Looking to get either a road or cross bike in the new year as I need a bike that I can grab for a quick blast when I have an hour or so spare.

Little lad takes up all my time and I’m finding I struggle to get out on the MTB as much as I’d like then suffer when I do as I’ve not been out enough! Don’t really like road work but needs must.

We have the c2w scheme at work and I intend to get a bike on that. Our limit is £1500 but I’d like to keep it around £1000 or below. I believe c2w rules out sale bikes? Also, not really interested in Planet X as they charge a £100 admin fee.

Any advise of decent bikes to look at would be appreciated. 😀

if you want a really decent bike check out the 2016 Giant Defy 0 at £999

in the long term I’d swap out the wheel set for something lighter (once the stock wheels give up the ghost), and in the short term some quality winter tires and your saddle of choice, otherwise a very good bike

The “no sale bikes” rule depends on your employer and the bike shop.

A well known chain offered me a sale bike that was down to the C2W £1k limit with a “nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no moar guv’nor”

They retracted it when I mentioned that the employer whose scheme it was would be HMRC. Sadly. 😉

Thanks for that, it looks a beaut and better specced than many I’ve looked at. Straight on the shortlist.

Forgot to mention that on MTB’s I much prefer Shimano over Sram. Does that carry over to road/cross?

Nah, SRAM is better.

I’ll have to ask about sale bikes. I just remember overhearing in a bike shop that they wouldn’t c2w a sale bike as they incurred extra cost and it was not worth while on already discounted bikes. 😕

Obviously if I can get a sale bike I will as I’m after as much bang for buck as I can get and don’t know enough about road/cross to worry about the latest trends.

Nah, SRAM is better.

Do you think that with MTB though?

I’d avoid cross bikes as a rule. This because the proper ones are designed as race bikes. In other words very steep head angles (twitchy) and very stiff frames. The latter translates to harshness on the road with vibrations going straight through the frame to back and hands.

At £1k there’s an enormous amount of choice and you’re going to have to look hard to find a “bad” bike. I ride a Kinesis T2. UK designed it’s the winter bike of choice for many serious roadies. Strong, reasonably light, can take mudguards and a rack (nothing worse than an hour or two in wet conditions getting constantly sprayed front and back), good balance between comfort and speed, reasonably light. The standard build – Tiagra 2×10 groupset which is broadly equivalent to SLX, Shimano R501 wheels (Most bikes at this pricepoint will have no name hubs with cheap Alex rims), Tektro brakes – is very good at its standard price point of £999. Incredibly Merlin currently have it reduced to £679.99.

Kinesis at Merlin

Also very good is the Cannondale Synapse. Again a good balance between comfort and speed and also award winning. I like the Synapse adventure at Evans. Comes with disc brakes and mudguards and SRAM rival groupset. Only downside is the crappy wheels, but then that is pretty much a given at this pricepoint!

Cannondale Synapse disc? RPP £1000, 2015’s going for around the £750-800 mark. Heavyish wheels but not as bad as some, FSA crank is less ghetto than it looks (my SuperX came with one, I replaced it with a fancy carbon Sram Red and only lost 100grms).

Giant TCX SLR2 is their £1K cross bike. 105 and (decent) mechanical discs.

Either/or? Why not get one that’ll do both? Plenty of bikes around currently with discs, a bit of clearance, and decent road manners if you get one with the right geometry. Get the right tyres (or two, or even a second set of wheels) and you’re laughing.

Double post!

Do you think that with MTB though?

I don’t think it really matter as much on a MTB

Got to say that Giant is a lot of bike for only £999. That said a mate of mine who is a bike mechanic won’t touch 11 speed groupsets. Says the number of knackered derailleurs coming back to him is ridiculous. Reckons that they’re just not able to get them strong enough to to run at 11speed and be able to take day-to-day knocks

Thanks again for the comments and keep ’em coming!

Either/or? Why not get one that’ll do both?

Happy with that but ignorant to what’s about. I defo want comfort and the ability to fit mud guards as it will essentially be a bike to force myself to exercise more and in all conditions rather than a speed machine.

