Best 4 season road bike

Considering changing my Genesis Datum which I have mainly used as my winter road bike for the last 4 winters with fixed mudguards.

Looking for something that will take 32mm tyres and have mudguard mounts, discs and threaded BB. Bike will be used for club cycling and winter miles, potentially some bike packing.

Would ideally like something slightly lighter, more aggressive.

Looked at Fairlight Strael, Ribble endurance Ti , Kinessis Ti, some other titanium brand like enigma / J.Laverack.

Would again ideally come in under 4k for an ultegra or equivalent build .

Any thoughts guys ? Any recommendations?

The new cannondale Synapse looks interesting.

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/2022-cannondale-synapse/

Cotic escapade https://www.cotic.co.uk/product/escapade ?

Specialized Diverge and then you have even more flexibility for usage plus given the budget you are looking at the higher spec ones which you could then put Ultegra onto etc.

The Strael gets a 10/10 write up in Road CC and also won their Editor’s Choice and Bike of the Year 2021 Road CC Bike of the Year 2021. For £3k it looks like you can get an Ultegra build. Not sure what lead times are currently like though – will depend on sizing, colour etc – Strael availability. I’ve a Fairlight Secan which I absolutely love and they were great to deal with.

In true STW style of recommending what you have – Mason Definition, Aluminium, not Ti though.

Another vote for Fairlight. I have a Faran and its brilliant. If I had the cash would buy a Strael without a seconds thought.

Van Nicholas of some sort (I have an Amzon with 32mm tyres and full guards)

Sabbath Cycles September ar-1 disc seems ideal
https://www.sabbathbicycles.co.uk/bikes/september-ar-1-disc
Frameset is £1200 – https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m11b0s143p3141/SABBATH-September-AR-1-Disc-Frameset

North Road cycles mighr be worth looking at, though they are carbon

I have a Laverack Jack set up as a four season/audax bike. It’s a lovely but pricey solution. If you have big feet and a small frame, beware toe overlap.

For Ti check out Enigma, Reilly or Vaaru. A mate has just got the Ti Dolan. Value for money a Spa ti option is hard to beat. I went for Laverack as they are most local to me.

If Ti isn’t a priority, I’d see what Shand can do, or look at the Condor Fratello Disc, which is what I had before it got written off in a crash and became the Laverack.

Message me if you want any info on the Jack.

Another happy Fairlight owner, although a Secan. The Strael is tempting……..

Thanks for replying guys.

Synapse looks interesting but the high end frames are big bucks. And I’m happy with my exposure lights and don’t think I need radar!

Like the diverge but the pro/ expert models are also big bucks and not sure I need the future sock which adds to the weight .

Love cotic bikes and have a Solaris for off road fun but the escapade is over 10kg and is not for me.

So much choice when it comes to Titanium options it’s hard to know what’s the best options.

Would like to try a fairlight strael as it’s high on my list but availability isn’t great at the moment. What sort of weights are build coming in at?

Also considered a Caad 13 but don’t hear much about them .

In true STW style of recommending what you have – Mason Definition, Aluminium, not Ti though.

+1 brilliant all round bike

Reilly Spectre. I’ve got a Gradient, which is brilliant, but the Spectre is just a little more road focussed – ‘allroad’ rather than gravel’. It’s pretty much exactly what you asked for.

I’ve not ridden a lot of road bikes but have a Strael. The best bike i’ve ever had by miles. So nice, I don’t even think about it except when laying it down through corners and can’t help laughing!

Really well made and assembled aswell. Take it out of the box and ride. The other one I considered was a Mason Definition, but too expensive for me.

Mine is 10kg with mudguards, 105 groupset and Hope wheels. You do notice it up the hills but that is easily offset by everything else. It will even do tracks offroad with 35mm tyres

Trek Domane Disc. I run 32mm tyres in summer & 30mm with fixed guards in winter.
The Specialized Diverge is another good suggestion. Wife & I got one each before Xmas & never been off them, running Mudhugger Gravel guards with 43mm tyres. Takes fixed guards too. Paid £3500 in autumn sales for a Diverge Carbon Comp & swopped out heavy wheels for Hunt 4 seasons & alu bar for carbon, just under your budget.
We’re really enjoying all the ‘new’ local road routes that incorporate some off road to break up the road monotony.

I have a 2021 Synapse for that very purpose

There are lots of endurance style bikes now that will take 32mm tyres and mudguards so you should have loads to choose from. I know next to nothing about BBs though, so that might rule some out. Anyway in classic ‘recommend what you have’ (although mine is a less posh version) how about a Giant Defy Advanced Pro 2 Ultegra. I know some people look down on Giant, but the Defy is a really nice ride.

You’d have £500 left over as well.

I did fancy an old model Domane SlR at under 8kg but sadly I can’t find one. The new Sl model is available but almost 2 kg heavier for same sort of money. The SLR is way over budget these days.

Looked at the Defy but fitting mudguards looks a faff needing and extra bridge . Nice bike I’m sure.

Like the idea of titanium/ steal as I feel they would be more robust ?? Could be wrong mind

Looked at the Defy but fitting mudguards looks a faff needing and extra bridge

My road bike is a Defy, it’s really nice but it’s press fit BB and mudguards are a pain. Giant didn’t help themselves by selling clip-on guards that had a tendency to wear holes in the seatstays.

Spectre. £3749 with Ultegra mechanical £4349 with Di2. Bargain.

Cervelo Caledonia. Ultegra, 34mm clearance, hidden mudguard mounts. Sparkly green colour. £3,900

BB isn’t threaded though.

