wot bike - flat barred commuter with disc brakes

frankytenmen

I'm gradually admitting to myself that my faithful ex-mountain bike commuter is finally on its way out and I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips on what I should replace it with. I've missed my work's cycle to work scheme for this year, and I've got New House financial commitments (I know, I know - what kind of moron would buy a house when he needs a new bike?) so I'm trying to do this on the cheap too.

My only two definites are that it has to be flat bar and it has to have disc brakes. It's a reasonably flat commute and (since my hanger broke a few months back and I couldn't get a replacement) I've been running my old bike single speed without any problem, so I think I probably want to do the same again. That said, I do live in Sheffield, so a single speed would pretty much confine the bike solely to the commute and nowhere else. Also, I like the freedom to bash my bike about with impunity - over potholes, off badly-planned cycle-lane curbs, leaving it at the mercy of 'the bike bit' on the train - so it can't be too delicate a wallflower either.

The cheapest way for me would seem to be to buy a frame and forks and build the rest up from bits in the shed. The main two contenders that I've seen so far are the Cotic Roadrat and the On One Pompetamine. I really like the fact that the Cotic could also be run with gears at a later date and seems to be designed with flat bars in mind from the start - but I also really like the Pompetamine's price (and, very shallowly, I prefer the colour schemes).

Are there any other obvious (or un-obvious) bikes anyone can think of that I should be considering as well? Is there anything in aluminium that anyone can think of (I lavish care and attention on my *proper* bike, but preventing TWO steel bikes from rusting might just be a chore too far...). The alu Whyte Portobello and Stirlings looked interesting, but they only come as full bikes, which seems like a bit of a waste for what I want.

My uneducated pontifications are going nowhere very quickly, so any input would be gratefully accepted - thanks!

-f

Initialised

The Suntour Swing Shock would go nicely with that Pompie frame and suit your urban explorer usage pattern. If you need gears use and Alfine.

Have you tried BETD for a suitable hangar?

The Rookie

2 good value options for complete bikes
1/ Carrera Gryphon, very underated, comfy frame, sporty geo although limited on tyre width by the chainstays, currently £349 but you can do the BC/Quidco price reduction, upgrade with any better parts you have and sell the takeoff parts as 'as new'.
2/ Boardman hybrid
The Gryphon goes quite cheap used - circa £150 for a good one, the Boardman less so, much more popular.

My commuter is based on a Gryphon (Bought as a bare frame - 2006 vintage - out of date pic as Avatar) and running mostly MTB stuff (including 26" wheels with 1.5" slicks, 1x9 with a mid range cassette) with a bike weight of 9.5kg, I run a flipped stem, flat bars and any spacers above the stem to get the bars low and can average just over 20mph on a cross country ride (I'm also old, overweight and not that fit!) It's not a lightweight frame, but at 1822g it's not heavy either (18"). The Gryphon is a very competent bike (or frame) but doesn't have the cache of the Boardmans (whose frame weighs the same and which at the lowest spec are little better specified for quite a lot more money).

snowster

Boardman hybrid comp for me can't complain about the bike been cycling to work for a couple of month's now and bike is very reliable I brought last year's model for a bargain 340

frankytenmen

Sorry - I did reply to this, but apparently the elders of the internet chose not to accept my previous message. Which is a shame, as it was undoubtedly more witty, charming and urbane than I'll be able to manage this time...

Anyway, first off, thanks for your help - all assistance is gratefully received! For the Boardman and Carrera, I was really looking for something with horizontal or track dropouts for single-speedyness. That said, they both look like good, solid bikes which tick all my other boxes so I may have to have a bit of a rethink.

That Suntour Swing Shock looks mental! To be honest, it's probably a bit expensive for my cheap-o build (and adds to the moving parts that I'm too lazy to properly look after) but it's kind of a cool idea. Not sure about the way the wheel moves forward as part of the suspension though - have you actually used it? What's it like?

Much as I appreciate the Indiana-Jones-On-A-Bike moniker of 'urban explorer', I think that might be overselling the occasional inch-high (yet entirely gnarly) drop off the bike would have to put up with. Assuming I just have a common-or-garden rigid fork would 700c wheels have any problem with that? Should I be thinking about 29 wheels instead?

Thanks again for all your help!

-f

EDIT - P.S. That BETD site is brilliant - cheers for that!

apreading

700c wheels are 29ers - just one is the way that road users tend to refer to the size and the other one is the way that MTBers refer to it. Having said that, this does sometimes mean an implication that wheels referred to as 29ers are wider and more burly, but thats not a given.

