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So I need a winter commuting bike. Would like mudguards, grippy tyres, disc brakes (ideally hydraulic) but I would like it to feel fairly quick too, so nothing too heavy.
People here always seem to come up with such good ideas. Ideally it would be about £500 but it's probably going to end up being £1k.
I was thinking about a CX bike so it offers more than my road bike...
Charge Grinduro from wiggle? Never ridden one but have been considering one as a commuter seeing as Singular Gryphons are as rare as hens teeth it seems.
Unless you get very lucky s/h I doubt hydraulic brakes and gears are going to be achievable for £500.
Sounds like you're after a Mango Point AR
http://road.cc/content/tech-news/172779-first-ride-review-mango-point-ar
Grinduro SS is your best option, if wanting drop bar.
Yeah, unless someone here is really clever. Would build something, but the only donor bike has rubbish shifters, rim brakes and no disc mounts, so it's new everything.
So it's a £1k max budget then!
Not ridden one, but If I was after a new commuter, I'd get a Pinnacle Arkose Alfine. At the top end of your budget, but has hydro brakes, will take big tyres and mudguards and has a igh hub which means a lot less maintenance/cleaning in the winter. Only downside might be feeling the extra weight at the back?
GT Grade 105? you don't get full hydraulics (TRP-hyd) but it's good value at £799
Only downside might be feeling the extra weight at the back?
Had an Alfine for years on a commuter/tourer/life bike, never noticed the weight at the bike, it was great!
In late September last year the 2016 geared and cable disc with carbon fork Charge Plug 2 was reduced to around £450. I got one and it has been great as a winter commuter, do anything bike.
Maybe hold out a few more weeks to see if this year's models are reduced - I expect that they will be as the 2018 bikes are completely new with steel frames instead of alloy
crazy left field option, although you'd need to take the racks off if you wanted it any where near lightweight
https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s194p7850/GIANT-TOUGHROAD-SLR-1-2017
What's your commute like? Hilly or fairly flat?
Cable disks aren't bad, OK they aren't world cup DH spec but they are more than good enough for road.
I had an 11spd Alfine IGH and it was increasingly temperamental until it finally gave up the ghost. It seemed very sensitive to dirt in the cable run as it wrapped around the hub. Others have not had any problems so it might just have been a unit on the limit of QC. The 8spd is meant to be much more reliable.
Current commuter is a Genesis Croix de Fer 10 which was in the £800 range but is now a grand.
Remember to budget for guards, lights, etc.
dynamo front hub, B&M lights including brake light, alfine 8 rear. Mine is on a genesis oiid frame but frame pretty irrelevant. conti travel contact tyres. Narrow flat bars so you can be on the brakes the whole time, hydro discs
Lights all the time, good braking and grip, reliable maintain once a year drive train
It's not hilly, can do big ring all the way, I only need a few gears really. Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking drop bars, find them more comfortable.
Drop bars and Hydros are going to eat a LOT of your budget.
FWIW - I run a Niner RLT with an Alfine 11 and a Dynamo hub. It's Di2 and has needed only £32 worth of parts in almost 16000km of riding in all conditions over the past 3 years.
Is there a charity bike recycling shop near you? As TJ says, the frame is largely irrelevant, if it's in good nick then it will be fine. You just want something that's going to stand up to the grit and grime of winter commuting. Unless you get lucky, with a steel frame you are looking at something in the 10Kg - 12Kg range but you just gear it lower and you don't really notice the weight.
The IGH bike I had (On-One Pompetamine) is now SS. I've one short sharp hill and one long hill on my commute home - the SS might be a struggle day in, day out! Surprisingly there's only 1.5Kg difference in the weight but it feels a lot different as IGHs aren't exactly spritely.
GT Grade 105 looks like a great shout.
Yeah the hydraulic bit is probably going too far. I'll can the hydraulics. So disc brakes and mudguards. And drops.
Or I could just get some winter wheels and stop buying bikes.
Link to Grinduro content, also inside is a link to the wiggle near half price offer:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/yet-another-new-bike-day
If you're in London then I'm thinking of selling my 56cm Trek Portland for about £250.
I spent £125 on a specialized hybrid, v-brakes and Alivio/slx. Secondhand mud guards £12.
Spend the rest on a holiday. £800 gets you a long way.
A chap has a [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-charge-plug-5-cyclocross-medium-inc-wheels-parts-a-condor-fratello-55cm ]Plug 5 frameset in the classifieds today[/url] which will go a long way towards a decent £500 build if you go with cable discs.
I'm building one up (in Small) and hoping for a quick-ish commuter. Gone with flat bars and Deore hydraulic brakes which are quite cheap compared to road hydros.