Commuter – fast, light, cheap…. do I have to pick two?

After riding around on the cargo bike for a while, I rode my old Giant Defy into the office yesterday. It zips along!

If I wanted to replicate some of that in a more sturdy, flat bar, mudguarded and disc braked commuter is there anything out there (fast, light and cheap) that would do? Second hand definitely an option

I think Boardman bikes have done quite a few flat bar road bike type things – I’d have a look at those. Someone at work bought one a few years back and thought it was decent.

Stealth ad….my Marin DSX 1 (Flat bar gravel bike) which was mainly used for commuting ironically will be coming up for sale in October (technically up for sale now, but I go traveling for a month starting Friday). Sized medium, fits proper guards, disks, fast and lightish.

My ’20 Voodoo Marasa only ticks the cheap box, ~£300 at time!

~12.5Kg and with 35/40mm Marathon Supreme tyres (that size small) replacing the stock tyres, it isn’t quick. But it has a 3x chainset and 12-36, which is more of a godsend these days as I’m a fair bit heavier than when purchased and my fitness has plummeted since long covid.

Second hand Boardman hybrid FTW. My brother in law has one and it fair flies along. His has no mudgaurds and rack though, which helps.

Similar are Marin DSX, Trek FX (they do a carbon version), even some of the Euro brands like BMC and Scott do some seriously fast flat bar bikes.

Depends very much on the commute. Are you saving 5 minutes on a 15 minute commute or 5 minutes on an hour long commute? Are you riding every day in all weathers?

When I was commuting 80-100 miles a week I got a proper bling commuter as it was the majority of my riding and I wanted it enjoyable and reliable. If it was once or twice a week now, I’ll just ride whatever does the job.

Define “cheap”?

Define “cheap”?

This is key

Giant FastRoad Advanced (or Advanced AR for biggerer tyres), there’s a few on eBay.

I’ve just got the Advanced AR on C2W and it absolutely flippin’ flies.

Boardman hybrid FTW. My brother in law has one and it fair flies along. His has no mudgaurds and rack though, which helps

I have one, with added mudguards and rack. It is a flyer, light, cheap, with hydraulic disc brakes (assume very cheap secondhand).

Also why cheap?

Because it’s locked up to a fence outside work all day and it’s a dodgy area. You do actually want cheap

Because it’s out doing lots of miles in all weathers and you don’t want to ruin your good bike. Prioritise longevity over cheap to buy.

The usage is a few miles, once or twice a week. We live at the top of a hill, so need good brakes for downwards going into work and gears for the up coming home (3 would do if the range was right). Roads are a real mess in places. It’s to commute in and arrive at work without the need to change, shower etc

Why cheap? I don’t want to spend anymore than required to do the job, plus I don’t want to be too precious about leaving it somewhere (although work has a bike store)

Why cheap? I don’t want to spend anymore than required to do the job.

Carrera Subway,  second hand. Have some fun seeing how much weight you can shave off.

Is there anything on planet X?

Ribble have some flat bar bikes but no idea how cheap they are. Likewise canyon.

I tend to pick them up second hand. Got a cotic  road rat I’ve had for years. Was single speed for a relatively flat 10km commute. That’s going up to 15km with a hill to get over so added gears. Found a part worn cassette and chain (for CX bike that I no longer have!) and picked up some cheap bits second hand to add 11 speed gears (Ultegra/RS700 flat bar shifter!).

Got a Boardman HYB 8.9 and it flies – used mainly for urban, but on occasion have used it for some club rides.

I have just looked – our local FB Marketplace is packed with suitable hybrid candidates…most under £300.

I recently got a Boardman URB 8.9 after being curious about them for a long time. Flat bar hybrid with hub gear and belt drive. Picked up a new to me one. Added some guards and a rack and some wider bars. Very chuffed with it so far.

A lot of older disc-equipped hybrids used qr and mtb standards, because road disc standards hadn’t quite settled and there was a lack of parts, especially cheap ones. Works out fantastic- obviously the bikes are old now and don’t come up for sale that much but when they do they’re cheap, and you can hop them up with old mtb parts that absolutely nobody wants. Though it can be tricky to shop for them of course.

Mine is an old Boardman Comp which was an alright but fairly heavy bike when new, I added some skinny QR-only xc wheels that weigh 1500g, made it 1x, then added some narrow carbon bars, some old 9 speed X9 gearing and formula xc brakes that I had lying around. All just the stuff that nobody wants. I’m probably into it for about £400 all in, it’s super reliable and it absolutely flies, I genuinely wouldn’t change a single part of it and almost any newer flat bar bike would almost certainly be worse.

How about an old cotic roadrat?