Help! Pick me a new commuter bike!

prawny

Looking for suggestions of what bike to get to replace my ageing and uninspiring Saracen Hack.

Requirements
1. Must be available on finance, cheap as possible for as short a period as possible - definitely less than a grand.
2. Fast - racier the better, the Hack is CX style, but it's sluggish and heavy, my commute is too long and lumpy to drag the excess lard around.
3. mudguard compatible - properly, no raceblades
4. Doesn't need upgrading from the box - light is good

I'm used to disc brakes (HyRds currently), but would be happy to go back to rims for the right bike.

Ones I've spotted

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-zenium-vr ... road-bike/ - 9.5kg - my Hack is getting on for 12kg I think
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-zenium-sl ... road-bike/ - 9kg
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-razor-road-bike-2018/ - 10.3kg

Also, looked at the Spec Diverge, Giant Contend and pinnacle range but they don't seem such good value any more.

frogonabike

What is the current hack? A good service and a wheel upgrade could make a lot of difference for under £1k

prawny

frogonabike wrote:

What is the current hack? A good service and a wheel upgrade could make a lot of difference for under £1k

A Saracen Hack 2 - 2014 Needs new wheels, chainset and rear mech, the shifters have seen better days, bars and stem have done the best part of 20k miles and I'm not overly enamoured with the frame brakes are good though, I only fitted them in December.

To be honest, if I liked the frame more I probably would just replace bits, but its hugely overbuilt and I'm just not a fan of riding it.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitu ... prod159794 looks a nice deal, but I can't find anything confirming mudguards or not.

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p83 ... -DISC-2017 and it looks like Cube may have finally re-released their guards viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=13074495&start=240#p20355173

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p83 ... N-GTC-2017 if you would fit a 58cm like me

UndercoverElephant

Dolan RDX?

https://www.dolan-bikes.com/road/road-b ... hydro.html

joe_totale-2

Would a single speed be too much for your "Long and lumpy commute"?

I bloody love my Kona Paddywagon which was bought on the forums here and it's the perfect commuter with mudguard mounts with room for wide tyres underneath them and being a single speed it's bulletproof.

Otherwise, I've got a Giant Contend SL2 and it's a good winter warrior which isn't too heavy. I've just been cycling it up and down the tors of Dartmoor and it's cope well, certainly happy that it came with an 11-32 for those climbs!
With the Contend specific guards you can get 25mm tyres underneath it as long as they're actually 25mm and not bigger which the modern trend seem to be.

HamishD

if you can put up with a hybrid then the Boardman Pro is an outstanding buy at the moment

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... 4cm-frames

add in 10% BC discount and it's less than 700

HamishD

on that note, the Titanium Boardman for less than £2k is a steal too, but probably over budget.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -road-bike

HamishD

and while I'm at it - £540 for this? Ridiculous.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... 4cm-frames

prawny

After doing a bit more research I've decided to wait until the autumn before springing for a new bike. Might still go for one of them Vitus's then though. Lovely.

tgotb

When you do go for it, be very careful about what's meant by "proper" mudguards; you need to figure out the actual width of mudguard that will fit in the frame, and the actual width of tyre that enables you to use. My girlfriends' Giant has to use special Giant mudguards with a cut-out to fit under the seatstays, and which limit you to a 23mm tyre; my old Condor took proper SKS mudguards, but with the widest mudguards you could fit in the frame you were still limited to a 23mm tyre; in both cases the mudguard clearances are/were tight, and require fiddling around with mudguard stays on a regular basis to keep them from rubbing. A lot of "mudguard compatible" frames seem to be standard road frames with a couple of mudguard eyes brazed on.
My CX frame takes massive (must be ~40mm) mudguards, which leave a huge clearance for 25mm road tyres, and there's no faffing to keep them properly adjusted. I understand your reasons for not wanting a CX frame, but there must presumably be a half-way house which gives you the ride you're after but with sufficient clearance for proper mudguards. Maybe test-ride a few audax bikes?

veronese68

TGOTB wrote:

I understand your reasons for not wanting a CX frame, but there must presumably be a half-way house which gives you the ride you're after but with sufficient clearance for proper mudguards.

I'm sure I've seen disc braked road bikes that have clearance for 28mm tyres and mudguards. Racier than a CX bike but removing the rim brakes frees up a bit of space for tyres and mudguards. Of course I can't remember what they were.

prawny

My old frame (Saracen Tenet) had space for 25s and chromoplastics on the disc and rim version, that's the sort of think I would want. I'm happy with 25s, I'm on 37s at the moment, and I don't find them much more comfortable on the road, and I notice the extra height cornering.

Going to do some thinking over the summer and keep an eye on deals. I've got a new chainset coming for the current bike today I'm hoping that will cure some of the shifting issues, if not I think a new mech or at least jockey wheels with be in order.

Edit to add - that's not to say I wouldn't be willing to have a go on a lighter faster more racey CX bike, it's just that mine is a bit of a dog.

navt

+1 for single speed. After years of running my precious road bikes into the ground commuting, I got myself one of these

Chappelli Modern Single Speed

OMG what a revelation! Don't know what your commute is like but I ride 9 miles each way, 100m of climbing.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

It's all very well suggesting singlespeeds and hybrids, they do have their use on some commutes, but prawny is a dedicated, pretty serious distance commuter... His 2018 stats (basically just commutes IIRC) so far beat all of my tiny ~5 mile each way commutes plus my training rides including my winter Zwift, except elevation gain, but even then it's not by much (152441 vs 187208 feet)

https://www.strava.com/athletes/83000

@prawny If you want me to remove the link to your Strava account, just say the word.

prawny

All good brother, bow before my amazing commute stats if someone broke in and stile my bikes they'd be very disappointed and doing me a solid.

