All year round commuting bike

dibblejon

Hi

I am an all year round commuter and currently ride my specialized stumpy hard tail into work it's only 3 miles each way.

However I am moving house and my new commute will be 11 miles each way so I am investing in a road bike.

I am looking to buy the Cannondale Six Carbon Special Edition from Evans - but I am a little unsure as to how damaged this will get riding in our brilliant UK winter's.

Can anyone suggest whether this bike would be suitable of whether I am better getting something a bit lower specced?

Many thanks

tailwindhome

Buy the best bike you can afford to wreck.

asprilla

Will you be doing any riding other than your commute?

wgwarburton

TailWindHome wrote:

Buy the best bike you can afford to wreck.

Now there's good advice. Succinct and pertinent.

Personally, I'd advise against modern derailler drivetrains with ultra-narrow chains & many sprockets. I feel that they wear quickly in crap winter weather and are expensive to maintain. Better to go FG/SS or get a hub-geared bike for the winter. Either should get you a sturdy chain and nice fat sprockets, which will wear better. If it's enough fun to commute on through the summer, too, then so much the better... you can keep your other bike(s) for high days & holidays.

Cheers,
W.

Headhuunter

TailWindHome wrote:

Buy the best bike you can afford to wreck.

In my experience it's not a case of the best bike you can afford to wreck but the best bike you can afford to get nicked. A bike will last decades if cared for properly, even through winter. In London, without a pair of heavy duty D locks, it'll get stolen way before then.

mrushton

Get a Pompino either fixed or ss. takes guards/rack, not expensive £500? No gears to maintain. Otherwise a Spesh Tricross is nice. In fact there is a 54cm for sale on the classifieds of this site. Looks nice

roger_merriman

Headhuunter wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Buy the best bike you can afford to wreck.

In my experience it's not a case of the best bike you can afford to wreck but the best bike you can afford to get nicked. A bike will last decades if cared for properly, even through winter. In London, without a pair of heavy duty D locks, it'll get stolen way before then.

yup need bike insurance, my wife's bikes last a year maybe a little more, before getting knicked.

My commute bike (4 years) has secure parking so while a rattling old thing is still rumbling on.

mudcovered

WGWarburton wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Buy the best bike you can afford to wreck.

Now there's good advice. Succinct and pertinent.

That's true. Buy what you can afford to maintain. Mud and road grit do take their toll on a bike used as a daily commuter. The scratches and drivetrain wear on my Kona CX bike are testament to that.

WGWarburton wrote:

Personally, I'd advise against modern derailler drivetrains with ultra-narrow chains & many sprockets. I feel that they wear quickly in crap winter weather and are expensive to maintain.

They take a bit of maintaining but the costs aren't exactly excessive. I seem to be going through a chain and cassette once every 14 months or so. This is on a partially offroad 10mile commute as well!. Drivetrain is Shimano 105 10spd so fits your definition of modern and narrow chained.

A replacement chain and cassette has just cost me £50. I do all my own refit/maintenance work.

Maintenance regime is:
1. Wash mud off chain after every wet ride (and relube)
2. On dry days wipe dust/dirt off chain every couple of days (and relube if necessary)
3. Change rear shift cable (and outer housing by back wheel every 6months or so)

I don't find I have to tweak or tune the indexing unless I change the shift cable (when I need to do a tweak after the first week or so of riding.

Mike

wgwarburton

mudcovered wrote:

WGWarburton wrote:

Personally, I'd advise against modern derailler drivetrains with ultra-narrow chains & many sprockets. I feel that they wear quickly in crap winter weather and are expensive to maintain.

They take a bit of maintaining but the costs aren't exactly excessive. I seem to be going through a chain and cassette once every 14 months or so. This is on a partially offroad 10mile commute as well!. Drivetrain is Shimano 105 10spd so fits your definition of modern and narrow chained.

A replacement chain and cassette has just cost me £50. I do all my own refit/maintenance work.

Maintenance regime is:
1. Wash mud off chain after every wet ride (and relube)
2. On dry days wipe dust/dirt off chain every couple of days (and relube if necessary)
3. Change rear shift cable (and outer housing by back wheel every 6months or so)...

