I know that (variations on) this topic have been done to death, but I’d be really grateful to hear your thoughts.

Time to replace my old commuter, a 2003 Ridgeback Genesis Day:01 with drop bars. A new job and no car mean I’m now riding 12 miles each way to work. It’s rural, very hilly (including couple of long 1-in-3s) and very pot-holed. As a mountain-biker, I’m finding the Ridgeback scarily under-braked, and a bit flexy (to the extent that there’s lots of horrible rubbing from somewhere when I’m really honking up the b*stard hills).

So, should I be looking for:
– a proper road bike
– a ‘crosser
– a tourer / audax
– some hybrid concoction
– *wildcard* build up my On-one 456Ti frame with drop bars and road-able wheels/tyres

It’s got to have great brakes in all weathers (can canti’s or V’s ever be as good as discs?) and mudguards / crud-catchers are essential. Something that’ll take tyres bigger than 23mm, too, as I’m not used to dodging pot-holes. And it’s got to be fun – I like a bit of adrenaline & speed on my commute.

Tempted by a Croix de Fer, but slightly put off the whole Ridgeback / Genesis thing by the flexiness of my Day:01.

Looking at spending round £1k, give or take. Any suggestions…?

The Cotic cross bike would seem to fit the bill?

Genesis Day 1 Alfine?

id second the cotic…or one of these is pretty good value
http://www.cycle-world.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b85s6p9161&z=11297

bad picture though!

Cotic X doesn’t have rack mounts though, (or mudguard mounts I believe). Presumably you are using on or both for a regular commute?

Cotic Roadrat might fit the bill. On-One Pompetamine possibly?

29er might allow slightly chunkier tyres than you average cross frame, which would soak up the potholes a bit better.

kona dew drop if you can find one, they stopped making it in 2010.
Croix de Fer like, but Ally frame and BB7 disks.
Disk mount on the chainstay so no problem fitting any old rack.
Mine’s now done a few hundred miles of mixed on-off road commute and is ideal for the job. only about 600 notes too, so spend the rest on decent wheels like I did.

Thanks for the ideas. Any takes on how these bikes ride?

Not sure about the Alfine equipped bikes as I really think I’m gonna need as wide a gear-range as I can get (slowwwwww up those hills and faaaaaaaaaassssst back down them)!! Also, there’s the extra faffage of wheel removal with horizontal dropouts and mudguards. Bound to get a puncture when I’m running late for work.

Liking the look of the Cotic Roadrat.

Kinesis Decade Tripster looks nice too. Someone on here posted a pic of there’s up recently, have a search 🙂
EDIT – actually here it is

Anyone tried building a decent mtb frame into a roadie build? Sorely tempted by the thought of a tough, ti framed road bike, specially if I put on a short-ish rigid fork (it might be a bit slack otherwise). Or would that just be a pigs-ear of a bike?

I haven’t even thought about the component compatibility issues (would a road-bike chainset fit the BB shell of a hardcore hardtail, would I have to go for higher gearing to compensate for the smaller diameter wheels, etc). Also, not sure how those 26″ wheels would affect the “road-bike” mile-munching feel that I’m after for my commute?

Argh – too many things for my brain to cope with on a Friday afternoon!!

Steve, there is someone in my “Pompino photo thread” who put 700C wheels on an Inbred, which fits if you have sufficiently low profile tyres. From what you have said though, it sounds as if you would benefit from something a bit chunkier in terms of tyres for your ride, so you would need to go with 26″ feels or get a 29er frame if looking at MTB frames.

Sounds like you would get on well with a “monstercross” bike with mudguard eyelets (drop bar 29er with 1.5″ 29er tyres)?

my boss swears by his pompetamine 11. he also has a pretty hilly comute of 11 miles

On One Pompetamine

Hi Pix – yeah, I’ve offered up my 700 wheels to the On-One and it’s a little too tight for comfort (also, I already have a spare set of decent 26″ disc-hubbed wheels kicking around). I don’t really want to buy a new mtb frame and go from there, it was just a case of could I get my (very lovely) ti frame back in use?

I hadn’t seen the Pompetamine was available with the Alfine 11. Still not sure about horizontal dropouts with mudguards, though. Otherwise, very tempting.

Oh and another question for those who know about these things – can you get hydraulic disc brakes with levers for drop-bars (with integral shifters, ideally)?? I really, really like being in control of my braking!

Thanks very much for everyone’s input….

Oh and another question for those who know about these things – can you get hydraulic disc brakes with levers for drop-bars (with integral shifters, ideally)?? I really, really like being in control of my braking!

In a word, no.

I think someone has done a brake lever (but discontinued?), but definitely not an integrated brake/gear lever.

I think you can also get cable to hydraulic converts, getting you the worst of both worlds, as far as I can tell.

I’ve got Road BB7s on my Tripster (see link above). I’d prefer hydraulics, but it’s hard to fault the BB7s.

Hydraulic’s will not give any benefit on a cross bike.
I’ve got bb7’s and it’s really easy to lock up both wheels with my semi slick tyres.
There is no point in having way more braking power than tyre grip…

Reading everything above, I’m coming round to thinking that I want the fastest, roadie-est bike I can find that will still take 700×28 tyres, mudguards, and canti (or mini-V) brakes. Happy to carry a backpack if there’s no rack mounts.

Thoughts within these parameters…?

Am I the only person who noticed “very hilly (including couple of long 1-in-3s)?

Where on earth do you live that has a couple of long 33% gradient hills ❓

Hi Steve,

Fair point.

At my level of fitness, 5 yards is a long 1-in-3!

I guess I was over-stressing the hills. I’m in West Cornwall, so my hills tend to be from sea level, up to “land level”.

There are a couple of real b*stards (including one that is about 1-in-2.5 just round the inside of a hairpin – and that in itself is enough for the lazy git in me to want flexible gearing), but nothing that anyone should rightly call “long”. The worst is about 200 yards of sustained 1-in-4 (ish), at the top of which I know there’s another 3 miles before I stop climbing.

Having said all that, the total climb (over my 12 miles commute) is only about 260 metres vertical, so, yeah… I’m a lightweight.

Maybe I should have said “a couple of plenty-long-enough- 1-in-3s”.

Still want to be able to winch up them and hit 48mph (current pb) down them, though!

cannondale cross bike, stiff, light as a good road bike, fast – takes rack with a madison seatclamp added, fits guards, really fun to ride – excellent frame that will last for years, and puts a smile on my face.

I have a CAAD 9 with 105 (was reduced to £1000 from about £1300) and I ride cross races, commutes and touring – done about 8000 miles on it and it looks like new.

Just bought a day one s/s as a winter hack – but the cannondale is the first bike I ride – prefer it to my MTB now as it’s so versatile.

Hello to you in West Cornwall. I went to school in Hayle.