Do It All CX/Road Bike Options?

[with tongue in cheek]

you are either monumentally indecisive or must be able to afford, and more importantly store, about 20 bikes… you always seem to be looking

Arkose FTW

(Although I’ve spent the last 2 days trying to justify purchase of a bike that is really pretty but actually less use than the bikes I already have, plus I have no space for it)

monumentally indecisive

Right the first time.

I haven’t bought a bike for 2 years now 😥

What I really want is the Enigma Ecroix, but I’ve decided I can’t justfy 3k on a bike that will sit on a turbo trainer 50% of the time.

So its a gravel capable road bike, with compact gearing, good clearances and ability to take guards circa £1k that I want to replace my Defy 3 with. I’d keep the Defy if only proper gravel tyres fitted.

I think the Rose CX AR is closest, if you exclude the negative feedback I’m hearing re Canyons order process, otherwise it’d be the Inflite Al8.0S all the way.

I just see the Arkrose as too much of a burden on winter Club road rides.

Why not just stick the Defy on the trainer and use the Enigma Ecroix for everything else

Seeing as you have a dream bike, you might as well go for it, if you can afford it, than lust after something else only to be let down by the fact it’s still not your dream bike. In a perverse way getting the Enigma will stop you wasting money on stuff you don’t really want

Tripster is just about to have a facelift with internal cables and flat mount disc brakes- but it is going up by a few hundred pounds.

I’ve just read the article on Road.cc about the updated Tripster and it’s not really going to be worth it for me as I already have some post-mount Ultegra brakes to use along with some Kinesis CX Disc wheels which are QR only so I may just need to keep an eye out for deals on the current version.

Those Mango bikes look stonking value, my wallet is now twitching 🙂

New Boardman cx Team looks decent £999 and 0%…

Love the look of those Mango bikes. Anyone got a Point AR?

I’ve just read the article on Road.cc about the updated Tripster and it’s not really going to be worth it for me as I already have some post-mount Ultegra brakes to use along with some Kinesis CX Disc wheels which are QR only so I may just need to keep an eye out for deals on the current version.

I bought mine back in November and had a chat with the shop about it:
Decided I didn’t really mind externally routed cables – in fact the thought of trying to replace internal cables on the side of a road in the dark fills me with horror.
Flat mount only works for 140 rotors and I wanted 160 to cope with loaded bike in the alps.
So I decided not to wait , for the £200ish I saved I am quite happy

Not sure there will be many bargains around as Kinesis don’t tend to bring in the new ones to quickly, but its a great bike for the price

I have a 56cm diverge smartweld for sale (2016). Its immaculate, only been used with mudgaurds for 2 months. It has a hope hub upgrade with the non scs hangar so all disc rear hubs will fit fine. Its currently set up with 38c trigger gravel tyres running tubeless. Will be supplied with plug and play fenders and roubaix 28c road tyres. These bikes are £1800 new and I will take £850. Based in Hebden bridge. Give me a text if anyone’s interested as I never venture on here. Matt – 07734914933

Bought one of these frames last year. Love it. Its been on the local trails and lots of road rides the past 6 weeks.

WP_20151223_12_04_57_Pro by hwe pang[/url], on Flickr

td75 – Member
Love the look of those Mango bikes. Anyone got a Point AR?

POSTED 4 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

I have a point AR built up from a frameset. I like it. I am running 37c tyres with mudguards and it is serving well as a bit of a do-it-all bike.

Some of the finishing on the frameset was a bit rubbish (patchy paint and painted-over threads on BB shell and eyelets) but they are cheap, and you get what you pay for.

The green color is a bit gruesome in the flesh but I suppose it is high-vis for the commute!

Some of the finishing on the frameset was a bit rubbish (patchy paint and painted-over threads on BB shell and eyelets) but they are cheap, and you get what you pay for.

The one I had came with a cracked weld.

They are cheap, that’s for sure.

Eek! Which bit was cracked?

I’ve got a GT grade, decide on a price and pick a model. There were some serious do discounting last summer. I’ve taken mine up some serious cols in the pyranees and done a 140 mile Audax on it. It’s just had mudguards fitted for winter road riding. It’s the most comfortable drop bar bike I’ve had. I also taken it off road and it felt better than my last cross bike.

Well happy with my Arkose Single speed.

Though far from happy with Evans after sales

Stoater?[/url]

Handbuilt in UK, Columbus toobs, 105 hydro, 28 colours (not all at once), £1950

Eek! Which bit was cracked?

