Pinnacle Arkrose 2 2014 as winter trainer?

passout

Bike: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... 5#features
Review: http://road.cc/content/review/117844-pi ... ke?page=59
My question is: is this a good idea for a winter trainer?

I like the look of this bike and I need something with full guards to use as a winter trainer & commuter. With the evans trade in offer and a discount (which I can get in the new Evans store in Preston) I reckon I can get this down from 900 to 735 quid. My original budget was 500-700 but I've ammended it to 500-735!

I want discs which is hard as this price point, there is the steel Verenti thingy a Revolution Cross bike to consider but the Pinnacle has hydros & I like the set up.

I have a MTB so I would be unlikely to any off road on it, unless you count towpaths. Obviously I'd change the tyres to road specific ones - probably 32mm or even 35mm slicks. Not sure about the gearing on it - guess it looks fine for commuting, maybe a bit of a compromise for winter training?

Any opinion on this or even better any owners views? Cheers.

cougie

A 38 chainring ? That would be fine off road - but will leave you really undergeared on the road.

Anonymous

You might find the bar end shifter a tad annoying too.

Lovely brakes and a nice commuter if you would also take off road on some trails etc. but I would just get a lighter road bike if not.

Don't rule out taking it to a forest though.
There are plenty of great rides that are better on a CX bike than an MTB.

You might just end up getting another bike for the winter trainer though................like I did :oops:
Winter is a long way of so plenty of time to save up

passout

Well so far you have both underlined my concerns. At the moment I have a cheap MTB for commuting & a winter trainer but they boh need money throwing at them - hence my idea for having one bike to do both roles & sell the other 2 bikes. I want a nice winter trainer though...

Any other views?

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Apologies for the "Holy thread revival, Batman," ( ) but has anyone here since bough the Arkose Two?

If so, how have you found it?

I've been back on a bike since April after my accident last Xmas, but I feel so much more wary on my F5C (especially in wet conditions) than I was on my Pylon8 until the seat tube crack issue. The biggest single issue in my accident was being unable to lose enough speed in the wet once I saw the stationary dustbin lorry around a blind sweeping bend (fractured upper jaw; lost/chipped teeth; split lip; fractured metacarpal bones), hence I am being strongly drawn to sub-£1K drop bar bikes with hydraulic brakes.

The sale price at Evans has more than perked my interest, shame I have to travel from Southampton to Brighton to get a chance of seeing one in the flesh!

mattrixdesign2

Not seen one, never mind ridden one, but it certainly ticks a lot of boxes!

Disc brakes - check
Hydraulic (low service) - check
Lightweight - check
Decent price - check
Simple to maintain - check

...I reckon it would really take on some rough stuff, and a few CX races, certainly good for my short commute of about 4-5miles.

The thing is this would replace my TriCross (rim brakes, 105etc), but I use my TriCross for winter/wet club rides for 40miles+. In addition if I was to do a tour then the TriCross would be my chosen bike, therefore the gearing is the thing that would concern me with the Arkose.

If I had more money, then I would consider:

http://www.kogabicycles.co.uk/en/beachracer.html

or a self build Salsa Fargo... NICE!