I’ve currently got 2road bikes, a supersix and a (cheap) alu synapse which I use as a winter bike. I really like the supersix, but the synapse is heavy and unpleasant to ride (it feels really slow and twitchy compared to the supersix and the geometry is quite different). I want to keep 2bikes so one can be setup on the turbo all winter (so I’ve got one less excuse to use it!) and I’m considering the following options:

1) do nothing (use synapse as winter bike and supersix on turbo) and save the money, but dislike the bike I’m riding all winter,

2) replace the cheap Shimano / no name components on the synapse with 105 and hope the weight saving will improve the ride a little,

3) ride the Supersix all winter (with alu wheels and prepare to replace worn components in the spring) and use synapse on turbo,

4) replace the synapse (with another alu bike, but with 105 and geometry closer to the supersix [CAAD 12 / Trek Émonda ALR]).

Obviously option 4) is the most expensive (there are a lot of other things I could spend /waste the money on), however if I go with one of the other options will I end up going to option 4) in a few years anyway?!

What would you do / what have you done?

Thanks.

I got a Kinesis 4S as a winter bike – nice racy geometry, takes rack and mudguards and is nice to ride too. No point in having a winter bike you actively dislike.

I’d say 1, not 2, maybe 3, and if you can afford it 4 but buy another Supersix(105 or frame only/ebay?)

I have a “nice” road bike for dry rides and a Ribble carbon winter bike with 105, full guards and decent wheels for wet rides, this arrangement works really well for me and the handling is fairly similar.

I was looking at bikes like the Kinesis, but this Ribble frame came up cheap – you can probably get them secondhand for not much now.

1. And worry less

hi shmiken, what build have you gone for, for the 4S and what’s the weight? I’m looking at one of these to replace my commuter and be used for a C2C ride next summer

1). And instead of replacing worn stuff when winter is over, ditch the bike and get something cheap in a geometry you get on better with for the winter after.

4. Every bike you ride should be enjoyable in some way. I had a similar think where my winter bike, whilst practical and perfect on paper, was dull to ride and just not enjoyable. After trying various things I just ended up buying a new bike and relegating the old winter bike to turbo duties full time.

i did 000’s of winter miles, including commuting on a supersix hi-mod with sram red & enve wheels

spent most of its time looking like this, all scrubbed up decent enough the next spring

lifes to short to ride shit bike

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Replacing the groupset and drivetrain will make little difference to how the bike rides and feels – some better / lighter wheels and some decent tyres will

How close can you get to the position on the supersix on the synapse?

What wheels do you have on the Synapse? Can often transform a cheap bike with some decent wheels.

FWIW my winter bike is a fairly cheap Trek I brought off a mate. Transformed with decent wheels and rubber and fitting Di2 8)

I was in a similar boat to you, and ended up riding all winter on a shite bike I hated and a pristine summer bike I never used.

I sold them both and bought a really nice winter bike – Kenesis 4S disc with full hydro ultegra and Hunt disc wheels. It’s much nicer to ride than the horrible thing I was using before and keeping on top of the maintenance keeps it mint. I’ve since bought a decent race bike(s) for summer use but I’m less bothered about riding them and it’s only the inability to race on discs that stops me using the Kenesis.

Caad12 would be my thinking

ride your $hit bike on the really bad weather days (there usually aren’t that many of them)….and the nice bike at all other times. I have a full size chainset and small cassette on my ancient spesh allez winter bike and it makes good training. Feeling like I’m flying when I get back on my ‘good’ bike.

I bought a Chinese carbon disc frame and some carbon wheels, plus an Ultegra Di2 disc groupset. Wasn’t cheap as such, but it’s a really nice bike I’m happy to ride in any conditions.

Dunno what the geometry is like on the Supersix, but most Emondas are H2 geometry, which have 800mm headtubes.

I sold my summer and winter bikes and built a year-round bike.

Two Into One

Quite why you’d contemplate permanently relegating a Supersix to a turbo I’ve no idea. Of your listed options I’d personally go for option 3, but my idea of a winter/year-round bike requires a little more tyre clearance and dyno lighting at least, so even option 3 wouldn’t be my choice. YMMV.

Dunno what the geometry is like on the Supersix, but most Emondas are H2 geometry, which have 800mm headtubes.

Cheers for that – I got the H1 and H2 the wrong way around so it won’t be a Trek Emonda then!

Quite why you’d contemplate permanently relegating a Supersix to a turbo I’ve no idea.

The Supersix would only be on the turbo during winter / shite weather and muddy roads as an incentive to use the turbo and help prolong the life of the nicer components!

If you can get guards to fit the Supersix then ride it all winter. As dirtyrider says “life’s too short to ride a shit bike” and we need all the motivation we can get to get out when its cold and wet.

I use a Kinesis Racelight TKII in winter but after about 7 years I’ve fallen out of love with it and it feels slow and heavy compared to my carbon bike to the point where I’m seriously contemplating a Whyte Wessex which will cost more than my summer bike but will probably make me faster than buying a better summer bike as a better winter bike will motivate me to train harder in the winter.

The Supersix would only be on the turbo during winter / shite weather and muddy roads

I see 🙂

Have you got the Supersix & Synapse to the same riding position or is there a big difference? You need both similar but I don’t really get how the Synapse can feel twitchy if that’s the case as that would imply a short stem but I’d have thought the Synapse would have a shorter top tube for the same size, although perhaps the frame sizes are different?).

Can you have 3 bikes? As in go for option 4 but the Synapse becomes the turbo bike (twitchiness irrelevant). A Caad 12 makes sense geometry-wise for you (I have a Canyon Infinite AL myself for winter which I really like but not sure how much hassle it would be to get a similar fit on one to your Supersix).

Have you got the Supersix & Synapse to the same riding position or is there a big difference?

