I am looking at doing a bit of touring but have never done any before and therefore fairly unfamiliar with bikes and equipment needed.

I am looking at doing the Ring of Kerry next spring and starting to think of potential bikes.

After reading a few posts and articles on touring I am thinking that I could kill a few birds with one stone? I currently have Mountain Bikes and a Road bike but have been loosely looking into Cyclocross as there are quite a few races around my way in the winter.

I also commute a round trip of 35miles a day however normally have to stop around November time as the country roads I use get too shitty which is not edale from my racer (i.e. punctures and general wear and tear on gears).

So, my question is – Does anybody have any recommendations on potential bikes for me resarch which could fit the following criteria?

1. Can be panniered up and taken out touring.
2. Used for a little light cyclocrossing
3. Commuted to work on sh**ty rural back roads.

Is this asking too much or is there a bike out there waiting for me that can fill this gap.

Cheers.

Plenty of bikes that do that. Try the Planet-X Uncle John. Or the Specialized Tricross. If you fancy building something, get a Dolan cross frame from Graham Weigh Cycles (see the ebay shop) and build it up from there.

Cross bikes are making a bit of a spalsh at the moment, so there is much more choice around.

My one comment would be to find a bike with separate 'guard and rack eyes. I have to use the same mounts on my winter bike frame, and the fixing isn't as solid as with separate eyes (small point, though).

On the back roads point, I would have no problem using a regular road bike. They aren't as fragile as people think, you know..!

surly cross check ? or for front rack mounts too a surly long hual trucker maybe ? ive got a crosscheck and love it . takes rear rack, guards even when big tyres are on and im currently running it with 1.8 bonty 29er tyres . can also run it ss/fixed due to dropouts very versatile bike indeed 😉


thats a thumbs up from me and a thumbs up from glen 😉

Thanks ourmaninthenorth. I'll look into your recommendations. Graham Weigh sounds like an interesting idea.

I too had a similar view on the "fragile road bikers" however the roads I ride are very rural and once it starts getting muddy and the tractors do there stuff it's impossible to ride without get punctures or slashing tyres.

I got my Tricross to pretty much the same range of things – commuting with a bit of off-road plus some light touring. Mine has guards and a rack fitted and still handles well even with a good load on.

Bob – that's fair enough. Decent, puncture proof tyres are probably the way forward. There's another commuting thread where there are some trye recs, though mick's post of his (gratuitously 🙂 ) pink barred cross check is a great recommendation.

I'm going to pick up one of those frames and stick it in the cellar until I have the cash to build up a cross bike. Don't tell Mrs North..!

ive been trying to get a pink arione at a decent price but given up ;-( i was offered a rapha condor one but it was worth as much as the frame lol
anyway as is i can tranform it totally with new tape 😉 as is its in giro mode but with a splash of yellow its tdf 😉 the guards still fit too with the 29er tyres on

toured nz on it and rode it in the bannock burn challenge 35k mtb race. Very capible bike

Think it would handle CX no bother !

I use a Kona Jake for trail riding, any road rides and have been touring on it. If you are too cool for a tourer or want some off road ability then they are great do it all bikes. I took mine from Mizen Head to Malin Head with camping gear loaded up this year. I have also ridden the Ring of Kerry on it a couple of times, though just a day ride not touring.

I have a Genesis Vapour that I do all of the things that you've mentioned on. Great bike and well specced.

If you're into that kind of thing you might also consider a classic rebuild? Old road frames have bags of clearance for CX tyres and IMO they look lovely. Obviously not everyones piece of cake though.

Kaffenback?

Thanks for all the tips so far, I had sort of forgotten that amongst all the Superstar and STW jounralistic bashing that this forum can be really useful with a lot of knowledge and experience on hand.

Do you think a Genesis CROIX DE FER is worth considering? Looks quite racey.

Here's my Tricross, set-up for commuting with guards and rack.
Very slight toe overlap with the front guard, so probably could do with mounting it closer to the wheel.

I've found it fun off-road but very different to even a rigid mountain bike. On road it still seems quite fast. On my commute it's not noticeably slower than the Giant OCR I had before it.

I'm very happy with my Crosscheck, though I'd quite like some more braking power, so would consider somethibng for discs next time.
Singular make some interesting options, is it the Peregrine?

Singular Peregrine does touring/commuting

or 'cross

Sam @ Singular Cycles

Oooh I would a Croix de Fer. I had a gander in EBC last year. The discs is a bit odd IMO as it adds heaps of weight to a bike that should be lovely and light but that may be just me.

The Genesis stuff is all typified by lovely build quality so you can't go far wrong.

Croix de Fer seemed a bit overweight to me – mate has a Focus Mares Disc Cross which seems very good for the cash.

Yesterday I rode Col de la Colombiere and the Col de Joux-Plane down into Morzine and back through les Gets before staying about 20km west from the end of the valley. I rode my BMC cx02 cross bike which worked just fine – if a bit noisy braking, although it is very useful to scare French drivers as they start to pull out of side roads without looking. It has rack/guard eyes but not 2 sets. With the right gears/tyres it'll do pretty much anything you would want a bike to do.

mmm peregrine . When funds allow you will be mine lol 🙂

cotic roadrat? ive a flatbar one set up for commuting/touring(shimano 105, 27 speed, v brakes, rack) takes discs also. i have a rural commute of 20miles, running conti sport contact and not a flat yet. i may sell this bike as im soon to move within walking distance of work.

I toured with my Uncle John, plenty of commuting, and quite a lot of 'mountain bike' routes

not a problem

Plum

Kona Sutra?

