Never given these type of bikes a second thought, but was recently out for a pootle on the road bike, stopped a few times, chilled out in the sun leaning against a wall, and thought this was much more enjoyable than trying to smash out strava PBs and worrying about the tiny wattage number I was producing.
So now I'm thinking maybe get something a bit more comfortable, maybe even fit some panniers, and spend my days exploring...Not wanting to spend much cash, but I have a bike to work scheme which means I can get something like [url= http://www.shopraleigh.co.uk/Product.aspx?pc=1&pt=10&pg=12149 ]this[/url] for 300 quid..
Decent wheels, full carbon fork, BB7s and a sora grupo..even takes a rack and guards. But is it ok as a lazy, all day mile muncher
Anyone know of anything better for around the 600 quid mark? (i've calculated it'll cost me 310 through the scheme I have)
I don;t know about that bike in particular but I have been enjoying riding recently on a 650b road bike. Depending upon what I'm doing each weekend I either use 38mm Compass Loup Loup Pass road tyres or 2.1" Thunder Burt.
It is good fun in either set up.
I've ridden Paris Roubaix, Gravel Dash 50/50, London-Brighton-London, club runs, and quite a bit of gravel/ singletrack/ dirt road rising in and around the North Downs/ Surrey Hills.
Make sure that you can put at least 40mm tyres on it with enough clearance, everything else will become clear 😉