Cyclescheme bike for 32 mile a day round trip!

Teqqles

I'm living not far from Seven Sisters and travelling to Wimbledon in London, its a fair distance to travel so I'd like a decent road bike that won't break the 1k budget (much), I'd love a Boardman carbon bike but unfortunately Cyclescheme only deal with LBS', so what can you guys recommend that can cope with this punishment (and won't punish me!)

prawny

If I could have my choice again I'd get a genesis croix der fer.

£1000 from evans so you can get it on cyclescheme, will take full guards and a rack and it's a steel frame so it'll be nice and comfy. I'd stick some proper 23mm slicks on though, but keep the cx tyres for the winter or weekend playtimes.

It really depends on whether you want a commuter you can use at weekends or a weekend bike you can commute on, I went for the latter (with a smaller budget) and now want a more suitable commuter.

Although if I'd gone the other way, I'd want a better weekend bike no doubt.

Sorry I'm rambling. Better get two bikes it's the only way.

vorsprung

I do a 50 km round trip most days

I was using a steel single speed bike with 28mm marathon+ tyres, v brakes and drops
This has now been retired and the new bike is a similar idea but with an 8 speed Alfine hub gear.

In the summer I use an Orbea aluminum framed racing bike. But if I had to have just one bike it would be the winter commuter bike.

The point is...whatever bike you get...the bike needs to be appealling to help you get motivated and enjoy the commute. If this means a carbon frame with loverly gears then so be it. Personally I would not use such a bike for all year round commuting, as it would need a lot of cleaning and looking after.

Christophe3967

Funnily enough this month's Cycling Plus has a review of some £1K bikes. The Canondale CAAD9 was highly rated. I know a few people who really like their Cannondales as well...

Aidy

I do a similar distance.

I sort of agree that if you're only going to own one bike, then you want something that'll take the abuse of winter commuting, and ideally take mudguards and a rack.

Having said that, I'd be getting something swish and shiny, and then buying something cheaper for winter.

Wait. That's what I did

Canny Jock

How about the Planet X SL reviewed on here yesterday? Ultegra with carbon frame for a grand!

Or maybe a Ribble winter/audax road bike, with Tiagra and full mudguards for under 600?

Or as above, a cyclocross bike, Genesis, Kona or Specialized Tricross?

amnezia

prawny wrote:

If I could have my choice again I'd get a genesis croix der fer.

£1000 from evans so you can get it on cyclescheme, will take full guards and a rack and it's a steel frame so it'll be nice and comfy. I'd stick some proper 23mm slicks on though, but keep the cx tyres for the winter or weekend playtimes.

It really depends on whether you want a commuter you can use at weekends or a weekend bike you can commute on, I went for the latter (with a smaller budget) and now want a more suitable commuter.

Although if I'd gone the other way, I'd want a better weekend bike no doubt.

Sorry I'm rambling. Better get two bikes it's the only way.

Evans in not part of cyclescheme

prawny

amnezia wrote:

prawny wrote:

If I could have my choice again I'd get a genesis croix der fer.

£1000 from evans so you can get it on cyclescheme, will take full guards and a rack and it's a steel frame so it'll be nice and comfy. I'd stick some proper 23mm slicks on though, but keep the cx tyres for the winter or weekend playtimes.

It really depends on whether you want a commuter you can use at weekends or a weekend bike you can commute on, I went for the latter (with a smaller budget) and now want a more suitable commuter.

Although if I'd gone the other way, I'd want a better weekend bike no doubt.

Sorry I'm rambling. Better get two bikes it's the only way.

Evans in not part of cyclescheme

Is it not? Oh well.

I;m sure you can get one from somewhere that does take them then, I'm not too clued up on who takes what I'm stuck with Halfords or the ordering black hole that is Bridgtown Cycles.

simonaspinall

Definitely go with a ribble winter job - The good thing about the lower specced hardware is that it won't cost much to replace anything if it goes.

If you can try and spec some half decent bomb-proof wheels.

Get some good wet lube and lights.

Ebay is great for cycling clothing

You must get it insured - can't stress that enough, so you'll need at least a bronze secure lock.

Send yourself on a maintenance course and get a Haynes Bike repair manual.

And most of important of all, get something to time yourself for sprint finish friday. Like myself, If you're going to do that distance you can properly TT it back on Friday afternoon and start off the weekend with a new PB! Or a near miss which gets you more determined for next Friday.

Aguila

Condor Fratello would be my choice, condor do cyclescheme and the fratello is a great all round bike, will come in for under a grand with a modest groupset (tiagra). they also do some nice singlespeeds if you are that way inclined.

http://www.condorcycles.com/fratello.html

Canny Jock

Aguila wrote:

Condor Fratello would be my choice, condor do cyclescheme and the fratello is a great all round bike, will come in for under a grand with a modest groupset (tiagra). they also do some nice singlespeeds if you are that way inclined.

http://www.condorcycles.com/fratello.html

That looks great, I'll look at that for next years scheme!

tomb353

for a road bike the planet X mentioned above is hard to beat. For cyclocross style commuter take a look at the kinesis tripster.

Mountainboy2465

I am loving my Kona Dew Drop for the winter commuting, disc brakes & drop bars are a nice compromise.

Having said that the Genesis Croix de Fer is probably worth the extra few hundred £, the steel frame & fork look great & the rest of the group is a rung or two up the ladder from the Kona.

Also worth a look is the Kinesis Decade Tripster if you can get someone to build it up from a frameset for you.

One of the main plus points of the Kona over the other two (although the Kinesis might also be ok with this) is the positioning of the rear disc, it is between the stays so a rack is easy to mount without modification.

Chicane-UK

I got a 2010 Trek 1.5 on Cycle Scheme late in the summer last year. I've only done about 500 miles on it now (I'm afraid I'm a bit fair weather!) but I love it! Really solid build quality and a very comfortable ride.. though the saddle is a bit stiff so padded shorts or a softer saddle might be required!

The 1.5 was £750 and you can get a triple chainset version for £800.

prj45

Christophe3967 wrote:

Funnily enough this month's Cycling Plus has a review of some £1K bikes. The Canondale CAAD9 was highly rated. I know a few people who really like their Cannondales as well...

I'm looking at a CAAD9, but the £999 one looks a bit "crap" (everything is relative of course!), really want the £1,200 one but my cycle scheme won't split the difference. Gah!

spasypaddy

CAAD9 is one of the best bikes on the market.

if you have the option of one you buy one.

prj45

spasypaddy wrote:

CAAD9 is one of the best bikes on the market.

if you have the option of one you buy one.

I'm worried about the wheels on the £1k version (I'm 6'4" and 22 stone), that and it's only got a tiagra groupset which I've got on my current bike, which was £400.00.

Chicane-UK

prj45 wrote:

spasypaddy wrote:

CAAD9 is one of the best bikes on the market.

if you have the option of one you buy one.

I'm worried about the wheels on the £1k version (I'm 6'4" and 22 stone), that and it's only got a tiagra groupset which I've got on my current bike, which was £400.00.

I think (?!) it was a review on this very site which said that you buy the CAAD9 for the excellent frame and use it as a base to work from - i.e. upgrading everything else. I think for that reason, I wouldn't personally buy it..