Best Winter Bike for £600?

TMR

Currently have the Trek 1.2 and Ribble on my shortlist. Anyone got either that can give an owner's perspective? Anything else I should be looking at? Must be able to fit SKS guards...

TIA.

cougie

Full guarda are essential - so plenty of clearance. I'd also consider fixed wheel for winter - less to clean and you get to keep a nice fast cadence to get you warm.

Fat Head

My 2004 Trek 1.2 can take sks guards on the back only just, but not on the front. I would take that bike off your list and go for something with more clearance.

moonshine

i've fitted SKS thermoplastic guards front & back on my GF's 2010 54cm Trek 1.2 WSD with no issues. A fiddle, and time consuming, but that is fitting mydguards on any bike, they fit fine

ridley2010

The Ribbles do seem to be good value for the money and i have one, they do take full guards and you can kit one out very rerasonably for your £'s.

TMR

ridley2010 wrote:

The Ribbles do seem to be good value for the money and i have one, they do take full guards and you can kit one out very rerasonably for your £'s.

What's the geometry like on that frame? On their web site, the top tube seems to slope down towards the head tube. Is it just a skewed photo and it's flat in reality?

keef66

I find that all photos of horizontal top tubes look like that to me, as if the front's lower. Some kind of optical illusion I think caused by the fact that we're now used to seeing sloping tubes.

I believe the Ribbles have a relatively long top tube / short head tube, so be careful with the sizing / geometry if you don't want to be too stretched out..

cougie

I dont think I've seen a frame where the top tube descended to meet the head tube since that craze for 650c front wheels in the 80s !

BR 1979

I've got a Carrera Vanquish. Terrible name, pretty good value bike.

Carbon fork, Double Butted 7005 Alu, Tiagra levers on Sora shifters, comfortable saddle (in my opinion).

Certainly takes full SKS (I've got a set on it).

I hate to bang the drum for something I own, it seems the internet way, but it's certainly one to consider.

Price is £499.99 (not including muddies). Owned it for a year and thousands of miles, absolutely no complaints. Price now £599, but with £100 reduction at the moment.

Only other things I had to buy were some Bontrager Hardcases (comes with Ultra Sports which are made of damp tissue as far as I can see) and a quicklink.

I think I spent <£550 all in using price match from Evans for the bike with mudguards, puncture proof tyres and easy cleaning.

TMR

Any other suggestions?

notsofast

The only thing "winter" about the ribble winter frame is the price. You can only have 23mm tyres with mudguards, unless you cdon't mind mud and leves getting stuck, and the head tubes are very short. They have basically taken a normal race frame and stuck mudguard eyes on it. It has pannier mounts, but they are not useful as your heels catch the panniers if you use them, etc etc.

I sold mine and got a PX Kaffenback. I also fancied the Dolan winter frame.

ridley2010

The only thing "winter" about the ribble winter frame is the price.

Eh!!!!!!!!

demorider87

notsofast, the idea of a winter training bike is an alternative to your summer race bike that can take the abuse and crap weather of winter. What would be the point of training hard all winter on a sit-up-and-beg, only to start in the summer and feel completely different on an aggressive angled Felt or Pinarello?

arlowood

Hi

Thought I would throw a couple of candidates into the mix for your consideration.

Firstly the Spesh Allez - comes in a range of specifications but I think you would still get a good bike for your £600 limit. The blurb in the linked review does state that the frame comes equiped with bosses to accomodate mudguards.

http://road.cc/content/news/17130-just- ... ized-allez

Next what about the Claude Butler Roubaix - looks OK and has a reasonable spec. Comes in under £500 so you could upgrade the drive train if you wanted within your budget.
http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Claud%20Butler- ... _34245.htm

Hope these are helpful.

I have to admit that I ride a Spesh Secteur Elite which has the same geometry as the Allez and I love it, so there is some partisan bias in my suggestion.

notsofast

I'm not suggesting a sit up and beg, just pointing out that for most people, the head tube on the ribble is likely to be shorter than that on their summer bike. Plus winter rinding tends to be more social than summer riding, and winter bikes often moonlight as light tourers. So the point being that for a second bike, you might want something that offers more options.

thespanishadam

notsofast wrote:

I'm not suggesting a sit up and beg, just pointing out that for most people, the head tube on the ribble is likely to be shorter than that on their summer bike. Plus winter rinding tends to be more social than summer riding, and winter bikes often moonlight as light tourers. So the point being that for a second bike, you might want something that offers more options.

