Quote:
Originally Posted by Big G
I'm surprised the giant doesn't have carbon forks
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It does. Aluminium steerer, composite blades, standard construction for the early years of CF forks (and frames, lugged and glued) still used for cheaper bikes as CF steerers are expensive (relatively)
Other than that, they are much of a muchness, the raleigh appears to be best VFM (with the 105 groupset) and also the most useable (mudguard clearance is always nice to have available if you do want to fit them!). But i suspect the frame may be slightly cheaper, unless you are going to really abuse/race it, you'll probably never notice, keeping the tyres pumped up and getting a decent fit will probably give you more benefit.
The felt looks very similar (but with a cheaper groupset, the micro shift it uses is still very new and doesn't have the back up or road miles that shimano/campag/SRAM have)
The giant seems to be quite racey geometry compared to the others (long top tube, shorter head tube, so unless you want a head down arse up position its probably not the best, the Aluxx SL frame on the giant has a long and illustrious racing heritage in its various versions, it would be ideal to buy and then upgrade at a later date)
Oh, and as an aside, its critical that you get the right size, and set it up right, nothing worse than ruining the ride by having a badly set up, wrong sized bike, makes the whole thing a miserable, uncomfortable and possibly dangerous experience.