New bike

mabbo

Guys, thinking of buying a cyclo cross type bike as my winter commuter, and also summer canal path, trails bike. Up to now I have been mainly a road rider. Winter bike until recently was my 25 year old giant, but it really is on it's last legs.
I am buying within my company cycle to work scheme. So am restricted somewhat budget wise. I am also restricted to Halfords, but can order other major brands from them apart from Boardman and Carrera. So; I have seen three bikes, the obvious Boardman CX Team,the silver one, but also now aware of the Giant Revolt 2, and the Giant Any Road 2. The reason behind the choice on Giant is I have a Defy 1 road bike, and my old Giant racer lasted me over 25 years. So I kind of have trust in their engineering.

Has anybody owned any of those three? Tried them out? Know anyone who owns one? Reviews on the two Giants are a bit scarce.

Any advice appreciated
.http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-comp-bike-2014

https://www.cyclestore.co.uk/giant_revo ... wgod87oAMA

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-AnyRoad-2 ... wwodtB8Arw

FransJacques

For your use on canal paths, which frankly are not exactly as demanding as the Koppenberg cross or the sand of Koksijde, I think anything you like will be good.

It's actually good for you b/c not only cross bikes but the new breed of 'gravel' bikes can work. You could also look at a alu Spesh Roubaix disc or a Cannondale Synapse alu disc. The lowest models *might* be under £1000 if you're lucky. I cite the disc models b/c they can take big (30mm) tyres which'll give you lots of control and confidence on broken canal paths. I know how bad some of those in West London can be! I've ridden from Paddington to Hillingdon before on them.

So a cross bike could be good for you but since you might not be seeing the degree of mud a more off-road application would, you have a wider pool to choose from.

Do you want drop or flat bars?