Been riding a Roadrat the 13 miles each way to work for a few days each week for last 3-4 years. Most of this has been ss. I use a rack and panniers and carry a fair bit of weight (teacher so books etc).

Just got a new job which is 16 miles and need to do it quickly as short of time (kids etc). I could put some gears on the ‘rat, but am doing a few more road rides now so fancy something lighter, faster and with gears. But it must take guards and a rack.

I’ve looked at road bikes online from Trek, Spec, Giant etc and just got confused. Could put gears on Roadrat but then even heavier! Kinesis Racelight T2 bike top choice at moment. Planet-x out as are Boardman as through Somerset cc and has to be local shops on list.

Any thoughts?

look at audax bikes – tend to have the longer stays for panniers yet still light and take guards

giant defy are also a good shout

btw gears on the rat although heavier doesnt neeed to mean slower 😉

Just found this – if only I could use Halfords 🙁

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/cx/cx_team.html

I’d definitely look at Kinesis or if the budget can stretch to it a Sabbath September would fit the bill perfectly 🙂

Sabbath September by simondbarnes, on Flickr

Nice idea but too much ££££

I have a similar situation, sort of. I want to replace my Focus Merluzza light tourer/commuter for no other reason than I want to…
My list currently includes:
Kinesis TK2;
Condor Fratello;
Thorn Audax; and
Van Nicholas Amazon.

does any one rate thorn frames ? my girlfriends commuter is a raven enduro – its quite terrible in build quality and one of the EBB bolts welds has failed ….

Thorn very local to me. Interestingly all the retailers on Somerset cc give 10% discount on bike-to-work …. except for SJS/Thorn.

Cannondale CAADX 105 comes in just over the Boardman’s price. No discs, but an otherwise fantastic bike.

Very surprised to hear the Raven Enduro isn’t good. The frame on our Raven Discovery tandem seems the best quality I’ve seen other than a few artisan builders.

Maybe its just cus ours is old but it just stinks of cheap.

Cannondale CAADX 105 comes in just over the Boardman’s price. No discs, but an otherwise fantastic bike.

That looks nice – goes off to find local Cannondale dealers

Clink, I don’t know if Cannondale have altered their sizing the past few years on their cx but they come up very strange so defiantly try before you buy.

Kinesis Racelight T2 bike top choice at moment.

And a very fine choice it is too. Here’s mine.

trail_rat, is yours made in Taiwan or the UK? Mine’s Taiwanese.