105 equipped cx bike for a grand?

You need to decide how likely you are to ride it off road. If you aren’t then buy a road bike. Cx style bikes are great fun but they are a compromise and not as efficient on road as a good road bike

To be honest I expect it’ll stay on the road. I’ve denied the need for a road bike for a long time and the thought of a cross bike made me feel less ashamed. 😆

Cannondale looks good though.

Cx style bikes are great fun but they are a compromise and not as efficient on road as a good road bike

Not having had a “road” bike for about 20 years (I have an arkose to commute on) are they as comfy as a CX/gnarmac/whatever these bikes are actually called?

Cx style bikes are great fun but they are a compromise and not as efficient on road as a good road bike

Hmm. “CX style” is a broad church. I’m actually in the process of migrating from a race-oriented road bike, which I appreciate for its efficiency, to a new bike built around a “CX style” frameset, and I don’t envisage any loss of efficiency. (And the ultimate target of each has been and will be to knock out 600-700km rides, so efficiency is right up the top of the list in terms of considerations.)

Not having had a “road” bike for about 20 years (I have an arkose to commute on) are they as comfy as a CX/gnarmac/whatever these bikes are actually called?

Yes, road bikes are comfortable just like other bikes. After all, they all the same thing. A rigid frame rolling on alloy wheels with hard tyres.

Comfort is down to fit/setup really.

You can fit full mudguards on the Defy. It’s a squeeze but Giant’s own guards will go. SKS cromoplastics won’t (well nor under my posh forks anyway). The Defy is a genuine all rounder with an emphasis on the more racey end of the spectrum. The Cannondale Synapse is more upright, and a better comparator would be the CAAD8 105, which has a tall front end but nice geometry and gash wheels.

Everything from 105 upwards in 11 speed shifts fine. Personally, I’d avoid the Cannondales because I don’t like the press fit BB30 bottom bracket (Our CAAD8 creaked until the BB was replaced), but you will be happy with any.

Fit matters more than anything else.

The Defy really is a great bike. We’ve got three in the garage in various guises from bottom to top of the range. They are all lovely to ride. The alloy frame has mounting eyelets for mudguards and a rack.

Not having had a “road” bike for about 20 years (I have an arkose to commute on) are they as comfy as a CX/gnarmac/whatever these bikes are actually called?

Short answer: not really.

Long answer: It depends. On 150km+ rides on smooth roads my alu Defy is very comfy, presumably because it fits me well. Over a pot-holed 20km commute in winter with tree debris all over the road, my Croix de Fer is definitely comfier. I guess over longer distances the lighter weight and position become more important than tyres.

I love commuting on my CdF though. It feels perfect for going up/down kerbs / across the park and when I feel like it, I can take in some bridleways. It’s a bit slower on the road, sure, but on my 20km commute I think the difference is pretty negligible – a couple of minutes at the most.

Above, CdF wins for me!

Thinking about it, the ability to easily cut through parks and the like would be a bonus so maybe a CX type is the way to go? Not that bothered about outright speed, more comfort.

Any suggestions more suggestions on this front? I’d looked at the Orange RX9 simply because I tend to buy Orange MTB’s but realise they are poor value compared to others and am not limiting myself to the brand.

Check what shops your company C2W scheme allows before you get carried away,I was limited to Evans…

So cx style is a broad church, in theory the cx bikes that are aimed at racing will be less comfy and the croix de fer “life” bikes will be comfy enough. Obviously this is a sweeping generalisation and your set up counts for an awful lot both in comfort and effieciency.

FWIW I have a charge filter “cx style” steel bike and a Genesis zero “nice” road bike. The Genesis is comfy to do 100 plus miles on decent roads, it’s light and efficient and climbs really well. It was great in the Alps this summer.

