Do I need/want a winter/commuter?

Barrzy257

I currently own just one bike, a Ribble Sportive Bianco with SRAM rival. I have a £500 bonus coming in next month so I'm thinking about getting a winter/commuter bike, was thinking about a 2nd hand cyclocross, something I can put mudguards on and/or a set of nobbles on for bad weather, and also something I wouldn't mind a scratch on when it's locked up and the local tea leaf has a go!
Am I just being stupid and wasting my money as the Missus says? Or should I just go ahead and do it?
Also any recommendations? I was thinking 2nd hand anyway, and can put bait more to it if needs must!
Cheers people

merak

n+1
Rule 12
Sorted.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

I am in the same position, my spare bike got stolen on holiday and needed a replacment for holidays/trails and if I carry on cycling through the winter. But in would appear every man and his dog is after a Cyclocross and that they are really in vogue at the moment.

Barely anythin on eBay, 95% of new ones are £800+ and mostly come with the (for me) dreaded Canti brakes.

I had wittled it down to the Boardman CX Team, as it has Disc brakes (dreaded BB5) but these can be swapped for the nice BB7, other than that it looks a decent bike at a decent price.

I have not bought it as I am not sure if my road bike will be as crap in the winter as I think, if its raining mudguards are hardly going to keep me dry, maybe cleaner but not dry, if its really icy, amn I likely to be commuting, not sure. Should I invest £200 on some high end winter clothing? not sure.

If I could use my road bike thourh the winter I would N+1 for a £300 hybrid for knocking about with the kids and holidays.

I might leave the decision until the first week of really cold and wet weather, also I think a lot more 2012 bikes will come with disc brakes now they are UCI legal.

If you look around loads of commuters are majorly dissapointed with the canti brakes, my 105's are bad enough in the wet!

Barrzy257

Ofcourse, I almost forgot rule 12! Sorry for wasting your time guys...

Yea there's not a massive amount out there for cyclocross ATM, been looking on a few other sites n there's a couple but not a huge choice! Also, what's the problem with the Canti brakes? As I've not came across this yet,
Ive got some expensive wet gear, mudguards keep my bum dry! Haha
cheers

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

I have seen quite a few topics were the lack of braking power comes up with canti's, plus a few saying they are harder to set up correctly.

Should try them myself really but if I bought the bike with canti, it looks like an impossible task or at least an expensive task ot convert to anything else should I not get on with them.

Most if not all CX bikes are built to UCI race standards and recently they have allowed disc brakes, boardman and a few small compaines were on it straight away, guessing Specialized and Cannodale et al will be on it for 2012 bikes.

I huess the less "fasionable" and less "exciting" option would be a tourer!

merak

Cantis have been used on cross bikes for decades. Good cantis have huge stopping power.

MichaelW

Canti brakes offer more clearance than callipers but are a bit harder to setup and there is usually more flex in the system. Despite the rumours, they dont offer more powerful braking than callipers. I use both but prefer calipers.
Winter bikes are a fine idea. You should also consider a touring, Audax or the classic winter trainer roadbike with long drop caliper brakes.

Consider your tyre clearance needs. 25-28mm is the usual for winter roadies but 32 touring style will work OK. For snow, 32mm is about the min. For ice you need studded tyres which are hard to make or buy smaller than 35mm.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

merak wrote:

Cantis have been used on cross bikes for decades. Good cantis have huge stopping power.

Interesting, by good do you mean by brand or set up? Genuinely seen quite a few mentions for poor commuting type stopping power?

Must admit found it strange as you would think with cyclocross they should handle everything thrown at them..

prawny

If you're not actually racing cross mini v's could be a good bet.
Really I need a new good bike so I'm not looking at winter bikes. I do ant one tho!

edhornby

question is, how often will you ride it? are you going to use it for commuting or just weekend rides - if it's the latter then you may be best using your bianco, using the mudguards and keeping on top of the cleaning and maintenance

one other question - how hilly is it where you live? the answer could be a cheap singlespeed like a pompino, genesis day one or similar, this would be well under your budget and perfect for bad weather riding

(btw canti's are used on cross bikes because they don't foul up with mud/grass, the braking power is a trade off but not that much of a loss in power)

dawebbo

If you aren't planning to do cx then you don't *need* a cx bike...

