I’m after a new bike to act as my winter bike, rough track / canal / bridleway cruiser and future light tourer. As I’m keen to buy it from my local shop for the after sales support I’m looking at Trek, Whyte (and Focus) at under £1k. The bikes are not in stock and would have to be ordered so no test rides.

WhyteDorset

Trek CrossRip

I’m struggling to decide…suppose my concern more on the Whyte is how strong / suitable it is offroad, it is described as “Cyclo Cross durability with pure road geometry” but not sure if the Trek would be any better.

Crossrip: Stronger (heavier) / more suitable (is it?). Good warranty / support. Cross top brakes. Review suggest the Hayes brakes are good. But…’only’ Sora 9 speed, think the weight is around 12kg compared to near 10kg for the Whyte (allegedly) , really not taken with the blue colour ! Bit unsure on the geometry…56 frame has a 58.4 effective top tube which sounds long.

RD7 Dorset: Lighter (but is this at the expense of strength), Tiagra 10 speed, Pro Max brakes bigger unknown name than the Hayes on Trek.

Aaargh…so anybody used / abused either of these bikes with any tales to tell.

I’ve got a 2013 Whyte Saxon Cross (similar geometry) and I’d suggest you try the Dorset for size, my Medium is quite long (5ft 10 rider) and I sometimes wonder if a small would have been better, although I did the Exmoor Beast (65miles) at the weekend without problem.

Edit: I’ve just double checked the Whyte geometry and its not as close as I thought. 😳

Thanks – that’s a nice looking bike anyhow.

I’ve had a sit on a crossrip and bear in mind the front end is quite high, should be good for off-road control.

I’ve just bought one of these]these which doesn’t have quite as high a front end but stills feel like it should be fairly relaxed on the rough stuff, not had chance to ride it in anger yet though.

I have a crossrip great bike on the road or off-road mine is a 2013 dark grey.Brakes take a while to bed in.Not keen on the 014 blue coloured one.Good tough bike with life time warranty.

Thanks..I much prefer the 2013 colour. I think I’m going to go with the Trek as I know the warranty / support is good and also I think (but not sure) that the Whyte is max 28mm tyres and I’d like to keep the option to go a little larger (And still get guards on).

I’ve got the Trek Crossrip, (not the Elite, so a nice matt black) in a 56 – as 5′ 8″ female that may sound a bit big, but I do have 33″ inside leg measurement and I like big bikes. I especially like the high-ish front end, having not ridden drop bars before. Done a couple of thousand miles on it and love it.

That’s reassuring to know that at 5’8 the 56 is okay as I was concerned about the long top tube. I’m about 5’11+ but inside leg is only about 32 but the standover figure looks fine.