Been looking at a new bike on cycle scheme, ideally would love a new Boardman CX but as the don’t use cycle scheme that rules that out.

So I’ve been looking at the Sirrus Carbon Elite £1200, cheapest I can find it, but happy to wait for it to come down to under £1k.

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Sirrus-Elite-Carbon-2016-Road-Bike_83945.htm

Or to go for a diverge.

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Diverge-Sport-A1-CEN-2016-Road-Bike_81308.htm

Its a 5 mile commute with a little bit of towpath if I want to, or roads and a bit of dirt track, hence why I wanted something a bit more heavy duty than my faster road bike.

Which one? and anyone know of anywhere I can get it online at a cheaper price?

The Diverge will be really heavy. All of Specialized’s A1 alloy frames seem to be porkers. I used to have a Tricross and even with the carbon forks it weighed nearly as much as my full sus MTB.

Do you have to use Tredz / buy a Specialized? Tredz have rather hit and miss customer services with poor aftersales and Specialized bikes aren’t the best value for money. I’m sure people on here could recommend you a better deal on the cycle scheme.

I doubt you will find anyone selling current specialized bikes reduced online they just had a sale that ended this week and won’t let anyone reduce bikes after that normally

No I’m not using tredz, its more the links for bikes, as normally someone posts which bike, the first response is links, so jumped the gun, also looked at the Giant Rapid 0, I had a rapid 4 a few years back, that was a great bike.

but happy to wait for it to come down to under £1k.

Rare for anyone to offer CycleScheme on any reduced stock.

My commute sounds very similar to yours, mixture of road, dirt track, bit of singletrack, 5-6 miles depending on route choice. Had a Sirrus for a while, perfectly adequate but never really did it for me.

In true ‘recommend what you own’ style, I’ll say get one of these :

http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Catalogue/Models/Adventure/Tripster-ACE

I’ve had it for a year now and it’s great. Light, fast, and fun – an excellent commuter and good for a spot of messing around on the way.

Giant defy disc and put sum 28mm Tyres on it. Just won endurance bike of the year in carbon that is.

The Diverge will be really heavy. All of Specialized’s A1 alloy frames seem to be porkers. I used to have a Tricross and even with the carbon forks it weighed nearly as much as my full sus MTB.

Porkers or not the difference between a superlight carbon frame and a heavy alu one is only about 1lb, any significant weight difference comes from the build

With your two options it really comes down to whether you prefer drops or flats. That’s the key decision to make then find the spec/build within budget and look at similar from other manufacturers.

For a 5mile commute it will make bugger all difference in terms of time/performance, so choose based on what you actually prefer and will enjoy, is there scope for this bike being used for other rides beyond the commute?

The bike’s main duties will be cycle to work, and odd cycling trips with the OH now she has pinched my Planet X hybrid for those casual bike rides out and about. I wasn’t going to get a new bike as the Planet X bike was my first cycle to work bike but after I changed location it was quicker to walk, but now moving a few miles away the OH has decided she wants it, its a pity its a nice carbon framed flat barred bike, great for a quick blast.

Popped into Halfords this morning, took a liking to the new boardmans, both the hybrid and cx bike run 1×11 gearing and look great was thinking of signing up to british cycling £31 direct debit and then when Halfords have a bank holiday sale which they always do, grab one then with the 10% off.

If it helps, I went for Diverge on last years Cyclescheme. Mudguards, rack and panniers and ability to detour via gravel paths and forestry commission tracks sold it for me. Haven’t noticed it feeling particularly heavy, certainly feels lighter and faster than my MTB’s.