I’ve got two drop barred bikes – a MY-2013 Giant Defy 1 – 10 speed 105 but with Hope/Pacenti wheels. I love this bike, but don’t use it in the winter/wet.

I also have a 2016 Pinnacle Arkose 3 – which I bought in December.
I wanted a ‘winter’ road bike, and was sucked in by the good reviews and hydraulic 105 group set.
I was very close to buying a Defy Disc (same money) but liked the idea of a multi-role bike, etc.

7 months on I’ve done almost a 1000 miles on the Arkose, including a few ‘off-road’ rides, which to be honest – I hated, and would have rather been on my Hardtail.

The Arkose is a competent winter road bike, but it feels stiff, dead and heavy compared to my Defy.

If I’m not going to use it off-road, do I quit whilst it is still worth a reasonable amount, and buy a disc-braked road bike instead?

The new Giant Contend (alu Defy replacement) should be out in a couple of months, which will have Hydro-discs, and be mudguard friendly + in budget (£999)

I guess if I don’t love the Arkose – I should move it on??

Sell a bike?

Have you experimented with different tyres on the Arkose?

Work out what it will cost to change given realistic selling price, then decide. My gut feel is to buy the bike you want, why hack around on something you don’t like if you don’t have to ?

Sell it. I didn’t when I worked out that I didn’t like my Kaffenback. I now have a rarely used Kaff that’s worth not much at all and another winter bike that I actually like.

neither are very good at going down mountains off road so yes, you bought the wrong bike. Sell them and buy a proper bike with knobbly tyres.

Sell them both and buy the Defy replacement for winter and a race bike for summer (not that the Defy isn’t a race bike, but you want disks on one road bike and seem happy o own two).

The Arkose won’t feel any better because that is down to geometry. A 70 degree head angle is touring bike slack!

*reports renton for having two logins*

‘winter’ road bike

I use the same bike its actually cheaper. No one can convince me that running two bikes or more is cheaper and that they don’t go out of date.

It might depend on how much of a ‘winter’ bike you’re looking for.

I bought a Kona Jake The Snake years ago. It was one of the few off-the-peg cyclocross bikes available at the time, and I thought I’d like its versatility. It did actually ride quite well on the road, but I found it terrifying on even mild off-road tracks, so I fitted slicks and kept it for road duties (including some light touring). However, it eventually morphed into a ‘full winter’ bike with fixed wheel, dynohub, touring rims, and studded tyres. In that configuration it was slow-ish, and gave me a real workout (which translated into speed on the summer bike). I prefer a quicker-handling bike, and the Kona always felt a bit ponderous, not helped by the wide handlebars. However, it was good for winter riding, even if it wasn’t always enjoyable to ride.

If you don’t need loads of tyre clearance then it sounds like your Defy might be fine for general riding including wet winter rides (without ice/snow). Alternatively, an ‘audax-style’ bike might work (I’m not too fussed about disc brakes).

If it’s mainly the geometry you don’t like, you could maybe sell the frame and swap the bits over onto a new frame which is more to your liking.

A 70 degree head angle is touring bike slack!

It’s a 71.5 with 50mm fork offset. 70 could be a bit lazy..

Don’t chase your tail trying to make it work. I made that mistake once never again!

maybe if you don’t actually have a summer bike. Or decent clothing. Or do many miles.
I reckon mudguards would save me at least 1000, probably more, every winter. Wearing out cheap bike parts instead of summer bike parts probably saves another 500.

I’ve always found mountain bikes to work pretty well off road…

Thanks for the replies.

The Defy isn’t going anywhere – I’ve just spent a fair bit on a great set of wheels, so it will be staying put as my dry weather bike for a couple of years.

I do want to end up with two bikes – a ‘summer’ bike (currently the Defy) + something else for winter, and a bit of light ‘credit card touring)
I’ve also found having two bikes keeps me riding when one is broken!

The Arkose is a lovely bike (the frame is gorgeous) but it feels a little bit heavy/agricultural compared to the Defy, and I’d like something a bit more like the Defy as my second bike.
I don’t actually want/need the off-road/adventure/gravel capabilities, so think I probably should pass it on and buy something more suitable.

I was tempted by the arkose for the same reasons but in the end I bought a defy advanced pro and put hydros on it. By co-incidence I took it down gravel tracks and fairly smooth footpaths (got lost and told off by a farmer but he was a cyclist too so it was sound) for 5 miles or so this afternoon. It was fine, my main worry was puncturing the gp4000s but got away with it. Surprisingly compliant over the bumps too. Got some CX tyres in the garage so going to see if they fit. If they do and all you are going to do is similar to that then I really can’t see the point of a dedicated CX or gravel bike. Lack of mudguards doesn’t bother me as would avoid the lanes or use the MTB when wet. So just buy a hydro disc defy,you know you’ll like it!