I usually practice N+3 but an exercise in catching up with what’s about nowadays if nothing else:

Ideally steel or ti
Lightish
Discs
Droppy/swoopy bars
plenty touring bosses
sloping top tube, good standover/fairly upright
Good on road
Good on moderate trails/muddy paths etc

£6-800 used in good nic

Is there such a bike? Or do I just suck it forever and a day with my lovely old M-Trax hybrid and Vs? (Still a bit short in the rear ie pannier/heel strike probs tbh). Is a Salsa Fargo the type of thing I wonder? Or Tripster

These Specialized AWOL’s look really good,

http://www.leisurewheels.co.uk/m10b3s6p11428/SPECIALIZED-AWOL-Deluxe-2014/RS_GB/42921

The AWOL is a great bike, I’ve got the Comp version which uses higher grade steel and adjustable dropouts. If you want something cheaper you could look at the Norco Search S series, I had the old version (Indie Drop) and did the Ridgeway and a bunch of road touring on it with no issues.

Arkrose?

Fargo?
Mine could well be up for sale.. I prefer my Vaya.

Genesis Croix De Fer 10, awesome bike.

Yay quite a few 🙂 I like the AWOL and the Fargo. Although looking at it not sure the Fargo is long enough for my intended use. Teetosugars why prefer the Vaya?

When I get to this point I always think back to being a grubby youth on my old (Reynolds 500) ATB (size too big) that made me ditch my Carlton road bike. ATB ruled my world – no special gear or luggage except bibshorts, waistpack and a ‘The Munsters’ T shirt, and I went everywhere and made that bike do literally everything. Now getting back to more sensible built-for-the-job bikes (?) there is soooo much choice since I last bought a road-orientated bike.

Seem to remember that Dawes made a Reynolds steel tourer with discs, with 26″ wheels, could have been the perfect expedition bike before its time?

If you can live with an ally frame how about GT Grade? GT Grade Tiagra 2015 I’ve been looking for sub £1k CX bikes that also work as a commuter/adventure bike and the 105 option is the best I’ve found

Ah, I remember – the Dawes Sardar 631

Funny, a Google image search of ^^^ same brings up Teetosugars Fargo and my M-Trax hybrid in the first page of results.

Genesis Tour de Fer. £900 all in as a fully equipped new bike.

Used – Singular Peregrine is sturdy enough for cross and tour duties. Not the lightest and probably not the cheapest. Well made though.

I have a mate with the AWOL and it’s a capable, if somewhat sturdy beast 🙂 My requirements are very similar to yours and I initially had a Jake the Snake, which did the job well, albeit a bit to racey and harsh. I replaced that with a 2014 Croix De Fer, which was much closer to meeting the requirements, and I sold it just before Christmas, in very good condition, at the lower end of your price range, so there will be others around.

I replaced it with a Croix De Fer 30, which is similar geometry, but better components, again, to do the same type of riding

Genesis Tour de Fer or Croix de Fer 10, depending on how much touring you’ll be doing.

Van Nicholas Amazon does all this well – I can get 47c tyres in it, which is very handy offroad and it’s great as a roadie too. Think of it as a Tripster with slightly more clearance…

Specialized tricross? I’ve just build one up from and ebay frame and an old road bike I never used, total cost was about £300. Alloy frame with carbon for and seat stays, plenty of mounts.

Nice bike mister 🙂 Are you completely happy with the DC19s? Mine seem to work fine but they always look worryingly weedy. VN are now doing their own carbon disk touring forks and I’m awfy tempted….

Yup, the Fargo could be ideal, but it looks like it’s getting quite a crowded market. You won’t get them very light, but unlike some of the others on here you do get the ability to use a full MTB tyre width with them, and they are comfortable and stable loaded.

Or a Peregrine:

december 004 by jamesanderson2010, on Flickr

Nice and cheap?

Ridgeback tour

Best tourer I ever had. It’s not top grade equipment and it’s a bit heavy but it’s the comfiest bike I’ve ever ridden. Did 206 miles in a day last summer on it and could have done way, way further (got a 300 miler planned this year). Just sit on it and turn your legs forever.

I’ve ridden it on various offroad tracks with no issues. It’s not a proper cross bike but that’s not what you’re after, right?

Some nice bikes up there. No not looking at alu, although have given the Tricross a few fleeting glances over the years as for the money if seems to answer a lot of questions. Am addicted to the zing and longevity of quality steel tubes, and old enough to know i’m not imagining it. In saying that, Easton Ultralite is not so bad, and once pressed a Maxlight into ‘adventure touring’ mode, and that was pretty nice but I was always worried re fatigue as the only frame I ever cracked was Easton Ultralite (Rocky Mountain)

I’ve ridden it on various offroad tracks with no issues. It’s not a proper cross bike but that’s not what you’re after, right?