The charge is steel, a couple of kg heavier with wider tyres and discs. Very similar set up/position. It’s a comfy bike to ride, especially on our Devon lanes and I’ve done 50 plus miles with 6000 feet of climbing on it but it is definitely slower on road even with the same tyres. I rode yesterday with a mate on his proper road bike and I was definitely working harder to stay in his wheel than normal. Speed is important to me in that on road I want to ride as far as my limited schedule will allow / keep up with roadie mates. There’s a lot of climbing here and on a longer ride I think the weight and less stiff bike counts against you.

The charge is a hell of a lot of fun to ride on mixed on and off road loops though. I wouldn’t be without a proper road bike if I’m honest though

the best thing about the emergence of “gravel” bikes is that manufacturers are now redeveloping their CX bikes as proper CX race bikes. In the past a good number of CX bikes were not race bikes, but compromised all rounders.

Specialized Tricross? probably the worst bike I’ve owned in recent year. not good on road, not good off road – the newer Specialized Crux much better for off road, its a proper race bike.

some riders like converting a proper CX bike for road use, the compromises I’ve found is the geometry (slack head angle, tall bottom bracket height) means they can feel ponderous at front yet unstable in rear) and undergeared for road riding, especially when swapping out CX tires for road tires which further reduces the overall wheel diameter and effective gearing

if you are spending majority of time on the road, getting a good road bike is a safe bet

hell there’s nothing to stop you riding it off road, sling on some tires like Vittoria Pave, I’ve certainly done miles of muddy canal paths and gravel roads on my road bikes!

Check what shops your company C2W scheme allows before you get carried away,I was limited to Evans…

I’m OK as our scheme covers a decent range of local shops. Should be able to pick up a bike from most of the bigger names.

if you are spending majority of time on the road, getting a good road bike is a safe bet

hell there’s nothing to stop you riding it off road, sling on some tires like Vittoria Pave, I’ve certainly done miles of muddy canal paths and gravel roads on my road bikes!

I’m leaning this way tbh as any off road action would be limited to lanes like above, canal paths and park short cuts. Anything more gnar and I’ll be on my MTB as I’d prefer to do that anyway!

Mate has a cannondale synapse that he’s squeezed knobblies onto and ridden on light off road. He’s been fine apart from the questionable braking of the cantis in the wet. A disc version would get around this.

There are some “all roads” bikes around that fit this niche. Not really a bike for proper off-road but capable of poorly surfaced paths / light single track.

Gt grade, kona rove, Norco search, Genesis datum, Saracen Vulcan, bowman pilgrim

If you’re going down the “road bike with occasional forays off tarmac” route it’s well worth sussing out framesets that will take at least a 28 comfortably, ideally with guards. It’ll give you way more options in terms of tyres, which is the main limiting factor in taking a road bike off-road. They’ll all do flat fine-gravel paths, but once you’re looking at mud or larger irregularities, 25mm slicks suddenly stop being fun.

But don’t assume a “non-road bike” isn’t comparable to a road bike on the road. Some aren’t, but some are, especially if you tweak the build a little.

Road.cc did an article for you 🙂

http://road.cc/content/feature/172569-will-your-next-bike-be-gravel-bike

hell there’s nothing to stop you riding it off road,

Exactly. A road bike can easily be ridden on gravel surfaces, bridleways and even single-track if you want to.

IME, it was fine but as pointed out above, the wider the tyre the more comfort and grip (even though I used 24c for a few years but then I am not bothered about comfort as don’t ride for more than 2 hours)

I wouldn’t worry about gravel. A Defy and 27c Vittoria Paves will see you over this faster than other bikes:

Fully fitted mudguards may be tricky, but SKS Raceblade Longs do fit over my 27c’s. Whether they would survive the cobbled onslaught is a moot point (I haven’t tested them).

pure road riding is pretty ugly you see lots of cars, trucks and roadside rubbish

I’d only go to 100% road bike if intend to join a club or have someone to ride with on a regular basis who only rides road or live in a real backwater look at the map and work out the loops you will ride

cx stylee/gravel/ATR etc etc means can ride some forest track, a bridleway, canal towpath, (naughty singletrack) to link the good road bits