Easy to maintain (non integrated!) winter road bike

Does such a thing exist ?  My summer bike has the full integration, but for a new winter bike, all I want is carbon frame, seatpost and decent hydraulic disc brake groupset.  I was initially thinking of sram rival, but now i am thinking of Tiagra.

I have just been into the lbs to talk about it, and they couldn’t find anything!  I am looking for a decent bike which is easy to maintain for year round use !

Or any suggestions for a not too expensive carbon frame, where I could build up a Tiagra equipped bike myself!

Ideally a UDH compatible would be useful, to future proof the bike, oh and a screw in BB!

Why does it need to be carbon?

If carbon essential, giant defy, bottom of the range would do the job from last year, it is non integrated. But it does have a pressfit

Is UDH a thing for road bikes yet? I’m surprised it’s not but I’ve not seen it anywhere.

Carbon + threaded BB is fairly rare because it adds production steps and costs.

Carbon + Tiagra is fairly rare because most people would rather a nicer aluminum frame and 105

n.b.

Apex – Tiagra

Rival – 105

if i was in the market for a winter road bike, i would buy a Specialized diverge sport carbon gravel.

weighs not much, rides awesome, ideal for crap roads.  perfect.

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Specialized/Diverge-Sport-Carbon-Gravel-Bike/11RZ8?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&co=GBR&cu=GBP&glCountry=GB&id=1762546&ds_eid=3823279037&ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=&ds_cid=20146924975&ds_ag=&ds_agid=&ds_k=&ds_kid=&ds_kids=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvb-zBhCmARIsAAfUI2svknQhD5wHDPvSqvdwP23YJFLua4SHBPBp4YMoSEwEyMK2XccYivEaAppNEALw_wcB

Much easier if you drop the carbon part.

Maybe an Allez or an Emonda ALR? Or whatever Kinesis’s current winter road frame is?

I’ve got an older version of this.

Cannondale Synapse Carbon 4 Shimano Tiagra Disc Road Bike 2022, Size 56cm

It’s pretty good but the front end is quite high.

Good point about carbon plus threaded BB adding to production costs, I hadn’t thought of that.

For winter and having read Road CCs review of the Tiagra 10 speed, it seems to tick all the boxes! While a carbon frame should give a more comfortable ride than aluminium?

Not really. Big set of tyres will do much more for comfort than a carbon frame

If comfort is a priority, then room for mud guards is essential??

As ton says above, a carbon gravel bike will give you the clearance for fat tyres and mud guards without sacrificing too much weight.

Ribble do a steel Endurance 725 with Tiagra which I have been wondering about buying as a winter bike, mainly as it’s in a really nice British racing green colour tbh.

But then every time I almost buy it I wonder if winter bikes are even a thing anymore and where to just get a gravel bike, even though gravel bikes don’t really excite me really

Fairlight Strael ticks every box, except the confort comes from steel.

Gravel bike with SRAM AXS. Comfort and grip from the big tyres.

No integration cos there are no wires.

What exactly do you mean with “integration”? Are you ok with internal routed cables? That’s going to be hard to avoid.

Other than that, I second what people above wrote:

carbon isn’t necessarily more comfortable than alloy, and tires will be the biggest improvement here.

go for something  with big clearance. Note that if you ever need to ride either studded tires or Conti Top Contact Winter , the latter  only goes down to 37mm.

Go for something with big clearance, because then you can run a larger tire for comfort and grip, AND full coverage fenders.

That probably means a gravel bike, although some of the latest road bikes have quit a lot of clearance too.

And, something with fender mounts.

Agree on the threaded BB. Easy swap at home if it’s not spinning great anymore.

i wouldn’t worry about UDH. It’s a winter bike. You will be replacing derailleurs, chains and cassettes as the salt eats away at them. So, you don’t want to go to expenseive. For the very long future, the more affordable group sets will not require a UDH.

