New winter commuter.

elbowloh

Veronese68 wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

However, I'm now thinking that I might just put some less knobbly/thinner tyres on my mtb that hardly gets used, as it has hydraulic discs (it's a Merlin Malt 2 from about 2005). Only trouble is that the front suspension fork doesn't have a lock-out. Not the end of the world though.

Buy a rigid fork, added bonus that it will be lighter. Measure the distance from the axle to the bottom bearing of the headset when you are on the bike, get suspension corrected forks that length so as not to screw up the geometry.
If it's disc brake you might have enough room to get a 700c wheel and tyre in as the total diameter of wheel plus smaller tyre will not be very different to what you have now.

I actually think i'll just use my steel bike (fit some mud guards) for cold/wet days and save the MTB for when it's icy and/or snowy.

Kieran_Burns

I'm just using my old Tricross for the Winter... still rebuilding it (rear cassette is griefing me) but I kind of am worried about having good disc brakes on slippy roads. I've got the spiked tyres on the wheels, so I'll have the bike basically sat on standby; just need to swap the lights over.

london-red

Here you go. Croix de Fer. Done.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gen ... e-ec052633

cookeeemonster

London-Red wrote:

Here you go. Croix de Fer. Done.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gen ... e-ec052633

At 11.5kg they weigh a ton!! (from one of the evans Q&A's)

london-red

CookeeeMonster wrote:

London-Red wrote:

Here you go. Croix de Fer. Done.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gen ... e-ec052633

At 11.5kg they weigh a ton!! (from one of the evans Q&A's)

Which is exactly the point. Imagine the speed you'll go on the Sunday Best...

daddy0

CookeeeMonster wrote:

London-Red wrote:

Here you go. Croix de Fer. Done.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gen ... e-ec052633

At 11.5kg they weigh a ton!! (from one of the evans Q&A's)

Yeah 11.5kgs does seem too heavy for me. I want to go fast every day, not just Sunday. My commute is a 50 mile round trip, with about 1000m of climbing, so the bike I get needs to be light as possible. Ideally I want something thats around 9kg.

I would've already pulled the trigger on the Kaffenback 2, which is £200 cheaper for the same sorta spec as the CDF, but it too weighs over 11kg...

The CDF does look nice though.

cookeeemonster

Daddy0 wrote:

CookeeeMonster wrote:

London-Red wrote:

Here you go. Croix de Fer. Done.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gen ... e-ec052633

At 11.5kg they weigh a ton!! (from one of the evans Q&A's)

Yeah 11.5kgs does seem too heavy for me. I want to go fast every day, not just Sunday. My commute is a 50 mile round trip, with about 1000m of climbing, so the bike I get needs to be light as possible. Ideally I want something thats around 9kg.

I would've already pulled the trigger on the Kaffenback 2, which is £200 cheaper for the same sorta spec as the CDF, but it too weighs over 11kg...

The CDF does look nice though.

To be honest 99% of my miles is commuter miles and that won't change an awful lot for the next couple years I reckon ((despite recently joining a club). So in other words like you I pretty much want my commuter bike as Sunday best

veronese68

Before I bought the Kinesis I tried a Croix de Fer back to back with a Pinnacle Arkose. The Pinnacle was much lighter, but the Croix felt much better to ride. I very nearly bought one, but in the end I plumped for the Kinesis and am glad I did. It's a great bike that can do anything, it'll take a rack and guards if necessary. At the moment I have 41mm knobbly tyres on it as I'm doing London to Brighton off road on Saturday. I did the Ride London on it and several people commented that it was the perfect bike for that day. Discs and mudguards with all that water came in very useful.
There are now lots more bikes to choose from which makes it harder to choose. But I still really rate my bike, to me it is the Sunday best and the commuter and it's bloody marvellous.
Mind you, the Genesis Fugio looks nice...

cookeeemonster

Veronese68 wrote:

Before I bought the Kinesis I tried a Croix de Fer back to back with a Pinnacle Arkose. The Pinnacle was much lighter, but the Croix felt much better to ride. I very nearly bought one, but in the end I plumped for the Kinesis and am glad I did. It's a great bike that can do anything, it'll take a rack and guards if necessary. At the moment I have 41mm knobbly tyres on it as I'm doing London to Brighton off road on Saturday. I did the Ride London on it and several people commented that it was the perfect bike for that day. Discs and mudguards with all that water came in very useful.
There are now lots more bikes to choose from which makes it harder to choose. But I still really rate my bike, to me it is the Sunday best and the commuter and it's bloody marvellous.
Mind you, the Genesis Fugio looks nice...

I'd sort of added it to my list but what are the 'TEKTRO Lyra' brakes like? Are they full mechanical? Any problems with having to adjust them like what has been mentioned before? And whats the weight like?

