Girlfriend wants a winter commuting road bike :-)

f_rederik

Having spent the last few months commuting to work on my single speed road bike, I have succeeded in convincing the girlfriend that when she is replacing her 10 year old mountain bike with a new one with the intention of cycling to work, she should seriously consider a proper road bike.

Since she - unlike myself - would not want to have four different bikes, I need some help in identifying the candidate bikes meeting the following criteria:

Must haves:
- comfortable geometry
- enough space for proper mudguards (not the clip on types)
- enough space for studded tires (all year commuting - it gets pretty icy in Norway during winter)

Nice-to-haves:
- elegant design (although not girlish pink - that wont do)
- 'female friendly' geometry although I've never quite understood why a 'standard' shape in the correct size is wrong
- mounts for rack


Also - for shipping to Norway we'll need the bike to be stocked by an online retailer that does international shipping (I would prefer a local shop, however there is no selection of bikes in this category)

Thanks awfully for any ideas :-)

richVSrich

ship to norway you say?

have you had a look at :
- Rose Bikes
- Planet X
- Ribble

?

Pretty sure they would ship internationally... (well rose are german and ship to the UK), and all seem pretty decent value...rose bikes and ribble give you unlimited choice to customise

bails87

Planet X Kaffenback?

Boardman CX?

BelgianBeerGeek

Yep, sounds like a cyclocross bike is the ideal bike for all types of riding. Most retailers should ship from UK to Europe.
Genesis are good, or look at Evans own brand, Pinnacle. I bought their disc crosser and have been really happy with it.

f_rederik

richVSrich wrote:

ship to norway you say?

have you had a look at :
- Rose Bikes
- Planet X
- Ribble

?

Pretty sure they would ship internationally... (well rose are german and ship to the UK), and all seem pretty decent value...rose bikes and ribble give you unlimited choice to customise

Those are good suggestions - have also used Wiggle and Evans in the past...

Moodyman

Surly Crosscheck.

The frame is specifically designed for fat tyres - I think up to 45mm with mudguards.

Has all the mounts and is a lovely steel frame.

You'll be limited to rim brakes though as there's no disc mounts.Near perfect all rounder in every other respect though.

Comes as frame-only too so you can build to your own specification.

The Rookie

For snow why not a latest disc braked Crosser, that way you keep the brake surfaces dry.......

Simon