Hi
I’m looking for a new bike…. I commute 2(ish) days a week at the moment and it varies from 18 miles to 9 miles depending on where I leave the car. I currently do it all on road but would like to change my route to take in some off road tracks. Therefore I have been looking at cross bikes (Cotic X, Genesis CdF etc etc) as I would like discs!
I currently ride a cheap Pinnacle flar bar road bike, not sure if I want to go to drops (bad back so can’t stretch over for long periods…) but def want it to be able handle fast tracks and road aswell.
So what are my choices?? Cotic Roadrat seems a good price and I like the look of the On-One Dirty Disco version but it is too much cash! I only have £1000 to spend……
Help and suggestions pls!
Thanks

ridgeback flight series, they all have discs and clearance for wider tyres.
flight 03 can be had for about 900 iirc.
well worth a look.

On One Pompetamine Alfine £900

not sure about Alfine….. seems to add a bit of extra weight and I read that taking to wheel out if you puncture is a bit of a pain…

Like the look of the flight 03!

yeah, ive spoken to a couple of folk off here who have them, they are really happy with them.
and they look great too imo.

I ran a RoadRat for ages and ultimately only really sold it because it didn’t really work for me with drops. As a flat-barred road bike it was fine.

Not the lightest thing out there and the fork was harsh – the carbon fork off the X would make a nice upgrade – but it was comfortable and pretty versatile in that you could run it with discs or vees, singlespeed, geared or Alfine and it’ll take anything from thin road tyres up to fairly substantial cross tyres and even thin 29er ones at a pinch.

Mine did a lot of miles as a winter training road bike, general hack and on easy bridleways with cross tyres fitted. Apart from the harsh fork, which you only really notice off road, the other thing people criticise is the slghtly faffy rear drop-out system, which uses a sort of combined derailleur hanger/chain-tug thing and means you need to remove the rear QR completely to slide the rear wheel out. I guess if you’re someone who regularly removes the rear wheel, that might be irritating, but mostly it’s no big deal.

I haven’t ridden much else in the flat-barred road sort of genre, but unless you’re really bothered about weight, the Rat’s great in a slightly retro, steelish sort of way. Hope that’s some help.

Nice rigid 29erHT for commuting, CX and mtbing

day touring lite Swift by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

Course it’ll take some rough and tumble too

steps by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

Any more ideas???

Boardman hybrid? Plenty of room for 32mm Tyres, I have one.

Flat bar cross/road bike

When exactly did it become embarrassing to say that you need a hybrid! 😉

I’d second the roadrat – the dropouts aren’t that much of a faff once you get used to them and they’re great fun to ride – really regret selling mine.

Or what about something like a Surly Ogre or a KM built up with suitable rims and cross tyres? Perhaps not as light as a hybrid, but would give you max versatility for serious offroading, touring etc.

I would recommend an On One Pompetamine too. The Alfine is heavier but on the plus side virtually maintenance free. I had a spate of rear wheel punctures until I bought some Marathon Plus tyres but changing a tube used to take me no more than 5-8 minutes including inflating the tyre and packing the stuff away. I’ll admit it took longer than a quick release but it’s a simply matter of loosen nuts, unhook the cable and chain and remove the wheel.

if you don’t want the alfine i’d say get a pompetamine anyway and run it singlespeed. i love mine. 🙂

Not unsure if this would appeal to you, but I’ve got an unwanted insurance replacement coming next week in the form of a canondale badboy. It’s the version with discs, 27 speed slx kit and rigid 1.5 fork. Mail me as per profile if you are interested,.

On-one 29er-
In summer trim, mine has 28mm road slicks on the original ReeTard rims, discs both ends, old skool flat bars and bar ends. It’s geared, with an 11-26 cassette and a deore 48-36-26 chainset. These give a good spread of close ratios.
I’ve done huge road miles in a day on CX semi-slicks, then gone off road the next day with the same tyres at half the psi.
Worth considering.

withersea – thanks but a bit too mountain bikey for what I need!

SprocketJockey – I have a hybrid, I want something more ‘CX’!!! 😆