Winter hack recomendations

Clever Pun

I like road bikes and I want to keep the drops and speed, but I think given the rancid winter weather maybe a cross type bike might help in the more skiddy conditions... I cycled through the winter on my road bike no problem for the last couple of years I just think resting it on the days when the weather is rotten might be a good idea to help prolong the more expensive components, plus disc brakes might take some danger away from cycling in the wet blah blah etc

Anyway some recomendations please for a disc brake based road/cross commuter... Nothing too pricey as it's a hack after all... sub £600??? could be pushed to more for pretty things... I'm so weak.

cheers

CP

spen666

Go fixed - you won't regret it (- except on that 1 in 2 hill) - light and low maintenance

Clever Pun

spen666 wrote:

Go fixed - you won't regret it (- except on that 1 in 2 hill) - light and low maintenance

I'm building one as a project I've got an old Mill track frame as my starting point and I'll be ordering some shiny track hubs soon enough (probably phil woods) and go from there

no time frame on that... so any thoughts? a single speed might work, but the idea of disc brakes appeals as does more bikes MORE ahahahahack*cough*

spen666

Clever Pun wrote:

spen666 wrote:

Go fixed - you won't regret it (- except on that 1 in 2 hill) - light and low maintenance

I'm building one as a project I've got an old Mill track frame as my starting point and I'll be ordering some shiny track hubs soon enough (probably phil woods) and go from there

no time frame on that... so any thoughts? a single speed might work, but the idea of disc brakes appeals as does more bikes MORE ahahahahack*cough*

no need for disc brakes on your fixed- use your legs as back brake and normal front brake

Clever Pun

yeah I know... answer the question damnit

ok the spen a single speed off the shelf recommendation then please

meanwhile

In a hard stop 80% of your braking comes from the front, so having a fixed rear wheel and pedal braking is about 20% useful.

£300 will just about buy you a Cotic Roadrat frame. You should be able to get Avid BB7 Road brakes off ebay for about £100. That leaves £200 of your budget and whatever bits are in your shed to complete your disc brake winter trainer.

The only other drop and disc bikes I can think of are seriously pricey, I'm afraid. You'd have to spend a grand for a Trek Portland and almost as much for a Focus Mare Cross Disc.

Wild thought: get the £300 EBC Revolution Courier Disc 700c, swap the stem and put drops on, with a brifter and Dia Compe 287V levers? You might be able to do it for only an extra £50 if ebay is kind.

TheBoyBilly

Singlespeed off the shelf? Spesh Langster all the way.

jethro924

For a totally unique, uber cool ride, try one of these!



http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Surly ... 360032758/
http://www.surlybikes.com/karatemonkey.html

£350 F&F, get in the garage and see what bits you can use from the spares cupboard. Then get yourself on ebay and see how far the remaining £250 can go.

meanwhile

The problem with the Karate Monkey as a trainer is this:



..some MTBs make great fast road bikes when slicked up, but those angles don't make me think this is one of them. Possibly the photo is misleading - I can't find frame angle info (and I looked because I might buy) but the KM has the reputation of a bike designed to roll over logs off road, rather than to have sharp handling on the road.

By comparison, here's a Roadrat (built with vs instead of discs):



But if I'm wrong, someone please tell me before I buy the Rat..

jethro924

Not sure on the angles my self, however they will be on the surly website. Slicked up MTB with drops is soooo right for commuting / hack. Want to go main stream? £720 for something shiny?



Check out Wiggle's website

Also check out Kona Dr Dew, Trek 7.5 FX Disk, Cannondale badboy 700


Don't like it personally mind, rather save some cash and would have one of these instead (with drops of course)



300 quid! Courtesy of Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op, get top reviews from Cycling+. That has got to be the best buy! You could buy that AND the 700c version for £630!

meanwhile

jethro924 wrote:

Not sure on the angles my self, however they will be on the surly website. Slicked up MTB with drops is soooo right for commuting / hack.

In principle, yes. But as someone who did all his courier work on an MTB, the KM looks like the wrong bike. Unless that's a very mis-leading picture, the fork angle will make for slow steering, the top tube may well be too short, and what length there is will be eaten up if the bars are moved up from their lowest position. Which makes sense given the KM's design aims - it's supposed to be a bike for rolling over logs, which means giving up sharp steering for stability.

Want to go main stream? £720 for something shiny?



Check out Wiggle's website

The disc version of the Mares Cross has been dissed (sorry) in reviews - for ineffective braking, I think.


Also check out Kona Dr Dew, Trek 7.5 FX Disk, Cannondale badboy 700

300 quid! Courtesy of Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op, get top reviews from Cycling+. That has got to be the best buy! You could buy that AND the 700c version for £630!

If you want drops, you could change the stem, put 287Vs on - wait; I already suggested that. Yes, the EBC bikes are good deals.

Discs are definitely the future for road bikes - hopefully with IGH and proper road suspension instead of the effort swallowing MTB stuff. And then IGH's might allow some sort of setup where the chain stays in an oil bath and never needs maintenance...

Clever Pun

ooo pretty

I'm leaning towards a flipflop for winter, the roadrat looks rather interesting.. what sort of £££ would I be looking at?

I've also seen the fuji bikes, anyone got any experience of them?
for example
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuji/track-2008-single-speed-road-bike-ec016010

meanwhile

Clever Pun wrote:

ooo pretty

I'm leaning towards a flipflop for winter, the roadrat looks rather interesting.. what sort of £££ would I be looking at?

£250 for the frames and fork. If you don't crazy on lightweight carbon and high end components, and do buy thriftily on ebay, you could get a disc brake Rat together for £500-700 I reckon. Less, if you go for v-brakes - finding 700c disc wheels is still a pain.

My plan is to build my own Rat including wheels, which is why I'm persisting with my 03 Sirrus - my atrophied wrench skills need a sacrificial victim.

NickBroon

How about an Edinburgh Bicycle Revolution Country Explorer?
700cc, drop bars and disc brakes. £599

2wheelzgood

In the end you got a swanky Condor! better look after it!

Clever Pun

damn right I will... my fleet of bikes is coming on nicely now

road
brompton
single
fixed project
hybrid piece of cack... errr I mean very nice first commuting bike (ememergency bike soon to be sold I suspect)

However good my intentions are I always get distracted by the shiny things... I also ended up buying the rapha epo tshirt and some campag bib shorts (which were reduced!)

dafruk

Seems you've sorted yourself out but for anyone interested what about the EBC cyclo cross?

Revolution Cross

Cheap, versatile, winter friendly and cheap. (yeah I meant it twice!)

The one downside is they only have 1 frame size available at the moment and my legs were too stumpy for it. Boo.

2wheelzgood

If you're after a single/fixie as a complete bike, the Bowerys, se's, fuji track, and any sort of discount on a langster is as cheap or even less.
Mind, I'm not sure you'd get the nice wider tyres as the 'cross which would be nice in winter and teh mudguard clearance is nice. good shout. The other's would be my choice on any day other than a wet one though!