Canti brakes are rubbish, even when set up well. The only exception I've seen to this is avid shorty ultimates.

Most important thing for the winter/commuter bike is mud guards. You want a frame with mounts for proper guards rather than race blades or crud guards - which are no way near as good.

Barrzy257

I wouldn't mind getting into cyclocross also, but wouldn't be til next season atleast. It's not too hilly by me, I can integrate hills on rides if I want to. I would use it quite often in the winter, would try to do 80ish miles a week, and during the summer etc I'd use it as a commute and transport. My Bianco would be for dry rides only!

Barrzy257

Also then, could somebody recommend a decent 2nd bike with true mudgaurds clearance and mounting points?

ride_whenever

buy a hubbed geared pompino...

prawny

Boardman road comp 2011?
Genesis Aether/equilibrium
Kona Honky Inc
Thorn Audax Mk3
Surly Pacer
Kinesis Racelite
Any of the British frambuilders bob jackson, Rourkes, mercian

Also as a cheap outsider - carrera virtuoso £300 bargain,

That should do you for a start :-)

Barrzy257

The kinesis racelight does tickle my fancy, but looking round a 2nd hand one is as rare as rocking horse poop!!

charliew87

Novice question:

Whats all the fuss about with summer/winter bikes?!

It's rained all summer anyway!

Barrzy257

charliew87 wrote:

Novice question:

Whats all the fuss about with summer/winter bikes?!

It's rained all summer anyway!

It has indeed, and I've spent countless hours cleaning/maintaining my only bike, and many more hours sat at the window looking out at the rain! Lol.
A winter/commute bike is a bike which is bait more robust, and cheaper, and able to put mudguards on.... If your only a novice, I'm sure your looking for a new bike anytime soon, that's if you've caught the bug like myself!!

dinaonbike

You do NEED another cheaper bicycle for commuting. There is nothing worse than using one's posh bike for commuting or going to the pub and then having it stolen. It has happened to friends of mine.

Omar Little

charliew87 wrote:

Novice question:

Whats all the fuss about with summer/winter bikes?!

It's rained all summer anyway!

In the winter the salt put on the roads is corrosive and people like to keep their 'best' bike good for the summer rather than ruin its components in the winter.

i dont have the space for a winter bike at the moment so ride on my good bike all through the year (on 23c i dont bother changing tyres either) it just means i get shorter life on components than otherwise and after every ride i need to give the bike a good wash down to get rid of the muck, which quickly becomes a pain in the arse.

However the upside is i get to ride my good bike year round rather than have to put up with a shit bike for worst part of the year (of course there is the alternative of having a winter bike that isn't shit, but that does away with the point of a winter bike to an extent!)

meanredspider

charliew87 wrote:

Novice question:

Whats all the fuss about with summer/winter bikes?!

It's rained all summer anyway!

I used to ask the same question but the last couple of winters have been truly crap. I came off my road bike on ice/snow and decided it was just too dangerous to risk the commute (especially as mine is very remote). So I stuck some Ice Spikers on my old MTB and commuted that way. Last year I upgraded my MTB to a nice Cube Reaction Race and stuck on Ice Spiker Pros - that was easier but it's still like cycling through treacle. Not only that but the bike hated the vast quantities of salt they use up here and I could really have done with some drops to minimise the impact of wind (again -ever present).

This year I've decided to do the job properly with a Boardman CX. This I've fitted with mudguards (SKS chromoplastics - top notch) and, when the weather dictates, 35c Schwalbe Marathon W***ers - a studded ice tyre but without the aggressive knobbles of the Ice Spikers. In the wet, the disc brakes have been fabulous - giving me far more confidence on the fast downhill sections that I'll stop before I run into some nasty piece of farm machinery coming the other way. The guards have kept my feet much drier. The whole package isn't that much slower than my Focus Cayo roadie that I use the rest of the year - in contrast to the MTB. I still prefer the Cayo and will take it in preference to the CX but I'm sure I'll commute far more with the CX during the grim months than I did on the MTB.

Chip \'oyler

charliew87 wrote:

Novice question:

Whats all the fuss about with summer/winter bikes?!

It's rained all summer anyway!

If you have a 2nd bike with mudguards then you can use it on the the shitty days in Summer