Yeah no yeah – not really sure just want something quality that handles well enough on lengthy offroad excursions but still zips along backlanes and carries stuff and self with the least aggro and discomfort yet doesn’t weigh a ton so can easily be part-time bare-bones training/fitness (road) bike . Might be a lot of ask but I’ve gotten so close by simply converting an old butted chromo Raleigh MTB to full XT with some road tyres, that surely it can’t be that much harder to find something of similar quality that does the same yet with discs and a little more rear clearance for large panniers – and a little more comfort on long distance. Curiously I’m not fussed about wheel size so much, I get on with 26er, I’ve gotten on with 29er, 700c etc.

For the types of riding I do the biggest compromise I’m happy to accept is that of competitive road cycling, just never been into it am more an all-day off-road pootler and/or back lane mile-logger. This doesn’t mean I want a heavy bike, jst not an a55 in the air/head on the front wheel whippet.

Nice bike mister Are you completely happy with the DC19s? Mine seem to work fine but they always look worryingly weedy. VN are now doing their own carbon disk touring forks and I’m awfy tempted….

I know exactly what you mean, they’ve not missed a beat but I’ve never liked the look of them, especially compared to what has come out in the years since building it. I was considering the Lynskey touring ones but I’ll take a look the the VN’s if they’re as light as the DC19s. Just need to get a chip in them or something so I have an excuse…

converting an old butted chromo Raleigh MTB to full XT with some road tyres

Any of the above suggestions will probably be better than your converted bike IMHO.

If I were you I’d stick with Deore kit, it works as well as XT, is significantly cheaper and not as much of a magnet for thieves.

I’ve got an old on one ti cross which I do this with – no use to you as a recommendation as they stopped making them years ago but I learnt a few things from it.

I would say one thing – it is compromised a bit. They best thing about it as a frame is how comfy it is. Unloaded on the road I kept looking behind me on the road thinking I have a slow flat as the back end just soaks everything up. Off road too it is great for the same reason. However, fully loaded in tour mode with my not inconsiderable bulk it is really too flexy – all that nice suppleness unloaded becomes a definite disadvantage. The other problem is BB height. In cross/off road mode the slightly higher than a road bike BB is a good thing. However proper tourers have a lower BB than a normal road bike to aid stability so it is again kind of compromised.It does as a tourer but it is far from ideal.

Hear you on the compromise, convert. Same issues (some flex when mega- loaded, higher BB than I’d choose for road)

Robdob, good sense on Deore but I well remember hand polishing the bejabbers out of all this cheaply acquired/spers box retro XT gear, so it’s not about the price 😉

Midlifecrashes – looks awesome, but have to ask how the handling is with all luggage up back?

My contribution:

I do love the bike, felt great off road with WTB Nano 40s until I got carried away and broke it/bent the forks 🙁 I *think* I was just unlucky but I doubt I’ll be tempted to take it out on anything rougher than gravel tracks now, which is fine as it absolutely gallops along them.

Also great as on the road, I did the Bealach Mor with friends last year, I was 45 minutes slower than my previous time but I can’t blame all (or even much) of that on the bike, definitely held it’s own in groups of people on road bikes.

Looking forward to pimping it up a little over time, especially the wheels, although I’ve just found out that on paper, the Sun Inferno Rims are probably as good as the popular H-Plus Archetypes or Panceti rims, i.e. 470ish grams but also eyeletted, so maybe not much improvement possible…

Interested to know if folk are swooping tyres around much for different riding ? I leave my conti cxspeed 35’s on most of the time, only changing to 32c conti contact reflex’s for road touring weekends

not sure if many 2nd hand Kinesis Pro6 frames around in the UK

edit just read the Ti / steel bit so not appropriate but still fun

use mine for commuting/single track/gravel road and road challenge rides
to answer question ^^ have a set of light(er) wheels with 25mm slicks for pure road – for single track and gravel run 32mm tyres as still ride road/paved trails to get there and hate running bigger – recent “gravel grind” event I’d say majority running 38/40mm

Pro6 has bosses on the back for a rack, find the frame a bit unforgiving for all day riding but so much fun off road that’s OK for me

…..but if you put panniers on it then will blow over in the wind… fact

Vaya, if you think you’ll be on more than offroad. Currently got 29×1.8 tyres in mine, and it’s amazing how brisk it is on road, but how well it copes off

Surly ogre for me doing ok so far but she’s no light weight lol