Fair enough. That's too much money & way too much maintenance for me, but I live in Scotland, so maybe get more wet weather, road gritting etc.
I aim to spend £5-£10 on a chain, chainring or sprocket, so about £25 on a new drivetrain, every couple of years. With tyres, tubes, brake blocks, oil etc it all adds up.

During the winter it's cold and dark when I leave for work & when I get home, so I aim for zero maintenance, usually missing by the width of an occasional chain-oiling and tyre-pump... I keep hankering after a belt-drive.

Cheers,
W.

Harveytile

+1 for the SS / FG. The last bike I had was a Kona Jake. Good fun but the maintainence was a nightmare! Winter consisted of the 20mile ride home followed by 15minutes standing in dripping wet kit in a freezing garage twiddling barrel adjusters and removing all sorts of crud from the drive train. :roll:

Long story short(ish): Wrote off bike in March, bought a Pearson Hanzo SS/FG and have not looked back since. 2500 miles and all good.

Answer to the OP: SS/FG with full guards and rack makes a solid commuter. Builds the power too :shock: !

Stevo_666

dibblejon wrote:

Hi

I am an all year round commuter and currently ride my specialized stumpy hard tail into work it's only 3 miles each way.

However I am moving house and my new commute will be 11 miles each way so I am investing in a road bike.

I am looking to buy the Cannondale Six Carbon Special Edition from Evans - but I am a little unsure as to how damaged this will get riding in our brilliant UK winter's.

Can anyone suggest whether this bike would be suitable of whether I am better getting something a bit lower specced?

Many thanks

Maybe stating the obvious, if you want all year round ability then make sure its something that you can fit mubguards to and don't mind the look of when fitted (some roadie bikes don't look 'right' with mudguards on, like putting mudflaps on a Porsche...)

mudcovered

WGWarburton wrote:

mudcovered wrote:

Maintenance regime is:
1. Wash mud off chain after every wet ride (and relube)
2. On dry days wipe dust/dirt off chain every couple of days (and relube if necessary)
3. Change rear shift cable (and outer housing by back wheel every 6months or so)...

Fair enough. That's too much money & way too much maintenance for me, but I live in Scotland, so maybe get more wet weather, road gritting etc.
I aim to spend £5-£10 on a chain, chainring or sprocket, so about £25 on a new drivetrain, every couple of years. With tyres, tubes, brake blocks, oil etc it all adds up.

I know the costs and I wouldn't object to things being cheaper. I spend about £200 on bike parts over the course of a year (more than I spend servicing my car). However by doing the journey by bike I save about £1000 in petrol costs alone. My catch is that I live at the top of a fairly steep 600ft climb so fixed gear single speed would either leave me pootling on the flat or walking up the hill.

Jobs 1 & 2 rarely take me more than 10mins. Washing mud of the drivetrain consists of throwing a couple of buckets of water over the bike before taking it indoors and drying off the drivetrain. I've found that when conditions are wet and muddy that technique gets pretty much all the crud off the chain. I'll then do the relube about 5 mins later after I've gotten changed. All these jobs are easy for me as I keep my bikes in the house on a rack next to the door.

Mike

tiny_pens

i quite like the look of the 2011 Genesis Day 01 (hub geared cx bike with disc brakes).

Its the orange bike in this article:

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/g ... ikes-27105

Greg T

My Son....

You need a fleet of bikes.....

Fixed gear with mud guards for when it rains and is crappy - you don't need to clean it and worry about it getting wet - your bum will be dry

Geared Road bike for when it's sunny.

I have seen the light with my multi bike plan - I beg you to do the same.

tailwindhome

2 bikes does not a fleet make

It's a 2 bike minimum here.

Aguila

SS/FG is not necessary IMO. They invented gears for a reason. I commute year round on a geared bike and have not gone through that much in maintainance costs.

Upgrade costs is a different matter 8)

Can I suggest an audax bike to you. Pretty much same as a road bike but slightly more relaxed geometry and always have mudguards (essential if you want to ride through winter).

My commute is exactly the same distance as you.

