very nice bike, probably one of the best handling bikes I have ever ridden. However, as a pure race bike I found it a little less than inspiring (though I had some of my best races on it). The lateral stiffness was very average and after racing on an aluminum bike again I definitely could feel the difference. In the end I sold the Merlin because I had another race bike and while I liked the Merlin a lot and wanted to keep it as my "just because" bike, I ultimately have determined I prefer frames that have a slight slope in the top tube. My Merlin was a 58, and I needed the 57.1 TT length, but I had a disproportionately small amount of seatpost showing on it and I never liked the look of it. It always looked like I was riding a frame that was too big.

I'm not really sure it makes a massive difference to have a very stiff frame, kind of like softer shoes versus the full-carbon soles, it is trade-off between comfort and efficiency. I would say if you race mostly RRs then the Merlin is great, but if you race more criteriums than anything else then it is probably not the best choice because: a) it is not super-stiff, b) it has a low BB, and c) it is freakin' expensive.

MShaw is on the right track with the Specialized E5. They are pretty cheap even at the retail level and they make a great race bike.

man, I just did a quick search of S-Work E5 frames -- if you got the frame/fork for $500, that's quite a deal, and, more importantly, that's a deal that I don't think I'm getting.
Pro deals don't count.
we had a deal with Abici. They're all right, but the guy who runs the company got hit by a car or something, and he went sort of batty.


Bought a new "last year's" frame/fork on ebay. Wait till the end of the season and you too can strike the awesome deal.

I haven't worked for a shop in YEARS so the days of Mike prodealing his way thru bicycling are LONG over.

M

Whyn the heck did you design the 7 to be so twitchy? Actually don't most crit racers like a quick responding bike? Agree about the Colnagos though. I have a MXL and it is very stable, but not the quickest responding bike out there. Suits me fine for my mostly non-racing needs. Merlin for racing? I owned a pre-Litespeed MXL and it is now property of the insurance compnay after a car/bike crash. They can be broken. Not a bad race bike though if they haven't changed the geometry. Was pretty responsive.

Great question. First, twitchy porbably a poor choice of words. When you lean the bike into a corner and start to counter steer, the bike does not track a smooth line...you have to continually correct as you go through the corner (thus the twitching/correcting). The bike was speced to be more for long rides, with some crits....clearly the Seven guys went more for the comfort, which is something I couldn't really know until after getting the bike. Most Sevens opt for a long head tube with a slightly sloped top tube...about 4 percent in this case. That combination is where I think the handling is less crisp, they are also rather dead in pedal response. When your on a four hour ride over hilly terrain, the relaxed geometry with supple Ti feel is great. When your shoulder to shoulder hammering out of corners, it's not very rewarding. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have dropped the coin going custom. The C50 has just as much comfort, but handles great and is very stiff in the BB. I picked up the C50 frame on Ebay for $2000...a great deal. It had a few nicks on the top tube and a rub mark here and there...but overall pretty nice. My current thought is to simply sell the Seven on Ebay and pickup a Cannondale CAAD7 or CAAD8 for racing.

Sell all of you bikes and race the C50.

Or, Merlin Cyrene for a stiffer racer.