N0bodyOfTheGoat

How about pre-ordering a London frameset, using your Hylex brakes and doing a custom spec?
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FRPXLONROD ... d-frameset

How much do you reckon it would be to do such a custom?

veronese68

CookeeeMonster wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Kinesis love.

I'd sort of added it to my list but what are the 'TEKTRO Lyra' brakes like? Are they full mechanical? Any problems with having to adjust them like what has been mentioned before? And whats the weight like?

I bought a frame and forks and built mine up with BB7s originally. They were plenty powerful enough and I didn't have any trouble setting them up, but feel wasn't great compared to full hydraulics on the MTB. I then bought a heavily discounted Parabox conversion. Feel is improved with the added advantage the pads are self adjusting. Still not quite as good as full hydraulics though.

asprilla

I've bought a Charge Plug 5.

They went from £1600 to £1200 to £1120 whilst I was deliberating. That's just asking to be bought.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Nice discount!

Would those brakes be affected by SRAM's hydraulic recall in the last 12 months?

Are they hybrid hydraulic brakes?

asprilla

Fully hydraulic. They were recalled and replaced.

veronese68

Asprilla wrote:

I've bought a Charge Plug 5.

They went from £1600 to £1200 to £1120 whilst I was deliberating. That's just asking to be bought.

It would have been rude not to at that price.

daddy0

Asprilla wrote:

I've bought a Charge Plug 5.

They went from £1600 to £1200 to £1120 whilst I was deliberating. That's just asking to be bought.

Yeah I noticed that too, makes it very tempting. Have you got it yet? First impressions?

asprilla

Just ordered it this morning when I got to work. Don't expect to have it until next weekend.

One large and two mediums left in stock.........

DrLex

Plus wiggle loyalty discount?

Soooo tempted to get the last large, but just exchanged contracts to move in a fortnight, and bike storage is a live "issue".

EKE_38BPM

DrLex wrote:

Plus wiggle loyalty discount?

Soooo tempted to get the last large, but just exchanged contracts to move in a fortnight, and bike storage is a live "issue".

The bike should be delivered by then. I would argue that storage in the new place be focussed on (not) bringing new stuff in once you're in the new place, not stuff you're taking with you from the old place.

Much like opinion polls, its all about how the topic is framed.

Let us know if that works!

porlyworly

Does anyone have an opinion on the below Kona? Have heard good things about them in the cyclocross world

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/kona-jak ... tAodMRQAQw

asprilla

PorlyWorly wrote:

Does anyone have an opinion on the below Kona? Have heard good things about them in the cyclocross world

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/kona-jak ... tAodMRQAQw

I think Veronese had one before he got his Kinesis.

veronese68

Asprilla wrote:

PorlyWorly wrote:

Does anyone have an opinion on the below Kona? Have heard good things about them in the cyclocross world

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/kona-jak ... tAodMRQAQw

I think Veronese had one before he got his Kinesis.

Yes, I had one of the earlier ones with canti brakes, I got rid of it because of the brakes. With discs it would be ok, quite a bit heavier than the Kinesis, but a good buy at that price I reckon.

porlyworly

I too have a Kinesis Crosslight (old canti brakes one) and it is indeed very nimble but is sadly too small for me so I'm going to move it on this winter and replace with a disk equipped cx. Don't want to break the bank tho and just found that 2014 brand new Kona, in my size, on the bay of dreams for a smidge under £700

veronese68

In bad weather the discs should make a big difference, far more so than a bit of weight. Remember disc brakes do need bedding in so will feel dreadful at first.

the_fuggler

I'd definitely have a Kinesis Pro 6 on the shortlist. In green. No other colour will do.

veronese68

I think it looks the dog's danglies, especially when mucky.

That was after Saturday's nonsense. It looks comparatively dull with mudguards and road tyres on.

the_fuggler

Looks fab in that picture. It's even better in the flesh.

porlyworly

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/285290/pr ... -bike.aspx

Decent spec for the price

daddy0

Anyone got a Pinnacle Arkose 3? 2014 models are now only £850, which is pretty good considering its mainly 105 and not too heavy:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/arkose-three-2014-cyclocross-bike-ec054866#features

I just tested it out in Evans car park. Tried 2 sizes, medium and large. As I am 178cm tall I am right on the crossover for sizes. Couldn't tell if the large was too big or the medium too small?? Will probably go back tomorrow and go for a proper test ride to see for sure.

Should I opt for the smaller (medium) one or go large? Have any of you lot got a cunning way of telling if a bike is too big or small?

veronese68

If you're not sure go smaller, longer stem could be fitted. If you're thinking of taking it off road go smaller.