After 20 years of daily-ish commuting it might be time to possibly start thinking about getting a new commuter.
It’s been an absolute bulletproof workhorse. Ride, put in shed, repeat. All year. All weathers.
I would just get a new one but Cotic stopped making them for some reason.
I did some looking and can’t really see the modern equivalent.
So what is the modern version of the Roadrat -
Flat bar (designed for, not flat bars put on a drop bar frame)
Mountain bike geometry - relaxed
700c and wide
Pannier mounts
Mudguard mounts
Steel or Ali
Bulletproof, impervious to weather
Surly Bridge Club or Preamble?
I replaced my Roadrat with an Escapade. Nothing wrong with the RR, but I went from small to medium in the change as it suited me better. For your list of requirements, Cascade?
Something from Pashley?
I wanted soemthing similar so stuck a rigid fork and some 650b wheels on my old 26er
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Could get some 700 x 40 slick tyres in there easily but wanted somthing that could take the rougher stuff a little better.
Frame-only options that are closest might include the Surly Preamble, though it's a touch shorter than a Roadrat reflecting that it's built as a flat and drop bar bike. Today's market seems to be dividing between MTB-lite (migrating more towards MTB standards, often including Boost) or gravel (closer to road for parts standards but typically optimised for drop bars).
Built-up options seem much closer to Roadrat geometry - models like Trek FX, Spesh Sirrius, Kona Dew etc. I'd consider going for one of these and changing the parts to suit.
Flat bar (designed for, not flat bars put on a drop bar frame)
Mountain bike geometry - relaxed
700c and wide
Pannier mounts
Mudguard mounts
Steel or Ali
Bulletproof, impervious to weather
TBH I'd just buy a rigid MTB frameset something like a Sonder Frontier (before they go bust?) Seems to meet all the key requirements, and you can bolt whatever parts you want on, for Urban commutes a suitable set of 29x2"+ slicks/Semi-slicks will cover you.
A change of tyres and luggage setup might expand it's use case towards more bike-packing type stuff if you're so inclined later...
700c and wide
How fat do you want your slicks to be? I think that'll be quite a deciding factor.
Sonder and Cotic offer flat bar gravel bikes, depending what material you want
Whats actually wrong with the 'Rat? My other half has a very early one too - done mega miles and still keeps trucking.
If it fits the job, would a respray and some new bits be an option?
If there are no issues with the frame, I'd definitely get a respray and a choice few new bits. It's amazing the change of feel that can do to a bike with an added frisson of eco-smugness.
My eldest son bought a Boardman flat bar gravel bike TVRL 8.9 FB and it's excellent. If I had to replace my Diverge it's be on the top of the list.
I don't know how the OP's requirements differ, but worth taking a look.
Big brother big bro?
I have fancied building one up as single speed commuter, it has sliding dropouts so can be run geared or single speed. Mind you the price has gone up a fair chunk in the past few years.
https://www.brothercycles.com/shop/frames/big-bro-2025/
Orange Speedworks?
Giant FastRoad could be worth a look
Hi all - OP here - thanks for replies. This forum really is full of helpful knowledgeable people, bikes listed on here I have not heard of and given me some new ideas.
But i've been trying to interact with this post since the first reply. (Hopefully) this text will post. After about 10 attempts over 2 days. This site really is the worst forum by a mile. Delays, crashes, reloads, ads over everything, lost text, unresponsive clicks.
CBA.
That BTR looks mint 😄get that, live my dream!
I ride a on one Vandal with a rigid fork to work most days and do a wee bit of gravel on the way home some days.
Flat bar (designed for, not flat bars put on a drop bar frame). Tick
Mountain bike geometry - relaxed. Tick. Less relaxed with the slightly shorter axel to.crown solid fork
700c and wide. Tick
Pannier mounts+.Mudguard mounts. Nope. Bodged on with p clips and have been solid for the last 3 years/ 3000 miles
Steel or Ali. Ti, but the scandal is the same in alloy with mudguard/ pannier mounts
Bulletproof, impervious to weather. Massive sks mudguards have seen me go through one tire, one chain and one set of brake pads in 3000 which I think is awesome. The back brake rotor is starting to get really thin. Been faultless other than that
So I'd suggest the nicest hard tail you can find with some rigid carbon forks.