My favourite example is the condor fratello:

http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/commuting- ... /2804.html

sc999cs

I've oiled the chain on my Giant Escape twice in about 14 months despite riding daily on it. The hub gear is really maintenance free. However it is a pain to change the tube if I get a puncture (worth considering if you're miles from home and it's raining). It is also very heavy so if you have to ride a steep hill I wouldn't recommend a hub gear.

You might be better off getting a winter hack, and just maintain it less than you would a more exotic bike. Buy a cheaper road bike like the Giant Defy which can take mudguards and then get yourself the Cannondale Six Carbon Special Edition for summer riding only.

lae

Personally I'd go for hub-gears (or SS) and hub brakes. And a chaincase, which extends the life of a drivetrain enormously. And a steel frame preferably with inbuilt rack. Maybe dynamo wheels for the winter (no point carrying round excess weight in the summer).

The Rookie

All this talk of single speed makes me giggle, it may work fine where its flat (which is probably London only in the UK) for the rest of us, SS is just not an option as getting off and pushing is just wrong!

I run 1x9, I can spin out my top gear on my longer downhills (44x11) and when not feeling 100% I need second uphills (44x31), if anyone could suggest a single that would cover those bases then maybe.......

Simon

wgwarburton

The Beginner wrote:

All this talk of single speed makes me giggle, it may work fine where its flat (which is probably London only in the UK) for the rest of us, SS is just not an option...

I commute on a fixed in Scotland. It's not flat.
It's not for everyone but it is worthy of serious consideration. You might be surprised what you can do.
Cheers,
W.

The Rookie

Thanks WGW, I should add that with no showers at work I can't ride 'demented' uphills, also I have to carry a laptop and accesories, so slinging the bike about underneath me isn't really an option.

Simon

wgwarburton

The Beginner wrote:

Thanks WGW, I should add that with no showers at work I can't ride 'demented' uphills, also I have to carry a laptop and accesories, so slinging the bike about underneath me isn't really an option.

Yup, if you can't travel light it's much less attractive. Ideally you get a virtuous circle, where you travel light so you can use a lighter bike (no gears, no rack, less tools, dodge/bunnyhop hazards), instead of needing a strong, heavy bike with gears to carry your panniers full of gear... it's more fun, but only works if you can set up your commute to allow it.

Cheers,
W.

iainmoss

Ive just bought a belt-drive, hub-geared, drum-braked bike for my commute. It may be a beast of bike but I love the way that has changed my 12 mile commute from a race to a cruise. It also means it needs virtually zero maintenance.

Take a look at the Trek range of bikes with belt drive (Gates Carbon Drive). Thats my recommendation. The 'District' being the light-weight option. There are other belt drive bikes around but they are not so readily available in the UK.

stumpy4ever

Just get a nice bike at whatever budget you have. I used to commute 8 mi each way to city from south of the river with stumpy, lots of gears and supsension, hardly touched it from maintenance perspective and it was completely fine. Why end up with a bike you can't use as mtb and can't use as road bike just for less theoretical maintenance.
I think the key is what your commute is like. Mine was all stop go junctions and quite busy. I found my mtb with skinny 1 in tyres was much better to use than road bike because of stance, ride position, ability to bunny on pavement, etc. The only thing I wore out was middle ring with all my aggressive" launches" from red lights. I now commute 27 mi once or twice a week. Mostly country so now road bike best. Ldn traffic I find hairy on road bike. Less stable and also stopping quick not as pleasant or easy with tiny tyres.

For a road bike I like condor bikes. found the spesh and treks all a bit souless. boardmans keep getting good write ups

Valy

frinkmakesyouthink wrote:

Personally I'd go for hub-gears (or SS) and hub brakes. And a chaincase, which extends the life of a drivetrain enormously. And a steel frame preferably with inbuilt rack. Maybe dynamo wheels for the winter (no point carrying round excess weight in the summer).

or... you could maybe get some lights and save yourself a few £££? :P
________________________________________

OP - you could get a TriCross. It's a sturdier road bike basically - takes mudguards and a rack. Has drops and of course 700cc wheels.

It of course does depend what your commute is like, but damn, all this talk of SS or geared hubs - unless you commute on dirt tracks... seems a bit much?