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Not the best bike for the money but hey, that brand and color. In all likelihood my budget isn't this high. Not sure I want to fuck around with something used again so maybe an Optimo 4, Domane AL 2 (looks pretty sharp in red and the weight seems pretty good).
Giant Contend AR 3 looks pretty nice in that orange, Giant has great manufacturing standards and QC but they are a bit harder to find in shops. It's only Sora but Tiagra isn't common, the Optimo 2 is the only bike from an established brand I've come across in the 1500 and under range with it. Also seems like the Contend frames are some of the nicest I've considered - the seatpost is non-standard but has that nice profile and sleek clamp.
Besides I think I'm leaning towards disc for the frequent crappy weather here (even if it's just mechanical). I've also found unless wheels were very true and the brakes were nicely centered I'd have to back off the brake calipers a good bit to make sure the pads weren't rubbing the wheel and sapping power. But I also had Tourney brifters on SLR brakes so that wasn't really an ideal pairing.
Scott Speedsters are very clean looking with that fully internal routing and nice decals but $$$. The two most entry level models don't even come with carbon forks.