I wouldn't go as far as saying winter riding is more social. You can hardly speak to someone if it's pissing down with rain and you are concentrating on dodging man hole covers..

I've got a ribble for the winter. Perfect for my needs, 20 miles a day, using the cruds on the standard 7005 frame. Slightly tighter clearances that the winter option but still takes 25mm tyres.

zoid

I’ve just got my Ribble winter bike spec’ed with full Campag Veloce in silver for £650, the groupset alone costs around £340 so I wasn’t expecting miracles, so far I’ve covered about 250miles on it…

As others have already said the sizing is a little odd with a relatively long top tube and short head tube. The Ribble sizing guide (based on inside leg measurement) suggested I choose a 54 c-t frame but instead I went for the 52cm to get what I considered a more appropriate top tube length.

I’ve only just back into cycling after many years off the bike and had been riding a 1980’s entry level Colnago steel frame with down tube shifters so my experience of the Ribble may not be a very relevant comparison.

I’ve found the Campy Veloce groupset to be excellent, smooth, refined shifting with a reassuring mechanical feel and it also looks the business.

The Wheels are Pro-lite Comos and are just ok, when up to speed they roll reasonably well but they are heavy, although them seem pretty robust which is probably a good thing for the winter.

The frame was better finished than expected and rides quite well, it’s certainly lighter and more responsive than my old steel bike but a little too jittering for my liking. I wouldn’t say it gives a harsh ride just doesn’t smooth out the road surface and doesn’t feel as predictable or steadfast as my old steel bike did, although I guess that also has allot to do with the characteristics of aluminium.

I wanted a modern road bike that wasn’t going to cost allot and that I could ride through the winter and not have to worry about too much, overall the Ribble fits the bill quite well offering good value for money which would be hard to match on the high street.

Out of interest I’m going to see if I can get a test ride on a Scott Roadster S35 (same as the S30 but designed for winter with eyelets and clearance for wider tyres) or a Trek 1.5 as I’d really like to see how the ride compares to the Ribble.

sturmey

Short head tube,eh?

Mine is a 2 yr old 56cm frame. the head tube is 180mm long.

Not short in my book.

2alexcoo

Kona Honky Tonk? Will take 25c tyres with SKS guards easily.

Love mine to bits, a really comfy bike to ride. Thought mine was good value at £600, but it looks like you can get the 2010 models for £500 now.

matt_wills

If you're after a 58 or a 61 inch frame then the Spesh Allez Sport has gone down to £429.99 at Evans. Go through a cashback site and you can save even more. I'm annoyed because I bought the same bike for £499.99 2 weeks ago.

Not sure about the guards but it is some deal when compared with the Trek 1.2.

harkmeadow

I recently got a Kona Jake from Rutland cycles - think its the 2010 model, gray paint work) for £550. Its got eyelets on it so have fitted proper guards and changes the 35mm wheels for some old road ones - result great winter road bike, cross bike when i want it of for just razzing around off road with kids and can do a bit of touring if decide to.

Apart from the fact i've only got out on it half a dozen times thanks to the weather (and come off once!), i'm well happy with it.

silverpigeon

It comes in at just over £700, so outside of your budget but maybe CRC will do another 10% discount period soon.

If they do then consider the Kinesis Racelight T2 with a winter build kit. Couple of mates have one and rave about them. Worth a look surely

itboffin

I wouldn't be without my ribble winter now, it's cost me £350 to build and have since spent another £150 on a hand built rear wheel and conti hard shell tyres. I ride it more than any of my bikes :oops:

navrig

I've got a Ribble as my only bike and have ridden it for the last 2 years. Love it and would recommend it.

Just ordered a new Ribble carbon bike and am passing the current bike to my son to try and get him out on the road.

zoid

itboffin wrote:

I wouldn't be without my ribble winter now, it's cost me £350 to build and have since spent another £150 on a hand built rear wheel and conti hard shell tyres. I ride it more than any of my bikes :oops:

What size frame size is that?

Reason I ask is that my 52cm c-t frame only has a 11cm head tube which is a little on the short side, Ribble gave me the wrong measurements telling me it was 13cm and due to their mistake originally offered to swap the frame for a 54cm.

However before doing so they said there would be little point as both the 52cm and 54cm frames share the same head tube length of 11cm, does that sound right?