Good commuting bike for 15-17 miles each way

dgendy

Hello everyone. I will be starting a longer commute to work that will be about 14-17 miles. I am moving house and have not confirmed where I will be staying yet, that is why the exact miles are not stated. I currently commute 6 miles each way on my hybrid bike. I have commuted 14 miles each way for a previous job using the same bike, but I did find that very tiring. I was looking to get a road bike for this new commute. I don't do much leisurely cycling so I would just use it for the commute. I would like something that comes with disc brakes , thin but puncture resistant tyres (although I could buy separately) and light frame but is not more than £1000. No idea where to start looking. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good bike for this? Many thanks

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Under £1k, the bike "prawny" on here has his eye on as a purchase looks a very good buy, for a hydraulic disc brake setup.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-zenium-vr ... road-bike/ £800

Bizarrely, it is considerably cheaper at Wiggle currently than at ChainReaction ~(£1100), where you could use 10% British Cycling membership discount.

It apparently comes with a medium cage rear mech, so you could safely swap out the 11-28 cassette for an 11-32, to give you slightly lower gearing with the 36/52T chainrings (http://sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html will give you an idea of what that does).
At 5'10" and ~32.5" cycling inseam, I would go with the 56cm version, with 1mm less reach and 36mm less stack than my 58cm Cube (which is a nice buy if a 58/60cm fits you at Rutland cycles for ~£1070 currently before Topcashback).
About the only negative I can spot is that they state 28mm is the maximum tyre clearance, with suggests that a 28mm set of Continental GP4000 S2s would not fit, as they measure up big at ~31mm wide.

A few other hydraulic disc spots, but I don't think they compare favourably...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-zenium-sl ... road-bike/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-substance ... ike-105-1/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-vr40-road- ... agra-2018/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-vr30-road-bike-105-2018/
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitu ... prod146567 (very nice if you fit a small frame)
https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/ro ... ack_372169
https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/ro ... red_378753
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... nture-bike (10% BC discount available)
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... cross-bike (10% BC discount available)

Probably not the best time of year to hunt bargains, most of last season's stock will have been on sale since around last September, so not many nice options.

HamishD

dgendy wrote:

Hello everyone. I will be starting a longer commute to work that will be about 14-17 miles. I am moving house and have not confirmed where I will be staying yet, that is why the exact miles are not stated. I currently commute 6 miles each way on my hybrid bike. I have commuted 14 miles each way for a previous job using the same bike, but I did find that very tiring. I was looking to get a road bike for this new commute. I don't do much leisurely cycling so I would just use it for the commute. I would like something that comes with disc brakes , thin but puncture resistant tyres (although I could buy separately) and light frame but is not more than £1000. No idea where to start looking. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good bike for this? Many thanks

That Vitus bike is excellent value. Also, check the boardman discounts in Halfords at the moment (see Prawny's thread for links).

dgendy

Many thanks for the advice so far! So many of those bikes I have no heard of so its good to see a bit a variety. I do not really know a lot about bikes apart from basic maintenance so thanks for the detailed explanation.

Looking online I found the Specialized Allez E5 Elite and Boardman Team Carbon as recommended road bikes so I am considering them too. I will have a look at what you have both recommended and try and compare. I really just want the bike for the commute, not so much leisurely use, not sure if that makes a difference.