Hi guys

Firstly let me start by saying thanks for your time and this is something that is alien to me. Im a mountain biker, through and through who only owns a road bike as its a fast way of chewing up the 12 miles between my house and work in the mornings. I never go for road rides and to be fair I find it dangerous, boring and stressful being on the roads.

Recently I have discovered a huge network of bridleways and gravel tracks which I can use to split the ride up 50/50 road to off road which for me is much more fun and safer. However the carbon road bike does not like this so I need something that:

– goes off road for basic bridleway bashing
– is not noticeably slower on road as I tend to cycle 3-4 times a week
– won’t let me down!

Other points to note:

– I have never liked the position of my road bike as I always feel too stretched and bent over the bars.
– I would like to tubeless it for less faff
– I struggle to like drop bars and the lack of control off road compared to flat bars

naively I have always thought there were just cross bikes out there but as I have been looking have ventured into the world of adventure bikes.

I have spent ages looking through Genesis, salsa, Cotic and there is always something putting me off ( weight, rubbish mech designs,)

I like the look of the spesh diverge and pinnacle akrose, but without ever trying them wouldn’t know.

Also I had a brain wave and thought why not a light rigid 29er with fast tyres? Surely this would be more natural from a mtb point of view.

It needs to be fast on road, able to go off road and ideally under £1k.

Thanks for any help you can give!james

Kaffenback flat bar if you don’t like drops. £650.
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXKAFFAPEXFB/planet-x-kaffenback-sram-apex-flat-bar-urban-bike

I, like you, have always slightly struggled to like drop bars; no matter how great people will say cross bikes are, I would advise you not to waste time and money like me and don’t buy one. I want to like them just never do.
I would say a rigid 29er would be ideal, if you don’t already have a 29er HT already.

Or you could bung flat bars on a Genesis or London Road etc. Get faster-than-29er geometry also a massive advantage is that you can run dirt cheap fantastic Shimano hydro brakes.

Tubeless, Compass Barlow Pass 38c sub 50psi are tough, light, fast, supple and SUBLIME on and off road. SKS Chromo 45 mudguards fit.

I stuck to drops on my LR but have just got rid of my road bike, I’ll never run narrow high pressure tyres again.

Second the rigid 29er, I flirted with two different cross bikes and went back to a 29er as an all rounder. Its just as fast, weighs almost the same and far more capable off road when required. I’m a roadie who loves drop bar bikes too!

Just looked at the kaffen and looks good. Similar to the Cotic road rat that I looked at

Thing is, if it’s the same weight or heavier than a rigid 29er, what advantages does it have? All tyres being the same.

I’m glad it’s not just me who hates riding on drops. Nothing natural trying to grab the brakes on the hoods for me!

And flat bars are fine as long as you don’t get headwinds on your commute.

Thanks guys. Some good ideas

Richard, the wind hates me. I swear it turns around just for my cycle home!

Riding on drop bars is obviously more aerodynamic so don’t expect to go as fast, for the same effort, on a 29er. If you already suffer from headwinds expect to suffer more. I reckon drops to be worth 2-3 gears.

I’d opt for a short travel (100mm) hardtail with a lockout on the fork. I’ve got a cx bike (with 40c tyres) and a scott scale 960. The scott is much more suitable for the type of riding you describe.

If you put flat bars on a frame designed for drop bars (e.g. Kaffenback) you’ll find the toptube about 50-70mm shorter than a normal MTB position, unless you want an upright position?

It is possible to adopt an aero position on a flat barred bike and if you currently spend most of your time on the hoods, there no real advantage to going with drops.

I have an arkose 2

Hydraulic brakes are awesome and don’t take huge effort to stop the bike quick

Adventure bikes tend to be more relaxed and upright than proper road bikes

Drops off-road are excellent, especially combined with monster cross or 29er tyres.

I’ve got a fully rigid 29er and put a bigger crankset (48T) on it in, it’s pretty fast now but still fine off road. Sometimes I wish it had drops though, I get about two miles every night into the wind.

I’ve just purchased an Itense Hard Eddie for exactly this. Made it rigid. Flys and it’s very light.

Even on the last of the ’15 models it was still quite pricey though.

Sounds like you need to get yourself over to the surly website a load of different models that could do the job your looking for and a wealth of knowledge and owner on here and elsewhere to give advice 🙂

The drops for road and flats for off-road dilemma ..

Best compromise I’ve found is a rigid 29er, ideally non-sus corrected, with a swept-back bar. TD1, Fortitude, Jones or similar.

I like riding drops off-road but I won’t pretend I’m in more control than when on MTB bars, just happy to accept the sketchiness and compromise for the benefits on road or smooth sections in between. Did ~450 miles of mixed Alpine roads, dirt tracks and some fun byway-type descents this summer on a fat-tyre drop-bar bike and the memory of it is that as much as it was a great route I’ve enjoyed similar terrain and descents more on my rigid 29er with H-bars. H-bars are way better for control and fun-factor. The drops were nice for the cols, up and down.

Maybe try some bars like Marys, Humpert Space bars, Jones H/Loop, etc. The fore-aft range you get from a swept bar really helps for mixed terrain riding, helps get a tuck into the wind but still not as good as drops. A flat bar with bar ends mounted inside the shifters is an easy thing to try, used that for my first Alpine road tour on a slick-tyred MTB.

Why not keep the road bike & build up a cheap rigid 29er without compromise, then you can choose your weapon ? I have tried several times to build a flat bar cross type bike but then I find myself putting wider tyres one it & embracing the the extra grip over speed.