On the welding of the braced ‘opening’ just by the BB that spits the internally routed cables back out.

I imagine it would have been fine, if I’d discovered it on an already owned bike I’d still be riding it after a quick “meh”.

I’m still collecting bike parts for this build, so watching this thread carefully. Looks like I’m going steel at the very least and have doubled (and a bit) my frame budget.

Handbuilt in UK, Columbus toobs, 105 hydro, 28 colours (not all at once), £1950

Potential customer lost!

Sam – Member
I’m a little biased (OK, more than a little…) but since riding the Kite disc I’ve had to re-think my answer to the ‘if you could only have one bike’ question. I like it, a lot. And I think once we get some folks out on them they will too

Sam – how would you describe the difference between the Peregrine and the Kite?

Geometry figures for the Peregrine are no longer on your site but I was thinking in more general terms?

andcarson – Member

I have a point AR built up from a frameset. I like it. I am running 37c tyres with mudguards and it is serving well as a bit of a do-it-all bike.

Some of the finishing on the frameset was a bit rubbish (patchy paint and painted-over threads on BB shell and eyelets) but they are cheap, and you get what you pay for.

The green color is a bit gruesome in the flesh but I suppose it is high-vis for the commute!

Thanks for the info, looks like it could be a good option. Also looking at the Genesis CDA20, they have changed the geometry for the 2016 bike.

A bit left field but I believe BTR are bringing out a cx style bike as their next model, you’d have to drop Tam an email directly though. Personally I love their ethos and product but appreciate it may not be for everyone.

Mine (2015 Arkose 5 that I got in the Evans end of season sale) –

Not the sexiest option and the colour wouldn’t be my first choice but for the price it was hard to ignore. It’s had a few upgrades already although there was nothing really wrong with the original spec. I’ve also got a second set of wheels with tubeless road tyres on so it’s pretty flexible.

After a bit of comparing the different options and a helpful conversation with Sam yesterday I’ve decided to go with the Kite.
I’ve seen Sam’s around at a few races over the last 18 months or so and I’ve always liked the looks of them, on top of that I’ve always fancied a Singular but for various reasons never tried one. Hopefully the frame will arrive next week 🙂

As a bonus I’m only working two days over the next fortnight so plenty of time to be out riding it!

@lawman91 – Do You think that Datum frameset has enouth clearance for 35c tire like tubeless Schwalbe G-one 35c? I know that Datum has 33c tire as standard but I think that the real width of these tires are much lower and real 35 mm tire like G-one may be to much. Or is it?

@sweetspot, the 33mm challenge tyres come in bang on 33mm on my Verniers and there’s masses of clearance in the fork and back end. You’d fit a 35mm g-one in no problem. I would have thought anything up to a 40mm tyre would fit front or rear, the fork clearance is huge so could possibly go a little bigger up front.

@lawman91 – thanks for Your info. Very encouraging. I have one more question: have You done a proper gravel ridding on this bike? How well does it cope with rough roads?

I am looking for a fast bike with rather short chainstay that will also be comfortable on the gravel roads (at least 35c tire). Genesis Datum is on my short list among with Kona RoadHouse and Specialized Diverge Smartweld. Datum is the most tempting choice but also the most expensive so I have to be sure that it is really a best choice 🙂

News is that Enigma have built an Ecroix in steel (Ecroix ST). I’m hanging out to see this as its what I want in a material I don’t have and hopeful a cheaper price than the Ti version.

It’s rumoured to be on display at the London bike show.

No gravel riding as of yet, but my commute consists of mainly country lanes that this time of year are covered in mud/general crap and the surface is horrendous in places, super bumpy and not remotely smooth. My old Scott road bike on 25mm gp 4 seasons was stiff as and sketchy as hell, the Datum is loads more comfortable and much more confidence inspiring. I’d often lose the front end on the Scott but not happened on the Datum yet, it’s just a super nice ride and very very good alround. I looked at a few bikes, GT grades and also had a brief look the Kona, but I just loved the Datum from when I first saw it. They are rare as hens teeth in certain sizes at the minute though, so you may have trouble tracking one down.

Love my diverge smartweld (2016), so comfortable and more than capable on roadie rides with the benefit of canal / bridletrack and touring options.

Not up to speed with the scs but think there are more options now and it shifts so will (despite being tiagra) which I think is the purpose of the design.

Can’t recommend one enough.