Looking out of the window at the 4th month of perpetual dark drizzle... dreaming of late, warm evenings and miles of quiet B roads... I think I'd like to change my gravel bike (Sonder Camino, GRX, 50mm tyres) for a 'proper' road bike again but.... its gotta be cheap. It wont be getting hammered every day, just when the time is right and odd trips out or maybe a local charity ride or two.
I want clearance for decent, light but big tyres, 35-40mm - I'll be riding down knackered local B-roads.
MUST have hydraulic discs/STIs - this is a go/nogo.
Not bothered guard compatability, I'll only ever use it on my own when the weathers good.
Proper 2x10, 2x11 road groupset, not gravel style 1x, proper drop bars not big flares.
12mm axles front and rear for future upgradability.
And finally because I am a massive tart and need my simple mind to be pleased before spending money, its got to look good... Good looking bikes are faster.
Thousand quid. Maybe, maybe a touch more.
Van Ryself Endurance NCR Alloy £999
Looks good, Tiagra is great expecially now they have the same cable routing as the higher end groups.
Canyon Endurace AL - £999
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/customer-service/road/endurace/endurace-allroad/
Supposedly rides great, but out of stock for now (I've got an alert setup). Linkglide Cues is possibly a bit chonky and clunky compared with Tiagra. The supposed durability/ease of maintenance for Cues is not a benefit to me. Tyres a bit gravelly.
Ribble Allroad AL Tiagra £1100
https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-allroad-al-tiagra/
Looks great, good frame tech, Tiagra 2X, DT wheels and decent-ish tyres... bit more money but a good option...
What else have we seen, what do we like, what do we reccomend?
Ref second hand - yes, its obviously an option and I am scouring ebay etc, but it seems that Roadies keep their bikes a lot longer and they potentially hold their money a bit better too (because they dont get worn out like MTBs do). So theres not *that* much out there that I fancy, certainly not cheap enough to make up the drawbacks compared with buying new.
(Yes, there are tonnes and tonnes of old, rim brake, 23c tyred ultra light 15 year old bikes out there. Yes, they are very fast and very light and very cheap. I've dabbled with various bikes like that before and they always end up back on ebay, I dont want one of those, I dont find them pleasant or enjoyable to ride.)
I've been considering the same, my nukeproof digger has 35mm tyres at the moment, spends a lot of time on nothing rougher than towpaths; I'd rather put the bigger tyres back on it, and get something a bit more road biased. I've been looking at this all winter trying to justify having a gravel AND an endurance bike....
https://www.dolan-bikes.com/rdx-disc-road/
I don't know how it compares, but Merlin have a Kinesis R2 for under £1000.
https://www.merlincycles.com/kinesis-r2-tiagra-road-bike-308453.html
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Specialized/Allez-Disc-Sport-Road-Bike-2025/10LJR
A little over budget but should tick the boxes.
If you're happy to build it yourself and wait for the parts to arrive then Chinese carbon is the way to go. Rough prices £500 for the frame inc bars and seatpost, £300 105 groupset (£150 if you use L-twoo or Sensah), £200 carbon wheelset and probably another £100-150 for a saddle, pedals, bar tape etc
£825 FOR HYDRAULIC BRAKES AND 1X11 cues 42T with 11-50.
If you're happy to build it yourself and wait for the parts to arrive then Chinese carbon is the way to go.
GCN did a recent video on this. Well worth a watch because they found a couple of issues that most customers (and a lot of bike shops!) wouldn't know how to resolve or want to resolve.
The dolan is the nicest looking of a quite frankly ugly passel of bikes, that Specialized being by far the fugliest. The lappppierre isn't even a proper road bike 😄
If the Camino works for you is the Colibri from Sonder a suitable option? Less racey than some but the tyres and use you describe seems about right and priced from £1000 (bit extra for hydro brakes).
Just got a NOS kinesis r1 today, based on the whopping 7km shakedown ride and nothing else, I'm impressed, light, responsive, comfortable, even with a fat knacker perched on it, the r2 from merlin above sounds like a good punt for your needs.
The dolan is the nicest looking of a quite frankly ugly passel of bikes, that Specialized being by far the fugliest. The lappppierre isn't even a proper road bike 😄
Any road bike with skinny rims looks wrong to me these days. Personally I think the graphics on the Dolan are horrible.
I really rate my 2x10 Tiagra Al Sonder Calibri, it's very comfortable for big miles on the road.
Those Van Rysel's from Decathlon are an absolute bargain though!
I don't know how it compares, but Merlin have a Kinesis R2 for under £1000.
https://www.merlincycles.com/kinesis-r2-tiagra-road-bike-308453.html
I've put several thousand miles on my R1, it's a really nice bike. Goes around the knackered, worn out, grass-down-the-middle-but-the-sides-subsiding very rural Welsh lanes around here just fine on 32mm GP5ks, with guards - you may get wider on without.
So if you're set on buying new and 2x, have a really good look at this. You might want to check reviews for the R1, as it's basically the same bike.