I replaced an OO Scandal like this

[/url]IMG_0301 by Martin Robbo, on Flickr[/img]

With the much more spendy Pegasus like this

[/url]IMG_1058 by Martin Robbo, on Flickr[/img]

TBH if I wasn’t a tart I would say the very cheap OO frame was just as light & just as good, but I have to tell you that the Pegasus is better or my head will explode 😉

I didn’t know about The Humpert Space as a cheap Jones alternative 😀

Perhaps not surprisingly Evans do a bike quite like Jameso was describing

They really aren’t that common (rigid bikes with MTB length top tubes that is)

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/lithium-five-2015-hybrid-bike-ec071283

jamesdippy – Member
…Also I had a brain wave and thought why not a light rigid 29er with fast tyres? Surely this would be more natural from a mtb point of view…

It definitely is. Much nicer and far more versatile.

I’ve built up a few 29ers as roadbikes. I can now go for a road ride and 30 miles into it decide to cross a mountain range, come out the other side and ride home.

Schwalbe 2.35″ Big Apple tyres are what I use, and they’re ok for almost any surface. I run mine at 20psi if mainly offroad, or 25psi on road.

As for dropbars, I use bars that are close to the Great North Road bars that were popular from the 1930s to 60s.

(One of the nicest to ride was an On-One Scandal – better geometry for the purpose than the slacker 29ers)

This is all really really good advice guys. Thank u for your time.

I will check out the bikes mentioned but I’m not going to lie, I am really liking the idea of the 29r rigid built up light and fast with some kind of crazy bars. I think this will be more stable off road, more fun and still not that bad on the roads.

I really want to embrace the cross/adventure bike but I am more biased to control off road and a comfortable upright position I think

Have you considered the GT Grade? Granted it’s not a looker unless you had a GT Zaskar back in the day (I did) but it has space for big tyres, disc brakes and ride really well.

Pretty good review here

I’m liking the look of that OO in epicyclo’s post, but I would say that the alt bars would be a step to far if you want to retain the speed factor, I tried the Mary’s & the carbon one’s but it was short lived albeit relaxed 😆

OK all you hardcore types look away now

sounds like you need a HYBRID 😳

I have a Cotic Roadrat as my do-it-all bike and it does an admirable job! Flat bars, sensible 29er wheels, MTB drivetrains. It’s a true Hybrid! I took it touring one week, then swapped the tyres and rode it in the woods the next weekend. No idea how much it weighs but with skinny tyres it goes quickly and with knobbly tyres its fun, so I’m happy!

I’ll be out in about an hour on my Ti Fargo. We’ll be riding a mix of road and off road, totalling about 55 miles. It’s such a versatile bike, as I’ve got salsa anything bags ready to fit to the forks, apidura bar and seat bags, and a revelate frame bag for light weight camping trips. Next year I’ll be taking it to Paris-Roubaix, Tro Bro Léon, Gravel Dash and Super Enduro B-Road…

My Roadrat “Hybrid”:

That looks like an iteresting bike your Rat,got me thinking.

I had a Roadrat which I used for road , off road and cx. I swapped to a Pinnacle a Arkose 2 – I find it more comfortable, lighter and quicker.

wicki – Member
OK all you hardcore types look away now

sounds like you need a HYBRID

Nothing wrong with a bike that does an honest job.

I considered that approach, but the narrow tyres of a hybrid means it is compromised offroad compared to an mtb so you then need lugged tyres which is tedious on the road.

If you use a 29er with 2.35″ Big Apples you have smooth tyres so very little compromise on the road – if I can sit on 20+ mph for 5-10 minutes*, anyone can.

It works because the high volume means the tyres conform to the offroad sections pretty well so lugs are not essential, ie you don’t lose out onroad for offroad utility.

A side advantage is if your roads have broken up surfaces, you simply cruise straight over them like a fatbike in mtb country. You get to enjoy all those broken up backroads that shake a nice race bike to pieces.

Offroad, I’ve ridden on most surfaces with this setup.

Muddy surfaces need a bit more care obviously.

*that covers the length of the only flat bit where I ride, and no doubt a proper racing bike would be faster.

Anyone got any thoughts on the Marin Four Corners?

Giant have released the toughroad for this year which I’m considering myself I have a roam ATM but its to much hybrid to little 29er for what I want it for
There suprisingley light and fast, with some minor changes using the parts box it will end up an awesome setup

That a Giant looks spot on.

We had our first one in the shop 2 weeks ago and sold loads already i think its going to me a big bike for the c2w bunch
it comes with 700×50(29×2.0) but its the same wheels as the tcx so can go as low as 25c and anything inbetween and gaurds no problem(one of our lads has run 23’s on his tcx but its close to burping)
im thinking 9sp xt groupset flat bars and ergo ends would be a bikepackers dream brakes are budget shimano but work well

That Pinnacle Lithium looks quite a good multipurpose piece of kit.

I have two sets of humpert bars from sjs 13 quid a pop well worth a try and you can use the centre to get an aero position

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/humpert-boomerang-handlebars-254mm-clamp-black-prod32098/

I’d agree with ‘Bigdugsbaws’ on the 29er front. I’ve had 2 cross bikes and in the end I sold them and got a Giant Talon 29 er . It’s way more fun and not much slower than the cx . You could always get thinner cx tyres for commuting. In my opinion I found descending on rough roads on my cx bike was bloody awful .

For those interested in an adventure bike this is worth having a look at http://www.freshtripe.co.uk/freshtripe/Frames.html Velo Orange Piolet.

Get a Jones – original and best.

An interesting alternative to the Big Apples epicyclo has, would be the Schwalbe ‘Big One’ when it is available:

http://www.bike24.com/p2143273.html

I saw it at the bike show and it was nice and light, tubeless ready, grippy triple compund, and big! Apparently designed for beach racing, i’m sure it’d be good for a mixed route 29er that has been described. I’d love a pair for the rigid 29er in summer for long mixed routes or touring.