I’ve been toying with the idea of treating myself to a new road/cross bike.

I’ve currently got a Trek 1200, which is an okay starter bike. Runs fine and okay nick.

My wants:

Thinking of looking at something with disks, I ride all year and rim brakes a)have the delay when wet and b) your rims get screwed pretty quickly with all the crap on the road and c)there are mountains here, so good brakes are important.

Thinking that a triple would be a good idea, some big hills and when I’ve got a rack on back for a weekends tour sometimes the climbs can be a little bit tough going

I’m thinking about using the bike for work now and again, it’s a 60km commute, so I’m thinking of going in with the car and bike on a Friday, riding home, leaving the car at work and then riding back in on a Monday. Distance it’s self isn’t so much of a problem as I’m used to putting in some reasonable rides, just need something comfortable.

Plus I want something that I can still use for the odd summers day road ride.

I quite like the look of one of these with 105 and fitting some dropped bars (like the option of crouching into a head wind or tucking in a downhill) But I’m not sure how the dimensions suit fitting drops:

Price Tour de Alps

But then I wondered…could I adapt my current trek.

New folks so I can fit a disk on the front?

I could fit a triple crank. I take it I need a new rear Deralieuer, chain and bottom bracket. The lever has 3 shift positions. It’s 18 speed currently.

I’m currently running 700×23’s I recon I can easily fit 25’s looking at the current gap (which would help a bit on the non-road cycle paths, plus some crud, road/mud guards.

Interested to hear of any tips/hints/ideas on suitable bikes/or conversion methods.

Cheers,
GL

Sounds like you need at least a couple of new bikes there! 🙂

You could make those mods (don’t forget a new wheel/hub if you are going disc) and you may end up with your ideal bike or a bit of a dogs dinner that’s not great at anything.

For the wet have you tried decent pads like the Kool Stop Salmon? Bit of a revelation here.

You could just get a wider range cassette on the back instead of a triple, or maybe go compact.

I did think of just keeping the Trek, then getting a cross bike with disk’s for the winter….but I’ve already got four bikes in the basement and the wife is probably getting a road bike next week.

Yep, I think the disks would be nice on new bike, but converting might be a pain in the butt and the result would be a bit cack. I’ll give the pads you mention a try.

What’s the score with a compact. Is the inner ring smaller than the standard, I take it still requires a new crank, can’t fit a smaller ring on the existing crank?

Cheers,
Gl.

If it’s a Trek 1200 it must be a good few years old, I’d not bother spending all the money on it.

You sound like you’d be after a disc brake cross bike, perhaps something like a Salsa Vaya or Spesh Tricross? Nowt too racey, so you can use it for touring, but still reasonably road focused.

Yes, new crank with smaller rings.

If it’s a Trek 1200 it must be a good few years old, I’d not bother spending all the money on it.

Yep, 2005, but up until recently I was living in Greece, so what with the good weather and some fettling from me, it’s in pretty good nick.
Plus I bought some new rims wheels end of 2012.

Maybe I’ll look at the price for a compact crank, chain, new gear/brake cable and some new brake calipers and decide.

Problem I have is trying to find a bike that does exactly what I want. Plenty of cross bikes, some with disks and then to top it off, I’d like the possibility of fitting a rack from time to time and I don’t want to go down the P-bracket route.

Choices choices.

Also sound to me like you need a couple of new bikes.

Where are you riding exactly? Are you riding with others or solo?

I think that if you buy an “in between” bike you could limit yourself. A friend of mine, could not make up his mind what type of bike he wanted and bout a hybrid type city bike, with the aim of doing more commuting. He now feels a little bit left out when people go mountain biking, but also cant really keep up with guys on road bikes.

Also sound to me like you need a couple of new bikes.

Where are you riding exactly? Are you riding with others or solo?

I think that if you buy an “in between” bike you could limit yourself. A friend of mine, could not make up his mind what type of bike he wanted and bout a hybrid type city bike, with the aim of doing more commuting. He now feels a little bit left out when people go mountain biking, but also cant really keep up with guys on road bikes.

I need something that’s okay on the road, but can handle a little bit of rough cycle path. I’ve got the MTB side of things covered.

Plan will be to commute from time to time, but as it’s 60km’s I need something pretty efficient.

I get a few road rides in, but they are mostly solo so not too worried about keeping up in a pack ride.

I reckon a cyclo cross bike would suit my needs with a two sets of wheels one with a heavy duty set of tyres for exploration rides and some road tyres for the days I fancy just sticking to the tarmac.

Best bit is wife has found a road bike for herself from a work colleague, hardly used, running Ultergra…..

Do you think she’d notice if I swap my 105 over with her Ulterga….I think not 😆

Although I should imagine the crank arms will be a different length…darn it!!!