I got a Ti Planet X Hurricane for my winter bike (/summer bike this year – bloody weather), fits your criteria pretty well.

Steel fixed gear.

Double fixed flip flop hub.

The ultimate winter bike.

Pinnacle arkose 2. It has none of your requirements but when you ride it you won’t see it.

Fit a front and rear guard, hose down after muddy rides.

Carbon + threaded BB is fairly rare because it adds production steps and costs.

Fara does carbon with a screw in T47, unfortunately integrated cabling though

The do a gravel or “all road” both good for full guards etc

Gravel bike with SRAM AXS. Comfort and grip from the big tyres.No integration cos there are no wires.

Couple of hydraulic hoses though 🤷‍♂️

I have an older alloy and carbon Cannondale synapse.

The carbon one has 30c tires, the alloy takes 25c maximum.

The carbon one is much comfier over anything other than smooth fresh tarmac. It came with 25c and was a wee bit comfier than the alloy on 25c.

The carbon one can take 32c tyres and that’s what will go on when I wear out the 30c’s.

I’d suggest fat tire clearance and mudguards on a winter bike.

The alloy synapse has done 4000miles with me, mostly commuting in all weathers. At no pint was the press fit BB a problem. It got swapped to a bond in screw in BB as it was cheaper to get a whole tiagra chainset than a pair of chain rings for the FSA chainset. The BB was spinning beautifuly when it came off.

The carbon synapse has done 2000 miles mostly in the dry. It’s BB is also perfect.

internal routing with quality full length cables are pretty bombproof. not something i would worry about.

the ability to fit guards is higher on my winter list.

I’d be into steel for a winter road bike,  the summer carbon will feel like a rocket after 6 months battling that extra couple of kg.

Depending on your income bracket/aspirations how’s about a Ritchey Road Logic disc? External cable routing so fully maintainable, easy to slap mechanical Tiagra or 105 on and some guards.

More affordable options? Ribble CGR Al or 725 they must do a Tiagra build still(?)

In the fashion of recommend what you ride, I have a nice carbon frame/bike for summer but over winter ride a sonder camino set up tubeless with more road tyres at 42mm and flared bars, its perfect for winter riding with removable mudguards that generally stay on all year round, it was a pretty cheap but good investment.

Actually I am doing a similar thing to what lots of others are suggesting turning my aging (QR and PM brakes) 1×10 Aluminium gravel bike into a 2×10 gravel/winter road bike with a sub-compact chainset and two wheelsets (and permanently fitted, trimmed down guards). Funnily enough most of what I’m using is Tiagra (but GRX 2×10 would probably be better).

It should be done in time for this winter and if the concept works I’ll start looking for a suitable frame (or complete build) to do the same to as a more permanent solution with 12mm axles, flat mount and ideally UDH and external routing.

I will still keep a nice summer road bike, there is just something nice about having a sunny days only road bike, even in the UK…

Can we please wait for this winter to finish before we start discussing the next one? Thanks

wait for this winter to finish

Winter finishes? 🤯 Every day’s a school day…

I’d get a Rival hydraulic groupset room for wide tyres 30mm+ and mudguards.
I had this set up on a Charge ti plug and it was perfect. I found the Rival had zero problems through winter commutes.
As said wide tyres means ali is fine.

It’s really the integrated cockpit, which is not an option!  2 hrs labour, plus new bar tape, plus brake bleeds to service a flaming headset!

Surely the engineers at the big brands must think, how can we include integration and make the headset easily serviceable?!

The cannondale might be an option, as might a gravel bike!

The answer is you buy a bike with electronic shifting and then when you need to change your headset bearings (after 10,000 miles) you only have to disconnect two hydraulic hoses and bleed afterwards. It’s half hour job at most and really not worth losing sleep over.

It’s really the integrated cockpit, which is not an option!  2 hrs labour, plus new bar tape, plus brake bleeds to service a flaming headset!