I think as long as you keep a decent spoke count and not a rim thats made of cheese then an inch drop off is nothing. I would recommend 32 spokes, especially if also using disc brakes. 36 are touring wheels and even more robust usually, 28 spokes should be OK but its more of a risk, especially if you dont have a strong rim.

More to the point might be tyres as on a rigid bike, these are really your suspension. I would suggest making sure you get a bike that can run at lease 28mm wide tyres, you may prefer 32mm or even 35mm though.

At the cheap end, the Carrera Gryphon is unbelievably light for the money and would be my first look. If you can afford a Boardman or a Whyte then these are even better. Last years and this years Whyte have plently of tyre clearance to run wider tyres, but older models were limited to 25mm I think. Boardman Hybrid will happily run 32mm or even 35mm if its not too knobbly.

Daz555

apreading wrote:

At the cheap end, the Carrera Gryphon is unbelievably light for the money and would be my first look.

Very true. I have had one for 4 months and it is first class for the money - once you get it home and sort out the car crash Halfords bike mechanics have made of the setup. It is also a little more dull looking than the Boardmans and hopefully less inviting for thieves.

bigmonka

Have a look at the Revolution Courier range from Edinburgh Bike Coop (i think there's one in Sheffield). The do 2 disc brake versions or a single speed version. Mine (the mechanical disc 8-speed version) has been good to me over the last year/6000miles.

frankytenmen

Thanks for the advice, all!

I gave the Gryphon a series think, but I'm going to be running it single speed and so I figured I may as well get one with the right dropouts.

The Revolution Couriers look decent too - if I was willing to ditch the disc brakes, their super-cheap Courier Single is on sale at the moment for £200. I think I'd miss my discs, but it might be a good stop-gap until I could buy a proper 'other' bike on the BTW scheme at the start of next year.

Apart from trawling the second-hand market (which hasn't yielded anything promising so far), the only other option that a friend's pointed me towards is the vitus dee 29. It would need a change of tyres, and probably some of the other bits transferring over from my last bike, but at £300, it does seem to fit with a lot of the stuff I'm after and has had, from what I can see, some reasonable write ups. Not being able to try it before I buy it is the biggest negative with that one.

Any last words of wisdom before I pull the trigger (pretty much at random) on one of these?

Cheers! -f

roger_merriman

vitus dee 29 does get good reviews, about the only negative is the disks are cable.

Stevo_666

frankytenmen wrote:

I gave the Gryphon a series think, but I'm going to be running it single speed and so I figured I may as well get one with the right dropouts.

Any last words of wisdom before I pull the trigger (pretty much at random) on one of these?

Cheers! -f

Yes, don't bother with a single speed - just buy a normal bike with gears and whenever you want a single speed, don't change gear. 2 bikes for the price of 1

Seriously, the Boardman will make a really good choice - mine has served me very well for nearly 5 years and ticks all your boxes (including single speed if you take my advice above )

frankytenmen

Well with the vitus, I could happily swap out the mechanical discs for my old hydraulics, so that isn't a real problem.

The boardman is a really nice bike, but the combination of it possibly looking a bit *too* nice to leave on the train and the fact that someone else at work rides one (leading, no doubt, to hilarious 'why are you robbing my bike again' situations) puts me off it, to be honest. If I was willing to have gears I think I'd probably be tempted to go for the Carrera instead.

The single-speed thing is not because I want to look like hip enough to rock an £80 mullet and walk around with my skinny jeans halfway down my backside - it's based purely on self knowledge and past experience. Self knowledge of my deep laziness and how incredibly badly I look after my commuter (all my available bike-love gets spent on my spotless and shiny mtb) and past experience of the hideous complaining noises that used to emanate from my old commuter's drivetrain.

I think I'm going to go with the Vitus - it seems to have everything I was after and it's cheap enough that if I don't get on with it then I can get a *proper* bike on the BTW scheme at the start of next year. That I'll have to look after (grumble moan whine etc).

Thanks for all your help - massively useful to bounce these possibilities off your various bike-bonces!

Cheers - frank

tangled_metal

I got a spesh. Crosstrail sport disc. 38 tyres, 32 spokes plus front suspension. Solid bike. The tyres are not too knobbly but centre grooves and a little knobbly to the sides. Kind of a hybrid and wider version of the specialized CX bike tyres.