Bike for long distance and commuting

MountainPete

I've been a keen mountain biker for several years now, but have just landed job which I intend to cycle to (10 miles each way). I also have some plans to cycle John O'Groats to Lands End later this year, and I have a number of friends that I will probably start meeting up with to do some day-long road rides.

I've had a look around the various 'which bike should I buy' posts and seen various bikes online, but I was wondering whether anyone else here had any advice as to which bikes you think I should be looking at for around £1k (±£200)? Carbon frame would be really great, but I'd rather have gucci kit on an alu frame if my price is too low.

Thanks in advance!

alihisgreat

- Cannondale Synapse
- Specialized Secteur
- Giant Defy (I have the defy 1 but haven't put many miles in yet! it's the highest spec'd Alu version with 105 - the Carbon Defy composite 3 falls in your price range, but with Tiagra groupset)
- Ribble Sportive Bianco

These are all bikes with more relaxed geometry, not sure how they would be for commuting though -> the first 3 have mudguard mounts i think.

MountainPete

Thanks! I'll take a look at those. I should say that I'm not at all bothered by mudguard mounts; if I'm going to get hot and sweaty cycling in, I'm going to do it in clothes that I don't mind getting wet and muddy.

daxplusplus

MountainPete wrote:

I should say that I'm not at all bothered by mudguard mounts; if I'm going to get hot and sweaty cycling in, I'm going to do it in clothes that I don't mind getting wet and muddy.

That's what I thought .. until the soaking my rear light got one Friday eve commute meant that that it stopped working. I've now fitted crud race guards .. mainly to protect the bike, not me. Wouldnt be without them in the winter months .. a lot less cleaning for me to do.

So yeah you don't have to have mounting points but if you plan on commuting in bad weather then having mudguards of some sort is a good idea.

huuregeil

Get a steel framed "audax" bike. With that budget, you can could happily build up a Bob Jackson frame with decent bits. Or secondhand would get you something really good for less money. I have both carbon and alu race bikes, and a steel fast tourer and this is far and away the best bike for both commuting (in all weather, mudguards make a massive difference! As does a rack and the ability to carry stuff on it rather than in a rucksac) and multi-day/long-distance riding, for a whole host of reasons.

keef66

Genesis Equilibrium
Kinesis Racelight Tk2

daxplusplus

BTW I'm on a Trek 1.5 .. I don't need to carry much stuff so rucksack/panniers not an issue. The Trek has mudguard mounts but apparently the clearance around the brakes means it's Crud raceguards Mk2 or similar. The raceguards fit perfectly :-)

If your intent on travelling in the dark then good lights are must have. I spent over £100 on mine but they are really good:
- 2 x XM-L 602B hand torches on the front for main and dip + redundancy,
- 2 x Magic shine MJ-818s (long story) and a catseye holy handgrenade (just in case the shared Magic shine battery goes) on the back.

I spent money on toolkit, spares, floor pump, spds, shoes, overshoes, mudguards and a set of gatorskin tyres.

Probably spent about £350 on the other stuff - almost as much as I did on the Trek (bought second hand for £400, 2010 version in excellent condition).

When summer comes again I'll take all the extra cr@p off (mudguards and lights really) and I've got my fast road bike back again

MountainPete

Thanks all!
@DaxPP, thanks for the mudguard advice! Being a fairly regular mountain biker, I've got most of the lights and backup kit that I'll need...although I think I'll find it hard to resist the temptation of some new accessories! How do you find your Trek?

@huuregeil, I've been watching a few second hand bikes; just got to wait and see if the right one comes up! I'm also not bothered about wearing a rucksack, so panniers aren't too critical.

@keef66, I'll take a look at those!


Just to throw a couple of others in the mix, what are people's opinions on the Cube Agree GTC and Felt Z6 as fairly 'cheap' carbon frames?

daxplusplus

Trek is really great - it so, so much better than my old rock hopper with slicks.

I like the route I've taken (2nd hand rather than brand new) .. I now have a feel for a road bike after covering over 2000 miles on it and if I had £1K burning a hole in my pocket I'd be a lot more confident about buying a more expensive road bike (and I'd keep the Trek as a work horse).

As it is I don't have £1k spare so I may repalce some corroded bolts and may even upgrade the wheels at some point but that will be it.

Good luck with your search.

prawny

keef66 wrote:

Genesis Equilibrium
Kinesis Racelight Tk2

Bosh!

This man talks sense.

Might be worth looking at the vapour disc and croix de fer along with the Charge Filter for commuting too.
All the stop starting wears your rims out quickly. I'll go for discs when I start commuting again.

CarlosDSanchez

I have the alu agree and it's a nice bike, good quality frame and we'll finished. I some times ride with a guy with the carbon version and it looks pretty good to me.

MountainPete

Thanks again all! I have read a few really good reviews on the Agree GTC, so think I'll take a closer look at it. Anyone else have any thoughts?

clarkey cat

Condor Fratello

Hewitt Chiltern

Thorn Audax

Ribble Audax

Kinesis T2

thegibdog

I'm considering something similar at the moment and the two I like the look of are the Genesis Equilibrium as already mentioned and the Dawes Century which both have good reviews in terms of long distance comfort and are available well below their RRPs.