It's currently my commuter – all mudguarded and racked. I've toured the Hebrides etc with it. Stick some decent knobblies on it and it'll mix it off-road. Hell, I've even done Triathlons with it. Disks too if that sort of thing concerns you. And my one has slidey drop-outs for easy singlespeeding.

Some great advice and feedback. Thanks.

I am thinking that ideally I would like disc mounts so i can chuck on some Avid BB's as I run avids on all my other bikes.

However this limits my options, these are what I am thinking so far:-

Cotic Road Rat – Not sure I like the angels or the fact that it is harder to run standard gears. Also read a lot of reviews saying they are good but don’t believe the hype. However they are disc compatible and do look pretty bitchin’

Genesis Crox de Fer – looks a bit racey for a tourer. Not sure I can picture myself touring Kerry’s Ring with a dirty triple distilled hang over each morning. Also a wee bit heavy.

Specialized Tri-Cross – lots of positive feedback on it. But no disc mounts.

Kona Jake – looks pretty good value, sturdy and kind of my style but a touch heavy and no disc mounts.

Planet X Uncle John – looks good value and would a nice project to build it, however no disc mounts and not a massive fan of the paint job.

Oh well, you can’t boil the ocean.

The research continues…

Have a look at the Marin Lombard and Toscana too.

Any reason you discounted the Sutra?

Druidh – A guy at work has got one so I have sized it up. Great looking bike and I reckon it would be a great tourer but not sure it would fit the bill for CX and the winter commute as it's not light. Think i'd go for one of the Jake's if I went for a Kona.

Will check your suggestions, Thanks.

Got a Ridgeback Horizon for sale, would make a nice tourer

I thought the uncle john had a disk mount on the frame, just not on the planet x carbon fork.

b_b – to be sure, the Sutra isn't the lightest bike in the world 🙂 I commute on mine though. For winter, I reckon the ability to feel "planted" in the road is useful, especially when it starts getting a bit windy. I'm actually considering sticking an Alfine on mine for this coming winter.

Kona Dew Drops might be worth looking at too.

lucasharrison – what size? how much.They are £350 new in my LBS.

druidh – hmmm sounds interesting. My current commute is 17.5 miles each way and normally takes around 55 mins on my roady. However I am able to cut about 4 miles off by using a towpath which should be doable on "potenial bike", so should even it out. I hadn't thought about the planted approach. I often get bufetted around in the wind on my carbon number so like your thinking. Looked at the the potential of the Roadrat with an alfie as I ride ss mountain bike and like the idea of less maintainance and economies of scale with parts.

I'd wouldn't have thought a Road Rat would be light either…
That Singular is just lovely.

Cotic Roadrat – Not sure about cross but for great touring and commuting.

Just done 1400km on my roadrat out to the Alps form the lake district. Its the standard single speed kit build but then added a mixture of LX and XT gearing with Ritchey cranks. No probs with running gears. Wheels stood up to the beating given I was moving 11kg of kit (inc water) at times and I weigh in around 14stone. Only 2 punctures both caused when I hit a raised steel manhole cover in a section of roadworks. The rest of the time its stood up to gravel tracks, towpaths and fire road sections fine (about 60-80km in total). The tyres stood upto the abuse but the rear does need changing as the tread has worn. Its done about 1600km in total.

The only problem I had was getting the rack to fit over the disk brake mounts. Ended up bending an old Blackburn one to get it to fit. If I was touring again I'd get a different set of bar ends or bar to give more options for moving riding position.

Just commuting about the fork does transmit a fair amount of vibration through. Seem to remember from an old post Swinertons having some 29er carbon forks that they thought would work on the road rat frame.

Overall, the road rat feels like it rides quick. The geometry felt very simmilar to my old (AWOL) Marin Pine Mountain.

For commuting I'm prob going to switch to a 28 or 32mm tyre with a bit more tread.

Remember that disks aren't allowed in "top end" CX racing.

oldagedpredator – Lakes to the Alps sounds like a good crack. Thanks for your Roadrat views.

druidh – i very much doubt I would ever compete at the "top end" despite my desk time dreaming. Think I would take function over weight and not being able to race pro. Most of the races around my way allow you to do it on an MTB so I doubt they would have a problem with discs.

The Marin's look pretty sexy but I couldn't tell from the picture whether they had rack mounts on the rear?

The Marins will take a rack (at least the Lombard in the shoppe will – I'll let you know on the Toscana next week). You'd need a disk specific one though (e.g. Super Tourist DX).

Just checked again and the uncle john does have disc mounts. I think it may have just crept into the lead despite the colour.

burley_bob, currently in the same boat.

2010 Sutra looks like it's going to be superb, better position for the disc mounts, £1000 brand new. New colours not as nice as Druidh's, but seems to be a great all-rounder. You get mudguards included this year.
Nice to hear such a positive opinion from a real life owner as well.

One of the blokes who works in Blazing Saddles in Hebden Bridge (Alan?) has just bought one of the Marin Lombards and really likes it, but just to complicate matters Ellis Briggs in Shipley will custom build you a lovely tourer for £1100.

Choice – the curse of our times. 😀

Rusty Spanner – it's that time of year again.

I reckon a lot of people like me are thinking, i'm quite fit at the moment, i need a strategy to keep riding when it gets cold dark and miserable.

Last years strategy was running, but running sucks. So i thought I would give CX and winter commuting a shot!

I do like the Sutra but cannot see it as a CX bike.

burley_bob – Member

I do like the Sutra but cannot see it as a CX bike.

Amen to that

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-kona-jake-2007-54cm-cx-full-bike-300

Lovely bike – used to be mine 😥