there is a lot of choices of aluminum bikes...usually 8-speed bikes equipped with Sora and 2300 parts...

mostly more of the value brands like polygon, merida, giant, KHS, fuji, jamis that has bikes spec'ed this low...

you can try the lerun warehouse sale today.... it is ongoing...

if you ride flats alone... most probably not much of difference unless you get itchy hands...

if you ride hills and suddenly find that you gearing is too heavy and you wish for it to get lighter, you will have no where to run as the is no choices for 8 and 9 speed equipment..

at least if you are on a 10speed bike... you can start playing around with different cassettes if it hasn't been maxed out...

if you buy a cheaper bike and end up swapping in 10-speed parts... you end up paying more or less the same amount as you should have in the first place...

of course, 8 and 9 speed will still be salvageable if you can bear hanging MTB parts on your road bike... i've seen touring bikes done it... still requires more investment than it should have...

Don't be sorry, I did not get it then but lucky for me, I did not settle for a 9 speed, now that I realised the importance of maintaining cadence.

not to say the best... optimally if you can afford it... no point spending RM2.3k on a 8 speed bike and later another RM1.2k to swap in 105 10-speed parts if you need it when the bike with 10-speed is only another RM1.5k away from your original bike...

you think we had it any easier than you???

most of us would have gone through much more excruciating ways of investing pointless money before getting the right stuff...

not to praise ourselves...but at least you got an arena to ask...

entry level carbon maa..nothing to brag about it..one thing for sure, you still can achieve the same speed as bike that is more expensive, but perhaps with a bit of more effort..