I’ve got them as close as I can, except they are different sizes (I think the synapse is a bit too small which really doesn’t help), my other difficulty is that the Supersix is a 63cm frame (synapse is 61cm) and there aren’t may bikes/frames in that sort of size available cheap!

I put 5800 on my bad weather bike – shifters, derailleurs and calipers to replace the ageing 5600. It felt a lot better.

Put the nice clinchers on and better again, but pretty much wore the front rim out by the time I came to change them back over.

I guess it depends on how bad it really is, I get used to mine after a few rides and means I really appreciate the summer bike when March rolls around…

I’ve got a Supersix which I keep for Sunday best and a CAAD12 Disc for commuting and poor weather rides. While I can see the logic in spending the most money on the bike you spend the most time on (even if that’s a commuter) I wouldn’t want to subject my carbon wheels and SRAM Red to a typical winter. As the CAAD has the same geometry as the Supersix the fit is the same and the handling is almost as nice.

Buy a new CAAD12 or a CAAD12 frame and swap over the components from your Synapse would be my advice. Alternatively, nearly new CAAD10s are on eBay all the time.

Thanks for the advice, I’m struggling to find a CAAD12 in 63cm (especially as the frameset is only available up to 61cm and I don’t like green!). What alternatives are worth looking at?

Looked at a CAAD as a potential replacement winter frame but the lack of guard mounts put me off.

How about a T3? They go up to a 63cm.
http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Catalogue/Models/Racelight/T3

A previous thread for some options…
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-winter-road-bike-frame-suggestions-please

Whilst the stw answer is always a new bike, have you set up the positions to be the same on both bikes? The geometry is different, but not THAT different. The Synapse has a long head tube. Does that mean the bars are closer and higher? That would make the bike more “twitchy”, which it shouldn’t be as the head angle is shallower.

Measure the following and check they are the same on both bikes. Swap spacers and stem on the Synapse so the position is the same. Note if your supersix is slammed, you’ll never match its position.

Bottom bracket to saddle top
Saddle nose vertical distance behind bottom bracket
Saddle nose to stem bar clamp centre
Saddle top to bar top difference

These are your measurements and you should know them by heart.
74/5/56/8 cm are mine on all my bikes to within 0.5cm. See how the two compare on your two bikes. And adjust the Synapse accordingly.

3

Actually could you stick the wheels from your good bike on the Synapse, just to see if it feels better?

I’d agree with the comment above that good wheels will transform an average road frame. Though perhaps not a bad one.

I’m with Bez on this, get a decent bike you like to ride for year round use. Stick it on the turbo as well. You then don’t have multiple bikes to look after and decide which to ride.

Then again i’m looking at it from an mtbers perspective, so if you must have multiple bikes, make them mtbs 🙂

How about a T3? They go up to a 63cm.

Different geo to a 63cm Cannondale though. Shorter top tube, steeper seat angle, more reach. If the OP has his saddle forward on the Dale it should work, if he’s slammed back it probably won’t.

Stick mudguards on the supersix and replace the cassette/chain/cables in the spring. Life’s too short to ride rubbish bike and it’ll be the cheapest option.

Or buy a totally different bike as n+1 so it’s not comparable. Fixie, CX, monstercross?

Winter bikes aren’t meant to be nice, they’re meant to make your summer bike feel nice and be cheap when parts wear out.

So as long as the synapse fits you, just ride it through winter. Does it take mudguards? If so that’ll be enough to enhance many of your winter rides and put up with a not so “nice” bike.

Based on how the bike have I have on the turbo has started to rot, even with towels/covers to mop up sweat, I wouldn’t keep a decent bike on the turbo all winter.

Synapse might feel twitchy if the bars are high and don’t get your weight on them.

Put the synapse on the turbo and then n+1 surely 🙂

Winter bikes aren’t meant to be nice, they’re meant to make your summer bike feel nice and be cheap when parts wear out.

Problem with the UK summer only lasting 4 days i you only get to ride your ‘nice bike’ once in a blue moon.

Winter wheels for the nice bike is the way forward, you won’t wear out the frame and fork, and the whirly geary bits are consumables anyway, but if you really want then you can go for cheaper running gear as well, but there’s no point spending 80-90% of your time on a bike you don’t like riding.

If you can’t be bothered with swapping bits over all the time then buy another frame identical to you ‘nice bike’ and just run cheaper bits on it in places where they will wear out.

Different geo to a 63cm Cannondale though. Shorter top tube, steeper seat angle, more reach. If the OP has his saddle forward on the Dale it should work, if he’s slammed back it probably won’t.

Is a problem this, finding a decent training bike frame that fits like a race bike.

Fairlight Strael might be worth a look as they do two different geometries, a regular and a tall. Though the best match I could find (at least in terms of stack and reach) was the Shand Skinnymalinky but that’s quite a bit of cash.

Mason Definition is quite a racey geometry too, but again, a massive pile of case, and quite a beautiful thing to use as a winter bike.

Problem with the UK summer only lasting 4 days i you only get to ride your ‘nice bike’ once in a blue moon.

This. Especially if you do long rides, because the chance of doing a full ride in good light and dry conditions is really low. As my rides grew, my summer bike got used less and less.

Converting to one good year-round bike was the right thing for me. But then I’m interested in distance, not race speed. Anyone with the opposite outlook might prefer life with two.

Winter bikes aren’t meant to be nice, they’re meant to make your summer bike feel nice and be cheap when parts wear out.

That was my philosophy for years but I’ve gradually edged the other way. I spend 70% of the time on my winter bike so it may as well be nice and enjoyable to ride.
My winter/summer bikes now are basically the same except the winter one has lights and guards, and drops one level in groupset. Same wheels, tyres, bars, saddle, tape, measurements, the lot.