My wife’s looking to replace her stolen commuter (a whyte portobello) and has a budget of £600-700. She (I) can’t be arsed trawling second hand or building something so we’re looking at complete bikes, ideally ones that can be sat on pre-purchase to check fit (she’s between frame sizes). Must have drop bars, some gears and have clearance/mounts for mudguards.

The Boardman CX bikes seem an obvious choice (esp with BC discount) but what else should we look at?

They r very good, i would say that as i have a small cx team upgraded for sale. Drop me an email if u want any details.

Would recomend them for cummuting

Giant rapide range come into band at those prices and come in lady size too.

Decathlon do a cx bike for £799 I think. Or the road bikes are pretty cheap.

Thanks Toby, but drop bars are an important feature so those Giants are out.

Karnall – I might get in touch once we’ve tried one out in the shop, cheers.

As I have said before, beware expensive repairs – “good” kit is not always appropriate for commuters IMO.

Ok let me know its got sram rival bb7s and cotic wheels

Good point Al, although at the moment it’s the drop bars, disc brakes, tyre clearance and mudguard mounts that are the main selling point of the boardman (also the fact that she can sit on it before buying).

The Decathlon looks good, Evans do a Pinnacle Arkrose at around that level, I’ve got the £1k version on C2W and it is excellent. Norco do some as well, a guy at work has one of those. Not sure about discs at that price though on them.

I’ve got the cx comp, wouldn’t bother with the team other than the carbon fork can’t see its worth the extra £300. I’ve removed the frog leg brake levers as made the brakes feel spongey when using the sti levers. Other than that I have been well impressed with it, I’ve got the sks commuter mud guards that just fit and there only £12 at halfords. Good point above is the sora won’t be expensive to replace once worn and performs adequately well

adevaynes – when you say the guards ‘just fit’ do you mean in the sense that they only just fit or in the sense someone would say a Mac ‘just works’?

Raleigh Royal seems great value. May be a terrible frame/kit (have not a clue when it comes to road stuff) but at that price i’m tempted.

The fork on the new Team doesn’t have mudguard mounts BTW.

Are they on sale again now anyway, after that paint issue?

Why change away from Whyte? Sussex or Dorset

Thanks chapaking – good to know (was probably looking at the comp anyway). Nit sure if they’re on sale again yet, just drawing up the longlist.

Jake25 – Good suggestion. She never really got on with her Portobello but I think that was mostly the flat bars.

or buy british - Saracen

Erm, you do know that Whyte and Boardman are both UK brands, right?