I’m buying a new road bike but I can’t decide which way to go, disc equipped winter bike or ultra light super bike? Have a C2W £1K voucher that my lbs will let me use towards whichever bike I decide so that will take some of the sting out of the purchase but I’m looking around £2-3K in total.

My main riding is MTB but I do enjoy road cycling also for general fitness and just something different to keep things fresh and interesting. My road rides are normally 30-50 mile with the occasional sportive up to 100 mile. Don’t commute and normally stay out of the really bad weather but don’t mind occasional rain.

Currently have an Spesh Secteur as my winter road bike and a Roubaix as my summer bike. I was looking at replacing the Secteur with a Kinesis 4S disc but that is adding up in price due to the cost of the 105 disc groupset so that is probably just over £2K with a set of Hunt wheels. I could reduce this by going back to rim brakes but I quite fancy disc for a bike that could get used in all weathers, within reason 🙂

I was fairly happy with that but I have seen a really good deal on a Boardman Elite 9.8 SLR frame set so this could make up a very nice lightweight bike. This way I would flog the Secteur and use the Roubaix as an allrounder and the Boardman on good days.

Which way would you go, winter bike or lightweight super bike?

Discs make a lot of sense for winter bike, I use a CDF30 with shimano hydraulics for winter road, touring, adventure whatever riding. I have just bought a new nice summer road bike – Giant Defy Advanced Pro 2. It does however also have shimano hydraulics 😀

Over the past five years of having both a summer bike and a winter bike I’ve come to the conclusion that although my summer bike is ace when it’s dry and sunny, I can’t bear to do without the mudguards and dyno lighting of my winter bike – even in the summer.

So, for my money, the answer is essentially a winter bike that I still want to use in the summer.

a winter bike that I still want to use in the summer.

This is correct.

However, discs will slice you arms off if you even look at them.

However, discs will slice you arms off if you even look at them.

o hai i haz solushun

I’d buy my de rosa…..

As you asked what I’d do…

For £3k I’d get a Bianchi Infinito cv with Athena

Sod discs, sod mudguards

Safety first, Bez. I like your thinking.

Indeed. Have you ever seen a cat with toilet rolls on its legs get dismembered by a bicycle’s disc rotor? No. You haven’t. QED.

Which one will get most use? Choose that one, it’s the one you’ll get most benefit from.

Best value, that’ll be Canyon but you cant use your CTW voucher.

Best you’ll get from a LBS is probably a Giant TCR, they even come with decent carbon wheels or a Genesis for an actually proper top spec frame.

What your missing is a proper out and out sunny day fast bike.

Mason definition? “4 seasons” but apparently really rather great in summer!

http://road.cc/content/review/149005-mason-definition-road-bike

Genesis datum gets good reviews too

I took my good road bike out yesterday, for the first time this year and it was lovely, but the brakes (Campag Super Record) didn’t give me as much confidence as the Shimano RS685’s on the Whyte cross bike I’ve been riding all winter.
Also I kept noticing bits of bridleway and thinking “if I was on the cross bike I could explore that”.

Always nice to have a winter bike but when will you have a new superbike opportunity again?

Only live once!

Ultra light superbike no doubt;)

Nothing like a 6.5-7kg race bike for performance riding.

I’ve had a hydro disc brake endurance bike (8kg), but have now gone for a caliper brake race bike (7kg) which just feels incredible under power.

Could highly recommend Tarmac, Super six Evo, TCR or similar.

What’s wrong with your current bikes?

chop in the secteur and the roubaix, get the kinesis or something like the mason, have one that you want to get out every time

btw, next years tiagra will also have a hydro disc option so the 105 you’re looking at may come down in price a little, if you have the option to wait

Trek Domane Disc will take full mudguards.
Domane 6.2 Disc

Don’t commute

Oh so your one of these nasty tax avoiders that STW is always going on about.

First off have your lbs 100% confirmed they will let you top up your C2W voucher. I was under the impression that trick had been seriously clamped down on.

Which bike depends on what sort of rider you are. If you intend to use the bike year round whatever the weather then guards are a must, and when it’s pissing down discs are a revelation on the road. If it’s for dry days only then the ‘superbike’ every time.

Oh and you do know C2W means Cycle to Work? 😉

Me personally, id go with the all weather option, nothing beats the luxury of guards dynamo and discs.

Lightweight road bike. Discs are no reason alone to swap the Spesh, especially as you say you don’t particularly head out in dismal weather.

From how you describe your riding, which is just kind mind, I’d say lightweight fast road bike.