I get that point but servicing a headset is what – once every 2-3 years? At which point you may as well combine everything and fit new bar tape, bleed the brakes etc as well! Anyway, it’s really only the top end bikes that have that sort of routing and even then, a lot of them now have split spacers and the like.

Most bikes, even if they do have internal routing, are not “full” routing including through the headset bearings. My road bike has partial integration – the bars hide it all, it pops out briefly to skirt the headtube and then it’s internal everywhere else. Never had any issues with it to date. And as @ton mentioned, internal cables are pretty bombproof, keep everything out of harm’s way.

While a carbon frame should give a more comfortable ride than aluminium?

Not at that point in the market. Cheaper carbon frames don’t really offer anything over aluminium of a similar price.

Something like a Kinesis R2 would tick all my boxes for a do everything road bike. (i have a much (much) earlier version of that as my training bike, it’s *really* good considering how little it cost to put together.)

Ideally a UDH compatible would be useful

I don’t know id SRAM are keeping this up to date.

UDH Bikes

Aluminium frame but other wise fits the bill:

Dolan RDX

And with clearance for 35mm tyres I don’t think you’d notice any difference in the comfort levels. Full builds with 12 speed 105 are quite reasonable as well.

Tiagra is fine as a winter build. Otherwise anything with clearance and fittings for 30mm tyres and real proper long mudguards. Dynamo lights if you ride at night?

Otherwise Keep It Simple, Stupid.

In the spirit of recommend what you have – I second the previous-gen Synapse carbon.

My first one did 40,000kms as a winter bike and never missed a beat. Internal cables/hoses (not fully integrated at the bars) with no issues changing headset bearings. I modified the bb guide and rear stop to run a full-length gear outer.

The ride was smooth as silk, fitted 30s with guards, and I ran a screw-together BB in the BB30a shell.

Only sold it because it was starting to look a bit tatty and I replaced it with… another one. Built up with 12spd Di2 this time. The latest-gen Synapses are quasi gravel bikes and all the integrated lights gubbins put me off so I hunted down a NOS older one.

My original plan was a Giant dyfi, with electronic rival stuff.  Then I thought about the cost of replacing it all and decided against it, added to the headset issue!

I get that point but servicing a headset is what – once every 2-3 years?

Might be twice that long on a road bike, eh?

But the main thing is that we don’t buy these bikes because it might encourage them.

OP – secondhand prices are still on the floor.

Why not just get a secondhand Defy or Synapse? It’s not like geometry has moved on so much as it did in MTB.

electronic rival stuff

i have this on 2 gravel bikes (a Spesh Diverge and a Giant Revolt X), it’s pretty much maintenance free and you are less likely to need to replace mech than on an mtb.

Steel fixed gear.

Double fixed flip flop hub.

The ultimate winter bike.

Not quite. Mine is titanium 😉

On the grounds that it’s a winter bike, I’d look for a used titanium frame from Enigma or the like that won’t have integration, but may have internal cabling (some do). New, I might consider electric shifting and disks, but to be honest, I am of the opinion that bikes should be manual – Tiagra is decent (have old 10 speed). As for cheap carbon frames, I suspect you are looking at open mould frames such as Ribble or such, but everyone wants no-visible-cables-hydro-disk-can’t-adjust nonsense now.

Defy is a great bike, and no, Geometry has not moved on. Mine is 2013 Advanced SL and the ride is racey end of comfort – and I have raced it. Not sure if they all take guards (if that matters to you). The alloy one does.

Recommend what you ride: an alloy Cannondale Topstone is pretty good for winter bike duties plus, obviously, a bit of gravelling. Wide tyre clearance, takes 40’s with full guards. Cables look internal but there is a big slot on the bottom of the down tube so it’s extremely easy to change cables – I have even done it at the side of the road. Has a screw in BB. Available with road or gravel groupsets – mine is 105 and it works great off road too. Geo isn’t too slack / relaxed, works real well on the road.