Before this evening they wouldn't have got far either the gears were borked.

I've thought about singlespeeding it before, butbibe tried it on my bike and it's too much. 1200+ ft on the way home with a 700m 8% hill to finish. Might be ok if I had a bike that weighed nearly nothing and I wasn't such a fatty.

joe_totale-2

Fair enough with commutes like that. For the price I don't think you'll do better than the Vitus.

prawny

Stuck the new chainset on the current commuter this morning. It was much nicer to ride than before, I didn't realise just how worn the old rings were.



The old rings for reference!

N0bodyOfTheGoat

With your ~40 miles per cycle commuting day, I'm not surprised! :shock:

Aren't you throwing away Watts by having a single bottle on your downtube cage?

prawny

NitrousOxide wrote:

With your ~40 miles per cycle commuting day, I'm not surprised! :shock:

Aren't you throwing away Watts by having a single bottle on your downtube cage?

It's got tubes in, I carry 4 just in case

navt

prawny wrote:

It's got tubes in, I carry 4 just in case

Long walk home otherwise

bigmonka

prawny wrote:

Looking for suggestions of what bike to get to replace my ageing and uninspiring Saracen Hack.

Requirements
1. Must be available on finance, cheap as possible for as short a period as possible - definitely less than a grand.
2. Fast - racier the better, the Hack is CX style, but it's sluggish and heavy, my commute is too long and lumpy to drag the excess lard around.
3. mudguard compatible - properly, no raceblades
4. Doesn't need upgrading from the box - light is good

I'm used to disc brakes (HyRds currently), but would be happy to go back to rims for the right bike.

Ones I've spotted

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-zenium-vr ... road-bike/ - 9.5kg - my Hack is getting on for 12kg I think
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-zenium-sl ... road-bike/ - 9kg
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-razor-road-bike-2018/ - 10.3kg

Also, looked at the Spec Diverge, Giant Contend and pinnacle range but they don't seem such good value any more.

I had the same requirements list when looking for a new bike last year. I ended up with a Pinnacle Dolomite 5 which ticks all the boxes (weight on spec sheet is 8.9kg) which I'm still loving. I would really recommend one but never pay RRP for one as they're regularly discounted by a recent amount (mine was £1050 I think) and my wife's matching (but women's) one was under £900 as it was last year's model. Then you can also use Tesco voucher's at 3x their face value.

prawny

Oooh, Tesco vouchers, there's an idea.

Any Evans are doing 10% BC discount these days.

kleinstroker

hey Prawny, have you applied for Paypal financing? They're pretty easygoing with it, and means you can buy off the ebay, so extending your value by a shedload over a new bike

njee20

I'd start by ditching the mudguards (during summer) from what you've got and get the front end lower. It's all very well wanting something "faster", but you've got free speed by getting lower on what you've got, and if you can't cope with/don't want a lower front end there's little point buying something more racey.

prawny

I can't get a fat lot lower on mine, I was thinking about it this morning. I'd need to cut the steerer right down, and I'm loathe to do that because I might want to use it for pootling one day. I've got a 10mm spacer on at the moment and it headset has a conical washer but that's it. Because of the clearance under the forks the headtube isn't long, but it's a huge distance from the ground. I'd be much happier lower.

I'm holding off getting a new bike for now anyway, I start a new job at the beginning of August and want to check out the parking situation, also I'll have the possibility of the CTW scheme.

I think part of it is just fancying something I'd like to ride, I saw a couple of nice CAAD10s on ebay for not much money.

njee20

Sounds like you can get 10mm and a conical spacer lower ;-)

That'll make a bigger difference than a bike 1kg lighter! Just leave the spacers on top, you'll obviously need a straight one to replace the conical one and it'll look a bit special, but they're under no stress, I'd not worry about it. If you've more than 30mm then cut it down anyway, why would you ever want the bars that high!?

prawny

njee20 wrote:

Sounds like you can get 10mm and a conical spacer lower ;-)

That'll make a bigger difference than a bike 1kg lighter! Just leave the spacers on top, you'll obviously need a straight one to replace the conical one and it'll look a bit special, but they're under no stress, I'd not worry about it. If you've more than 30mm then cut it down anyway, why would you ever want the bars that high!?

I'll probably use it for pootling with the kids over the summer, Cannock Chase is my back garden and it's perfect for the fire roads so I don't want to be stuck arse in the air on it. I mount my phone on the stem too and that limits how low I can get my stem without cutting the steerer.

TBH, the bike is fine on the flat, it's probably as fast as the old one (I just bend my arms more), it's on the hills I'm noticing the difference, and then it's not huge. It's only once it gets above 6% for any length of time it's really hard work.

When I get some new tyres I'm going to stick some 25s or 28s on and maybe swap out the big wide guards for some cruds or something.

prawny

Happy days, the sales have started, plus I've got a new job so I can plunder CTW.

I'm hating the Hack now, it's juts lifeless, it's heavy and I think it's a bit big too.

Shortlist is now, the Vitus Zenium, Pinnacle Dolomite 2 or Spesh Allez Elite as a wildcard.

This will be my best do everything bike so will be used for commuting and leisure rides, I'm keeping the hack too, because it will fit my studded tyres.

All three take guards, but I've been thinking I'd be happy to go back to cruds on the right bike. I've not completely ruled out a CAAD 12, but I'm wary of press fit BBs.

Any thoughts?

pblakeney

Thoughts? Next time I am in the market for a stop/start commuting bike it will definitely have disc brakes. Braking in cruddy weather eats rims for fun.

cruff

Kinesis Aithein? Allez Sprint? Both around a grand if you can find a deal