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Cervelo/Caledonia-Ultegra-Disc-Road-Bike-2022/V0S1

Currently on a rim brake Kinesis Gran Fondo V3. The Kinesis GTD V2 is on my wishlist when I make the move to discs on my best road bike. It would appear to tick all your boxes too.

Shame they’ve stopped making them for 2022 but my Whyte Wessex One has proven to be an ideal Winter road / gravel-lite bike – comfy carbon frame, 35mm tyre clearance, integrated Whyte mudguards, threaded BB.

It seems like Whyte were 4 years ahead of the game with the Wessex, especially considering that Cannondale are launching the new 2022 Synapse that apart from the lights & radar tech the Wessex can tick all of the Cannondale frame features. 😉

I love my Reilly Spectre, spot on for your needs!

preseli – what size frame you after?

Focus Paralane, an often overlooked bike. The frame will be about 1kg+ lighter (they’re a sub 1kg frame) than something ti, or steel like the Fairlight . The forks will likely be lighter as well. Loads of tyre clearance, guard mounts, only thing is it’s a push fit BB (these work well in my experience). There was one (rolling chassis) for sale in the classifieds recently, might’ve been an earlier model though, which use a BB30 shell, although the FSA threaded adapters are a brilliant solution.

Looking for a 56cm frame. My Genesis Datum is a medium

In true STW style of recommending what you have – Mason Definition, Aluminium, not Ti though.

+1 brilliant all round bike

+2! Mine was from the first batch in 2015 and it fits the brief brilliantly. I’ve used it for sportives, long audaxes, credit card tours and club runs, racking up thousands of miles and it still puts a smile on my face.

The resolution is the same design in steel if that’s your preference.

You mention that you would like the bike to be more aggressive than the current one, and in my experience there aren’t that many winter bikes with proper race geometry.

The CAAD13 and the Kinesis 4S are two that spring to mind. The Focus Paralane used to be, but I thought the new one had been sanitised a bit. I’d love someone to release a proper light and racey carbon frame with some mudguard mounts.

Enigma Etape Ultegra. Ticks all of your boxes except perhaps budget? Was £4k RRP when I bought in Feb 21 but I think £4,200 now (BTW don’t dwell on it, it will be £4,400 or more next year) Touring in the summer with frame bags was as good as it gets, and in the winter with mudguards it made the Festive 500 a breeze. In the height of summer I even stuck some deep section wheels on it and it looked killer.

My previous winter bike was a rim brake Genesis Equilibrium, so this is a quantum leap forward.

Im also confident that whilst the Ti Etape mightn’t be super bang on-trend right now, it will retain its alure and its appeal for decades to come.

I would scrub Kinesis Ti bikes off your list. Just Google Kinesis GF or GFD and see how many break.

I can also show you photo’s of the £2k frame worth sod all in my garage. Kinesis said get lost, as the two year warranty was out, oh I was offered a small discount on a new. Yeah right

Enigma Etape is now in the garage and I love it, and Enigma are great people.

Any thoughts what I can make out of my old frame?

Actually one more thing, I had to discount the Reilly because even the XL wasn’t as big as I needed, which isn’t a concern for you in the middle of the size range. You’ll have a bit more choice than me, but I have only good things to say about the Etape.

@bfw sorry to hear that, that’s painful. I snapped a Mk1 Tripster but that was in 2017, I got given a Mk 2 under warranty within days of warranty running out, so it could be said I got lucky even though I loved that old Mk1.

@crimsondynamo did you sell it straight away? :-)))

I was on an Audax last summer riding with two other guys who also had cracked Kinesis Ti frames at home.

The Mk2’s were substantially reinforced. The Mk1’s were very light which made them such a superb frame while they lasted, but there’s always a trade off.

@bfw have you searched up Ti repair? Your old frame could be salvaged?

I’m reluctant to be too condemnatory of Kinesis because cracks do happen and there but for the grace of god go any of us.

again ideally come in under 4k for an ultegra or equivalent build .

Spend half that and get something equivalent from Planet X?

A lot of the bikes recommended above seem to be heavier, and less racey than your Genesis Datum?

I wouldn’t touch Ti frames with a barge pole – I’ve owned expensive Ti (i.e not Planet X etc) and have had nicer riding aluminium frames. I don’t see the expensive (and seemingly regular stories of cracking) to be worth it. If I was spending Ti money, I would buy a carbon bike.

That new Synapse looks interesting but £4K for mechanical ultegra and some rubbish wheels!

Enigma Etape is now in the garage and I love it, and Enigma are great people.

There was a sorry tale on here of a broken Enigma Ti and what the company did (or rather didn’t) do about it. I have no personal experience.

I agree with the last comment. To upgrade I would need somethings that’s a significant upgrade over the Datum which I have upgraded to Hunt wheels and other bits and bobs .

Looked at the Defy but fitting mudguards looks a faff needing and extra bridge . Nice bike I’m sure.

My road bike is a Defy, it’s really nice but it’s press fit BB and mudguards are a pain. Giant didn’t help themselves by selling clip-on guards that had a tendency to wear holes in the seatstays.

I know it’s not for the OP, but for others on my Defy I went with SKS Raceblade Pro XLs which went on really easily and come with frame protection. They look good too. I think they aren’t quite as long as fully fitted mudguards though.

Cervelo Caledonia. Ultegra, 34mm clearance, hidden mudguard mounts. Sparkly green colour. £3,900

Oh that green one is a pretty bike!