I am pondering a new bke to do work duty, shopping with panniers, training road rides, family pootles to park/beach/pub, light forest trails with the kids etc. In fact everything except mountain biking for which the Pitch remains.

Got a Roadrat at the moment but it is mega flexi when you press on or have it loaded up. I am a fan of disc brakes but fancy a lighter frame. Budget is £1,000 max C2W.

My top choice is a new Whyte Charing Cross – urban drop barred crossalike.

Second place is the rather conservative Specialized Tricross Disc

Any thoughts on the Whyte or other suggestions?

has that got a really slack head angle?

can’t see from the pics but are there rack and ‘guard mounts at the back?

Crosslight?

Cotic X or Croix de Fer? I have the latter and it has coped with a year of canal/footpath/road commutes, a bit of off road etc just fine. I use it so much more than the mtb with the commuting that it feels more “normal” than my hardtail.

i’m looking at one of these too (saxon cross) as a commuter. Looks very good indeed.

I have a Jake the Snake and a Bad Boy. For the type of rides you are describing I find I use the Bad Boy more (apart from the training road rides). I think if I had to replace them both with a single bike i would be going for a light big wheeled flat barred hybrid with proper discs.

The head angle of the Whyte cross bikes is a slack 69 degrees 😯

As for a Cotic X or Croix – I am not sure I fancy a steel bike to replace the Roadrat with as it seems like it would not be enough change to justify the £$£$£.

@HansRay – I think the top of the range Saxon Cross is the most cyclocross race focussed and may not have rack/mudguard mounts which may not fit the bill for your commute?

I’m building up to making a similar purchase, but also with some touring in mind. As well as those considered the Salsa Vaya and Surly Long Haul trucker are on my list. Or for a real bargain the Edinburgh Bike Coop’s tourers are well reviewed. I will be going for steel though and weight is not my main consideration.

I use my Long Haul Trucker on a daily basis, it’s esentially my car! Can be loaded up so heavy I can barely lift it, or strip it down for long day rides. Can also take fat tyres so not bad off road either. Got it set up with Randonneur drops at the moment, really comfy. It’s a weighty setup, but can take quite a beating and as above not bothered about weight. Infact I love it to bits! 😳

I dislike the flex and twist of my current Roadrat even though it is more comfortable than the Cannondale tourer it replaced.

The Whyte Kings and Charing cross bikes have rack mounts front and rear but the carbon forks Saxon Cross does not, at least not on the front – can’t work out the rear.

I have pondered a Kinesis bike but I want discs and that leaves only the Tripster for which I can’t find any complete bikes on sale.

Can’t think of many disc brake options..

The new planet x uncle john might take discs. You’d probably have to build it yourself which makes c2w hard. Pompetamine is disc and hub gear if you like that dort of thing.

Boardman do a cross bike and a hybrid with discs.

Surly cross check or long haul trucker are nice but no discs

Focus Mares 3.0 is cheap but alas no discs again.

Surly are doing a LHT with disks for 2012, so it’ll be out shortly.

Tomaso – good point, i only presumed it would have them. Having mud guards would be necessary here, I guess I can live without a rack for now. If i tour, I can always make a trailer

The Charing Cross is at the top of my list for my next commuter (whenever my workplace decides how to run the scheme after the recent EU VAT changes).

The only other disc, drop bar bikes I’ve considered is the Kinesis Decade Tripster or the new Kaffenback. Both are frame only but you could get them built up with new (and maybe old) parts from most LBS’s under the scheme I’m sure.

Finally placed an order for a Whyte Kings Cross today, wanted a new commuter bike I could ride off and on road, without all the fuss of a mountain bike (don’t ask I think it’s just me…). Won’t be available to pick up till October 15th though.

looks **** shite for skateparks