Shop around if you can. I bought a very reduced Focus Izalco last year, over a grand off. Carbon, full DA9000, decent wheels, under 16lbs with cages and Garmin mounts. Not bad! Compared to my decent aluminium Cube before, it’s a stunning ride, so fast and fun, I grin every time I’m out on it.

If you intend to use the bike year round whatever the weather then guards are a must,

No they are not

No they aren’t a must, you’ll get where you’re going, just with varying widths of dirt stripes up your clothes.

Which if your not commuting doesn’t matter. Although I have an all year around road bike with discs (PX LR) I don’t use guards for my 25km ew commute.

I’d suggest the summer bike for the OP from the description of his riding which apart from the lack of commuting is pretty identical to mine.

For regular riding through ‘orrible weather, discs are a no brainer for me on my hilly commute but on a decent road ride in good weather there is little benefit.

No they aren’t a must, you’ll get where you’re going, just with varying widths of dirt stripes up your clothes.

And all the assorted crap all over your frame and drivetrain.

Maybe in a city it would be more of an issue clogging stuff up, I occasionally have to dodge lumps of horse shite or peat bog, but it’s rare that I clean my bike and I run drive trains until they are dead.

I just like to use stuff and I’m not too bothered on how it looks/looking after it though 😉

Oh look. The cycle to work pendants are in. Can we get this out of the way? Once and for all? Yes, the scheme was designed to get more people cycling to work. It has worked to some extent but the scheme is being widely exploited. This exploitation is no secret to anybody. Please, can we move on from it. Other cycling forums seem to have mostly let it drop.

Back to the original question. I would go for something with discs but no rack or guard mounts. It wouldn’t see a wet day on the road. At that price, I would purposefully cherish it and keep it for very best and prolong the fun of having something special.

£3k and a dilemma like this? Simples… One of each…

Spend your £1k C2W voucher on something like a Whyte Dorset which is a fantastic winter bike and a lot cheaper than speccing up your own Kinesis 4S, then drop the £2k on a nice carbon bike with rim brakes…

The one will satisfy the commuting and winter requirements nicely, the other will put a big smile on your face when the sun is shining!

Far more sensible than spending £3k on one bike in the hope that it will do it all IMO.

Thanks all for the feedback, pretty equal both ways so no help 😆

The thing that got me looking at the lightweight option is I just wasn’t getting excited about the new winter bike option. This time last year whenI was buying the Roubaix I was checking every day to see if my voucher had arrived, nagging the shop to let me take the bike early etc. This year I’m just a bit meh about the whole thing which made me think I’m doing this for the wrong reason. Probably not helped by timing of buying a winter bike when the weather is meant to be improving! So it seems to be a head vs heart decision, buy sensible or buy what you really want 😀

@mboy, now thats not a bad option to be honest, given me something else to go look at 🙂

You don’t really ride in bad weather, so why get a bike specifically for it?!

Nice bike all the way. Boardman frame. DA9000 group set from Germany, FarSports Carbon wheels. Whatever finishing kit you want. Job jobbed.

Get something silly and light weight, there is a rare pleasure in riding a proper fast, light road bike on a sunny day. Given we don’t know what your LBS stock I’ll just say you want carbon wheels with good tyres, Di2 or maybe mechanical Dura-Ace, some nice finishing kit and a frame that you fancy, be that light or aero.

I’d definitely go discs if the current weather trend is to continue… can’t see it getting back to normal for a long time

If you are only having one road bike for year round UK riding, I’d choose a winter bike. Spent too long worrying about salt and road grit wrecking my carbon framed lightweight wonder. Much happier with something a bit cheaper, aluminium, and that takes mudguards.

This morning’s little pootle to and from the velodrome included a trip to a bike shop who have pretty much convinced me my next road bike will be a Kinesis 4S Disc. Don’t tell my wife that. Or that I’m typing this from a lovely Cafe just 1 mile from home…..

. Much happier with something a bit cheaper, aluminium, and that takes mudguards.

Or, blingy crabon fribe that takes mudguards.

Don’t tell my wife that.

I’ll tell her when she’s finished. 😈

buy sensible or buy what you really want

£2-3K on a bicycle is not “sensible” by any objective measure. You can buy a perfectly good bike for a fraction of that.

I’d go for the lightweight/sexy summer bike. Even if you don’t use it as much as the ‘winter’ bike it will be such a joy to ride when you do. I assume it’s the same logic for people who buy sports cars, convertibles etc.

Or, blingy crabon fribe that takes mudguards.

You got something you want to Diverge divulge? 😀

If you’re not going to ride in the road in bad weather if go super light weight and no discs.

Personally, I do most of my riding to work and back, so I’ve got a £400 disc brakes mudguard shod hack as my go to and I can’t imagine spending much more would get anything significantly better. Need to get some better brakes though.