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kat_astrophe
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Scott Contessa Speedster review

  • Price Paid:$1,200.00
  • User rating:
    (4.6)
  • Would buy again from this company: Yes
  • Used product for: 1 months
  • # of logged workouts:

"Great road bike for someone with a fairly low budget. Completely race-worthy, the kind of bike that makes you want to go for a ride every time you look at it."kat_astrophe

(4)

Ease of use

Triple gearing (Truvativ Elita Road triple crankset) gives a lot of lower gears for hill climbs. This also makes it attractive for novice road riders like me.

(5)

Quality of Construction

This is one of the nicest women's bikes for its price range that you are going to find. The frame is hydroformed aluminum with a carbon fork. Definitely rides a bit harsher than steel, but not as harsh as many aluminum bikes. Components are mostly 105-level; most bikes at this price point are Tiagra-level.

(5)

Fit

For me, at least, this bike is a perfect fit. I have short legs but a longer reach than a lot of women; I have heard that Scott tends to make a longer frame. This bike is a women's-specific version of the Speedster, so it has a lot of features that make it more suited to a woman rider (not just a paint job and a shorter top tube -- this bike has short-reach levers, a women's saddle, and narrow handlebars.)

(4)

Comfort

This is a fast road bike , appropriate for beginning racers -- the position is a bit more aero than a comfort-oriented road bike would be. The seat tube angle on the XXS and XS frame sizes is steep, but not as steep as a full-blown tri bike (75 degrees for the smallest frame, backing off to 73 degrees for a large bike). That said, this bike is extremely comfortable for me. Lots of women-specific features, like I said above, really add to the comfort.

(0)

Adjustability

(I have the best LBS ever -- I haven't needed to make any adjustments on this bike yet, and if I feel that need, I will go pay the LBS a visit.)

(5)

Value

I looked at a lot of bikes and test-road not quite as many before settling on this bike. Although some comparably-priced bikes (esp. Trek) will get you a higher-tech frame with more carbon bits on it, you will have a hard time getting a woman-specific bike with this nice of a mix of fast, light frame with decent components at this price.

(4)

Appearance

Beautiful bike, white with some black and lime green on the frame. Hydroformed tubing is sexy-looking. My only appearance-wise complaint is that the white gel tape on the bars gets grimy really fast -- I would have preferred black or lime green.

(0)

Customer Service

Didn't deal directly with Scott.

(5)

Performance

Great bang for your buck. This bike screams "Ride me! Ride me FAST!" Comfortable ride -- carbon fork absorbs a lot of the typical aluminum harshness over rough pavement. If you don't climb a lot of hills, you might not like the triple gearing, but the bike is still pretty light (smaller frame sizes are just barely under 20 lbs.) Shifting is nice and smooth, with ST-700 short reach shifters (Ultegra-level shifter), and Shimano 105 derailleurs. Some other people don't like the spec brakes it comes with; I haven't had a problem, but I haven't been on this bike very long yet.

Strengths

Fast bike, woman-specific design, nice mix of frame/components/weight for the price, good climber

Weakness

Flatland riders might be better served with compact or standard double gearing, some riders recommend switching out stock brakes though I haven't had any problems.

Buyers clubContessa Speedster
  • 11 people use
  • 517 workouts logged
  • 13178.34 miles / 768.39 hours logged