Best commuting / touring bike for £650

secondhand is good, just need it for work and the odd weekend jaunts away

How far’s your commute? On road, off road? Tell us about your ‘weekend jaunts’? Drop bars or flat?

Throw us a bone and you might get some suggestions

Now, based on no info at all I’d get a Kona Sutra

my tricross has become something of an all rounder.

I’ve used it for commutes, local CX rides, credit card touring, fully loaded hard core touring including off road and for winter road rides.

Seems to handle everything i throw at it. Basic bike is in your price range but you’ll need to add mud guards and a rack, i went for a tortec velocity rack and changed the tyres for something more robust

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what i have become….[/url] by mrmichaelwright[/url], on Flickr

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obligatory bike/fence shot[/url] by mrmichaelwright[/url], on Flickr

Seems to handle everything i throw at it.

Any tourer will.

not necessarily, the wife’s Ultra Galaxy is too slack and long at the back for more snappy road riding or cyclocross and not many off the peg tourers have the comfort of carbon forks

if you’re just riding on the road, most entry level road bikes will serve this purpose well. They tend to have rack/mudguard mounts anyway. Plus, they are better value for money.

e.g. something like this
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/12-triple-2010-road-bike-ec019677

I’ve been using an old Trek 1000 for ages now. Not done any touring, but it regularly carries fairly heavy panniers without too much trouble.

okey dokey.

commuting is 40miles round trip, all on road and tracks (i work in a forest)
drops please, sportive / tourer geometry (ive got a litespeed vortex for weekend warrior / back aching stuff) needs pack eyelets, i’ve got a set of altura fuse panniers and a tortec transalp rack – i got this as i was planning on getting a genesis croix de fer as i had a trade deal with genesis.. but thats long gone now (grrrrrr)

Most entry level road bikes I’ve seen don’t have clearance for touring size tyres and/or mudguards.

kona dew drop
bit heavy but has bb7 disks which are a big advantage in my book.
triple with a wide range of gears too.

if buying new you should be able to get a Ridgeback Voyage within your budget (rrp is £700).

Marin Lombard. A new one will cost you £750 but it has a nice alloy frame, disc brakes and will take a rack and mudguards quite happily (PS – how tall are you?)

Kone Dew Drop / Sutra (although the latter is a bit heavy).

Tricross as above is you’re not fussed about discs and you get one with sorted brakes.

Ridgeback Horizon. Quality ain’t too bad and again has all tyhe mounting points

5ft 8 in me platforms!!

Thorn bikes are well regarded for this type of riding.

turneround – Member
5ft 8 in me platforms!!

Shame. Could have done you a deal on a Lombard, but it’s a 54 and would, realistically, be a bit neat for you.

Ooh. You need the Thorn Club Tour that I’d like to sell, complete with mudguards & pannier rack. You’re my height, too. It’s got tandem wheels so it can take the rougher stuff with the right tyres.