Commuting bikes help.

Jurassic

As a newcomer to bike commuting i have been trawling around looking for a suitable commuting and weekend leisure only road bike and have looked at these two.

Giant Rapid 1 2016 or GT Grade flatbar Expert....both are being offered at discounted prices i do prefer a flat bar type. I do not know these and would appreciate any thoughts on them.

Sleeper Service

They're both nice, but for the money that they're asking for the Giant I'd expect it to have a carbon fork.

I'm biased, as I have the 2014 model, but I think this beats them both:

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -team-bike

The Rookie

Different take on the same theme
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-540-f ... 22798.html
Looses discs for rim brakes which contributes to the circa 1Kg lower weight will feel a bit livelier than the Boardman, personally for a commuter though I like the instant braking in all weathers benefit of discs (but then my Hybrid is 8.5Kg without pedals).

wolfsbane2k

I've got the 2016 triban 540, which was 10spd 105, and love it, but haven't overwintered it yet so don't know how it will handle it.
The 500se I had before was not suitable for overwintering, that's for sure!

cowsham

I too have narrowed my search down to the same two bikes with some others I found along the way.. and about to buy the gt.
What I was really looking for was a road bike with a flat bar not an evolved mountain bike.
The main considerations are
Hydraulic disc brakes ( found out you can have cables levers activating hydro brakes -- I don't want any cables )

A light frame not too worried about carbon forks but the bikes I've filtered out have them anyway.

I like a horizontal top bar so the seat post is shorter and everything is more rigid -- plus it just makes the bike look much better.

I like narrow handle bars but I could cut a wallop off wide ones.

Plenty of gears so I can winch my way up hills or tramp along in top gear down hills with revs left in my feet.

The gt seems to be the closest to what I want. It has the road bike frame geometry, hydro disc brakes, narrow bars, unbelievably light at 8.5 kg ( don't quite believe that but it is basically a road bike ) plenty of gears -- my only gripe about it would be the lack of rear rack and mudguard mounts although the manufacturers say you can fit clip on mudguards

The Boardman seems very clunky in the gears department and is 11.5kg probably because it is mountain bike based. ( had a test ride at Halfords )

I liked the giant rapid 1 better it seems a bit more refined than the Boardman and feels lighter but no weight was given to compare.

Had a look at a Whyte Portobello which feels very nice but just one chain ring so only 9 gears and again an evolved mountain bike but lighter than the Boardman.

I do plenty of biking and use mostly mountain bikes with road tyres on but have had road bikes when I was young when they were called ' racers ' but I don't like the modern racers because of the gears and brakes on the same lever and putting extra levers on the flat bit just defeats the weight saving. Also if I want extra positions for my hands I can add the extra grips to the flat bars.

Any thoughts? And what bike did you go for in the end ? -- my first post here btw -- any help would be appreciated.

supersonic

I can't believe the GT is 8.5kg either - I'd guess more like 11kg.

robertpb

supersonic wrote:

I can't believe the GT is 8.5kg either - I'd guess more like 11kg.

As the Tiagra version of this comes in at 10.15kg so I think you are about right.

cowsham

Also found the trek zektor 2 or 3 looks like my style of bike probably go for the 3 cos of the better gears both are alloy forks but that's OK with of and weight about 11.5kg easy mudguards and rack fitting with hydro disc brakes -- looks nice too. The mereda speeder 200 or 300 look similar spec only with carbon forks.

cowsham

Had to go for the giant rapid 1 in the end as the gt grade expert wasn't available on special offer in my size -- and haven't read a bad review on the rapid -- will do a write up on the rapid when it arrives and get a sail on it.

cowsham

Got a look over the bike and all is well. Everything I expected it to be -- smooth -- quiet -- fast -- comfortable and light 10.4 kg I make it. In comparison my sons old Claude Butler San Remo is about 12.5 kg. The wheels are giant ( I think the 2017 version wheels are shimano ) the brakes and rotors are Tektro which there seems to be a lot of bad press about but on trying them out today they seem really good and well setup ( if they needed / were setup.) No rubbing and very good 'modulation ' ( which is the wrong word for tractability ) with amazing power.

cowsham

Just in from a 10 ml run and very impressed with this wee bike -- gearing is perfect for me -- I live in a very hilly place so I need the low gearing to wind me back up home but also like to take full advantage of the downhill parts and to my delight I wasn't able to push to my maximum rpm in top gear. Even though I was tired from working out in the gym yesterday I know there's plenty of speed left in the gearing if I could ever push it and braking at the bottom of the hills won't be an issue with discs. One feature I like ( if you can call it a feature ) is the three positions on the front derailier ie 2 for the 34 chain wheel and the 3rd for the 50. The reason I like this is cos, with an 11 - 32 cassette the chain needs to move horizontally a lot and you get a little chain rub on the front derailier but if you select one of the first 2 positions to suit where the chain is you can circumvent the problem leaving the bike sweet and silent again. The giant AC 28mm tyres are perfect for most types of road surface and coupled with the carbon forks gives a very smooth fast ride. I think it maybe to do with the profile of the Tyre too -- it's pointy ( can't be bothered to look up the right word for it ) ie there is a very small contact area with the road yet the high profile soaks up the rough texture on the road, if that makes sense.