'Adventure' bike £1-1.5k

mattmaximus

I'm not sure I can take the 'adventure' moniker too seriously, but I do fancy a bike which can cruise over SE England's road surfaces, take a fire road or riverside cycle path in its stride and, in my dreams at least, take on some light touring and a jogle some time. Disc brakes and rack/guard mounts seem to make sense.

I'm 6'4 and have seem to have quite short arms, so the typical 'sportive' geometry ends up giving me a normal racy fit. On the whole, short top tubes work well for me.

My best bet for testing bikes seems to be to employ the local Evans, from which I could get any of the following:

Gt grade 105 (good price, great reviews, only goes up to a 58)
Norco search s1 (apparently quite heavy, mechanical discs)
Croix de fer 20 (weighs plenty, only tiagra)
Pinnacle arkose 4 (nice spec, doubts about frame, again only up to 58)

And that's just the start. Any views that would help me to make a shortlist would be welcome. Btw I'll almost certainly be thinking of a second wheelset; I do like my handbuilts.

Any curveballs also welcome. Is an old model Salsa Vaya 2 for about £1300 a better bet? Boardman CX?

Too much choice!

Thanks all

mrb123

Have a look at the Cube Cross range. 105 and mechanical discs for about a grand, Ultegra and hydraulics for a bit more.

bendertherobot

I'd find it very very hard to look beyond the Planet X London Road at the moment. Leaves you £300-£600 to spend on upgrading the brakes (if you want to) and buying a rack etc.

w00dster

Genesis Croix Der Fer for me. Biased as I want one and only have the CDF.
Mine is slightly heavier than the Croix Der Fer. Weight is not an issue. Tiagra is also fine mine has Sora, but the comfort of the frame and the fact I ride it everywhere makes up for that. IMO a true adventure bike should have parts that are going to be fairly cheap and simple to replace. If like mine it gets a lot of abuse in a good way, then I would focus on the ease and cost I f maintenance, replacement chains and cassettes etc.
Obviously it also needs to be comfortable for long rides, as long as speed isn't an issue then once more the Genesis fits the bill. (I ride mine for 60/70 mile club rides and I keep up with the other guys, it's harder work than my summer bike, but that's what you get for a more comfortable ride)
I ride a fair few bikes, some very expensive, but the CDF puts the biggest smile on my face! In fact I'm going out on it this evening, will be about 40 mile road and 15 on forest trails. Love it!!!!

trek_dan

They had a Synapse disc in at my local Evans at the weekend, looked really slick.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cannondale/synapse-adventure-disc-2015-road-bike-ec071025

ai_1

For that use I'd probably consider the Canyon Inflite, the Boardman CX and maybe the Cannondale and Cube cross bikes. The Specialized Tricross would also do a good job, I got a lot of enjoyable use from a 2009 one, but generally think Specialized are overpriced, probably true of the Tricross too.

mattmaximus

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.

Since I can't try the cube or px - in spite of killer specs - I'll probably pass there (with both the geometry isn't quite right). The 'dale looks a bit tight only accepting 25c tyres with guards. I've got a soft spot for the tricross but the latest version seems disappointingly poor vfm.

A nice write-up of the genesis, I'll have to try one now

ai_1

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19631751#p19631751]mattmaximus[/url] wrote:

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.

Since I can't try the cube or px - in spite of killer specs - I'll probably pass there (with both the geometry isn't quite right). The 'dale looks a bit tight only accepting 25c tyres with guards. I've got a soft spot for the tricross but the latest version seems disappointingly poor vfm.

A nice write-up of the genesis, I'll have to try one now

Personally I think test rides are pretty worthless. You're not testing the bike, you're testing the way the shop set it up, or didn't, the way you feel on the day, the weather and the roads where the shop is. I also think seeing the bike in the flesh is largely unnecessary especially if you have a fair idea of the geometry you're looking for. I bought my Canyon Ultimate having never seen one. I knew what geometry I wanted and knew it was a good bike with a great spec. I'm still convinced it was the right way to go.
If I was you I'd be discounting bikes only based on geometry, spec and personal preference (aesthetics etc) and VFM. You won't buy a bad frame if you go for something like a Cube or Canyon. The risk is that you might pick something with inappropriate geometry, but that's only really a risk if you're new to cycling and/or don't know how to figure out what will suit you. Generally a rider with a little experience should be able to figure out what they want and what'll give it to them.

If you want VFM the Canyon is probably top of the list in that regard.

w00dster

I agree about the test rides, but it's always good to see the bike and have a little play around.
What is equally important as geometry is having the right type of bike for the type of use it will see. I think OP needs to have a think about the real likelyhood of going touring and off roading. I personally wouldn't want to take my endurance bike with its 25c tyres off road. I have a Trek Domane which seems similar to the Canyon, could be wrong on this but does seem it to me. Off-road and touring ideally would be a 32c minimum for me, preferably bigger.
As also mentioned for touring, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Tiagra, cheap to replace, off-road and touring you're going to go through components due to sand, mud etc. sticking to road then Ultegra is great and the Canyon is definitely the better option.
Slightly off topic, I do like the canyon Al bikes, I'm currently trying to convince Mrs W that I need a new race bike but currently shes not having any of it!

ai_1

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19631897#p19631897]w00dster[/url] wrote:

I agree about the test rides, but it's always good to see the bike and have a little play around.
What is equally important as geometry is having the right type of bike for the type of use it will see. I think OP needs to have a think about the real likelyhood of going touring and off roading. I personally wouldn't want to take my endurance bike with its 25c tyres off road. I have a Trek Domane which seems similar to the Canyon, could be wrong on this but does seem it to me. Off-road and touring ideally would be a 32c minimum for me, preferably bigger.
As also mentioned for touring, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Tiagra, cheap to replace, off-road and touring you're going to go through components due to sand, mud etc. sticking to road then Ultegra is great and the Canyon is definitely the better option.
Slightly off topic, I do like the canyon Al bikes, I'm currently trying to convince Mrs W that I need a new race bike but currently shes not having any of it!

I agree about not getting a road "endurance" type bike if light off-road is part of the plan. I wasn't suggesting he get a Canyon Ultimate, Aeroad or Roadlite. I suggested the Inflite. It's a disk equipped cyclocross bike and will be designed with lots of clearance for 32mm+ tyres. As well as the cyclocross version it's also sold in a touring/commuter guise fitted with road tyres and mudguards.

https://www.canyon.com/en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3620
...or with slicks and mudguards: https://www.canyon.com/en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3618

Both versions are also available for less with 105 which is probably what I'd go for if this was for general purpose riding.

P.S
I did mention my experience with the Ultimate regarding buying without a test ride and probably confused things!

w00dster

Ah I stand corrected, actually with knobbly's on the Canyon is nice. I also agree it seems a very good deal at that price. It is saying out of stock though.
Not sure about the quality of the brakes, if they turned out to be pap that could be a minor change at a later time.
The weight seems good, 8.6kgs. As long as the ride isn't too harsh then it could be a very good option.

bendertherobot

Canyon generally offer great VFM. But in the cross market/commuter I'm not convinced. The entry model is £1200. The Planet X (Rival) is £799. You could easily up spec to Trp Hy Rd if you're worried about the brakes.

The Croix is also poor value unless (as with many Genesis bikes) you build it yourself.