Ive been out of cycling for a bit so dont know whats going on!
Would like a general purpose crossbike for riding around on, commuting on, any links recommendations would be great, thanks in advance, j

Roadrat?

Specialized TriCross – available for that sort of price in the sales.

What about this?

This one??

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Focus_Mares_2009/5360037602/

I love mine..

The Tricross and the Kona Jake have bottle, mudguard and rack mounts which makes them a lot more practical for commuting or touring. I have a Jake and it handles nicely on and off road, seems to be plenty tough too (I’m the third owner and it’s going strong with no dents or dings).

Yey the Focus has no mudguard eyelets, but i do have a rack that fits any bike, cant you get clip on mudguards?
The thing that puts me of Kona is they always seem to be hugely overpriced for what you get(compared to mountainbikes they all seem a bit overpriced for what you get TBH), i like specialized bikes, but why is partly brown in colour? brown is wrong for bikes isnt it?

Actually looking at the Focus bike, its got V brakes i doubt any type of mudguards will fit, without fouling on them.

You can get Race Blades but they’re a bit rubbish, tend to slip and whatnot. My Jake isn’t a stock build but the complete version doesn’t seem to be a naffly specced as some of their mountain bikes – admittedly some of the Focus ones put it to shame, but then I don’t think there’s much benefit to having fancy stuff like a 10 speed drivetrain on a bike that’s going to be used for commuting, touring and off-road.

Ridley crossbow – £700 and gets good reviews
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/frames/road/product/crossbow-10733

Jon,

Give Ag a ring and see if he still has his Voodoo cross bike for sale.

Just a thought.

Oh, and can I bring my forks over for you to have a look at sometime???

Dave

And don’t let Roger hear you say brown is wrong.

Lemond poprad disc, mine for sale at £600

Do you keep the same sizing on a crossbike or go smaller(depending if its a tradition horizontal toptube type of bike, not a compact type)? because im a 60cm in a horizontal TT road bike

Purists would say go a size down…

Try it, and see how it feels?

Yep thanks for that, im sure an inch isnt going to make a great deal of difference, theres not much seatpost showing on my roadbike anyway, if it ends up a bit low at the front i can flip the stem or something

If yer anywhere near Manchester yer more than welcome to take mine out for a spin.

“Do you keep the same sizing on a crossbike or go smaller(depending if its a tradition horizontal toptube type of bike, not a compact type)? because im a 60cm in a horizontal TT road bike”

Same size for me – about 1 cm shorter in the top tube than my road bike.

tee, is yours a size 58cm? how tall are you? Looking at the geometry of the mares the head tube is very short, i might be better off on 60cm, but of course they dont have any of 60cm anyway!

Get a Ridley crossbow you will not regret it they are great.

Is this the one?

Felt, Nah Bru its a 56cm- I’m just under 6ft, and it fits me fine…