What comfortable steel commuter for < £300 (second hand)

If you’ve got a local bike recycling place or CIC you can probably pick up a really cool looking 90s MTB, or maybe an old tourer, for under that price. Feeling like your bike is cool adds about 20% lateral and vertical comfort 🙂

Thanks, that's a good tip!

I thought that my Peugeot was cool, but the bonus 20% comfort still leaves me about 40% below threshold.

Couldn't you just change the bars and brake levers on the Peugeot?

Facebook marketplace has a good few hybrid or touring steel bikes all the time near us.
I would pick what is best from the selection offered, rather than seek a specific model.

e.g.
Hub gears

Specialized cx

Hybrid
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/727729429097518/?ref=facebook_story_share

Lovely old tourer
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/872649930489336/?ref=facebook_story_share

Newer tourer
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1534979453579934/?ref=facebook_story_share

Modern tourer
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/486297653705652/?ref=facebook_story_share

Couldn’t you just change the bars and brake levers on the Peugeot?

The geometry is so aggressive I'd assumed it's beyond anything a taller stem could solve, but this is a good idea - I'll take a look.

Facebook marketplace has a good few hybrid or touring steel bikes all the time near us.
I would pick what is best from the selection offered, rather than seek a specific model.

e.g.
Hub gears

Specialized cx

Hybrid
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/727729429097518/?ref=facebook_story_share

Lovely old tourer
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/872649930489336/?ref=facebook_story_share

Newer tourer
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1534979453579934/?ref=facebook_story_share

Modern tourer
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/486297653705652/?ref=facebook_story_share

Thank you!

The geometry is so aggressive I’d assumed it’s beyond anything a taller stem could solve, but this is a good idea – I’ll take a look.

Assuming we're talking about an old road bike, then yes you can just swap to either flat bars + cantilever levers (because V-brake levers, aka. linear pull, have the wrong pull ratio) is a comfortable option, albeit it makes the steering a bit quick.

Failing that, and suggesting what you own. Have a look for the aluminum version of the Charge Plug, it's not a harsh frame at all and takes 40mm+ tyres. I've got a singlespeed one set up as a fixie for long commutes upto 25 miles and it's the best tool I've had for that job.

Charge Plug are cheap and quality

Whatever's on ebay or whatever locally. I don't think a galaxy is going to be any better at all so perhaps the answer is a hybrid.

I have a Charge Plug that I'll be listing on classifieds/eBay next week. Size medium. Will be well within your budget.

I used it for many miles of comfortable commuting and have racks/guards that I'll happily sell with it, along with a spare set of wheels with gravel tyres.

I think it is a 2015 or 2016 model, whichever year they decided to do alloy with carbon fork rather than steel.

PM me if interested.

I think it is a 2015 or 2016 model, whichever year they decided to do alloy with carbon fork rather than steel.

I'm pretty sure they ran in parallel for a long time, the Plug 0 was the steel fixie with normal road bike proportions and tyre clearance, the Plug 1 was the alloy one with massive clearances for gravel tyres / guards and very modern even now 'slack' head angle and shorter stem than a lot of gravel bikes, plug 2 was a 1 with gears. Later there were disk braked versions of the 1 and 2 as well.

There was a also the Grater which was I think a Plug 2 with a flat bar.

The geometry is so aggressive I’d assumed it’s beyond anything a taller stem could solve, but this is a good idea – I’ll take a look.

I meant a shorter stem and a flat bar, not unheard of, I might even have an old 1" quill to 1-1/8" ahead adapter knocking about, that opens up a whole world of options on an old frame...

A quick GIS for 'Peugeot Carbolite' suggests it's been done before quite successfully...

If your bike is a quill stem and it is too low an answer is a Nitto hi rise quill.

One piece better than an adapter.And Nitto stuff is just nice.

https://www.hubjub.co.uk/nitto-fu-82-quill-stem-4190-p.asp

Later there were disk braked versions of the 1 and 2 as well.

My Plug has mechanical discs, so it must be one of those. A very fetching blue colour, with a matching blue stem that I think looks smart.

Just to illustrate what you can do with old 1" frames/forks here's a couple of my contraptions:

The Ridgeback (my commuter) uses a quill adapter to fit a modern 1-1/8" stem and 31.8mm bar.

The old Raleigh is using a traditional quill stem and a 26mm Dutch/North road type bar (flipped to use as a sort of mega flared silly Drop bar

The point is there are lots of (pretty cheap) ways to put just about any bar/rise you might want on an older frame...

Just get over to retrobike and wave £300 about, you'll soon end up with something that will be super comfy for commuting.

Failing that, and suggesting what you own. Have a look for the aluminum version of the Charge Plug, it’s not a harsh frame at all and takes 40mm+ tyres

Love mine, such a unique and versatile bike, rarely actually ride it but will never get rid of it, whilst slowly and completely unnecessarily pimping it up with hand-me-down components from other bikes 😎

Croix de fer.

Thanks for the advice.

I'm going to do a bar + brake lever change to allow me to brake from the hoods. If I'm still hunched over I'll fit a riser stem.