Help Me: What TYPE of road bike should I buy: CX? Tourer? Or carbon road god? – Page 3 – Bike Forum

GrahamS · 2013-01-11T11:23:49Z

Sorry for the long post but I really need some advice here. I've decided to get a "road" bike but I am utterly paralysed by too much choice and complete lack of knowledge. :? Unusually for STW I currently only have one bike. A Rock Lobster 853. This serves as my commuter, utility bike and child transporter (adorned with slicks, bell, lights, guards, trailer hitch etc) but it can still salvaged back to [i]proper[/i] off-road use as required (which is fleetingly rare these days for other reasons). Meantime my old mates have come out as roadies. They've invited me up to Scotland to do a three day road ride round Lairg/Cape Wrath/Tongue with them at the end of May, which will involve some fairly serious riding for us (1st day is 67 miles with 5000ft climbing). So... I [i]need[/i] a road bike. But what should I buy? Most of my current riding is bridleways, shared use, muddy paths and country roads. So my initial feeling is that a svelte featherweight carbon road bike wouldn't like that too much - and I'd be better off going something a [i]little[/i] more sturdy. Maybe steel? Plus I'm thinking that eyelets for mudguards and panniers would be nice. The ride in Scotland will need panniers and there is talk of other big rides (Coast2Coast etc). And disc brakes seem far more sensible to me than weedy rim brakes when I'm carrying luggage at speed and the rims are wet/muddy. And a sensible gear ratio may be required to get up those hills. Maybe even a triple chainset. [b]So my list of competing requirements looks like: [/b] • fast, light enough to keep up with roadie mates. Maybe do the odd sportive. • sturdy enough to survive bridleways, Sustrans paths, bumps and potholes. • comfortable all day riding, not stretched and slammed. • mounts for mudguards and pannier rack. • drop bars, hoods and STI-style shifters • disc brakes • gears that go up hills but still keep up with roadies on the flat. Triple chainset? Which sounds like it might be a cyclocross bike or possibly even a light tourer? [b]Some things that have caught my eye:[/b] Boardman CX Salsa Vaya Genesis Croix De Fer Genesis Vapour Disc Focus Mares (maybe the Ax 2.0 Disc 105?) Whyte Saxon Cross Kona Honky Inc Pretty much [i]everything[/i] on [urlthread[/url] My budget is £1000-1500 [b]Questions[/b] Can I possibly hope to keep up with carbonned lycra'd roadies on a CX or tourer? I'm hoping a mechanical advantage on the hills might make up for the extra weight. (Plus I've lost 11kg in the past 6 months so figure I can afford an extra couple of the bike!) Should I just get a full carbon road god instead, continue using the MTB as my regular utility/transport/commuter bike and only run the road bike on proper roads at weekends when I can (rarely)? (I realise the answer is "N+1" or possibly even "N+2" but I don't have the shed space or funds). And finally, where do I stop when I shave my legs? ;)

GrahamS

Posts: 31206

Full Member

Topic starter

Tifosi look nice too - but I'm pretty sure I want discs. Trails round here can get fairly muddy.

Posted : 13/01/2013 11:14 am

paulatmtbleasing

Posts: 0

Free Member

Forme are offering some awesome bikes.

How about this: http://www.bikeleasingcompany.com/cyclocross/calver-cx-sport-disc.html

Does it tick the boxes?

Posted : 13/01/2013 1:17 pm

bajsyckel

Posts: 747

Full Member

Any suggestions on bike shops round here with a suitable range of bikes to try? So far only Edi Bikes seems to have a reasonable range of CX bikes. Evans only had 3 when I went in.

Hmmm... I know that the chaps in hexhm bike shop have built up a couple of kinesis pro6 frames but I don't really know. I don't tend to buy bikes new so don't know who stocks what I'm afraid. I'm in the market for a disc cross bike/frameset myself but it looks like I might end up buying new for the first time in over a decade as the value of full builds looks better than DIY, even with all the bits I have...

merida, rose, focus, felt or corratec all worth considering from my own search too (not sure if all mentioned above).

Posted : 13/01/2013 6:35 pm

MrAgreeable

Posts: 5655

Full Member

jameso - Member

Mragreeable - that book looks interesting, got a copy s/h on amazon for under £3 posted. The guy looks like a proper legend )

It's a ripping yarn for sure. He's also one for the "where are they now?" files.

http://www.cycling-books.com/Travels%20With%20Rosinante%20Bernard%20Magnouloux.htm

Posted : 14/01/2013 11:06 am

GrahamS

Posts: 31206

Full Member

Topic starter

[b]+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
UPDATE: went on to look more carefully at the Rose bikes options, and after [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/rose-pro-dx-cross-talk-to-me ]this thread[/url], I pushed the button on the [url= http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose-pro-dx-cross-4400-compact-612199/aid:612230 ]Rose Pro DX Cross 4400[/url].
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+[/b]

Many thanks to everyone who offered advice.
It was all listened to and very useful. This forum at its best.

Posted : 18/01/2013 3:58 pm

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[Closed] Help Me: What TYPE of road bike should I buy: CX? Tourer? Or carbon road god?