Is there a bike that can do it all?

joey54321

I'm toying with the idea of selling my Focus Mares CX Rival 1 that I use for cyclo-cross and instead replacing it with a bike that, in addition to CX, also use for light bike packing and as a winter road bike with mudguards but feels good enough on the road for trips to the Alps where I might fancy disc brakes on the road.

Any ideas?

mamil314

Lynskey Cooper CX

kingrollo

Whyte Wessex

CitizenLee

Genesis CdF/CdA/TdF

w00dster

What your asking for isn't impossible, but there is always compromises.
I had a Genesis CDF, was fairly heavy and had average mechanical braking. Not what I would want for wet winter rides or for the alps. Lots of people use them and are OK with them, but I personally wouldn't go down that route.
I've since purchased a Trek Domane SL5 for winter riding. Very good braking, reasonable weight (mine is about 8.7kgs), decent wheels, very comfortable even on steady gravel with a 32mm tyre. It can take a 33mm knobbly with room to spare and I've also used it for bike packing.
That being said, after having used CX bikes off-road and my Domane, I'd be looking at something that takes at least a 40mm tyre, and if possible also a 650B to 47mm. That way you can have a separate a set of wheels, 650B for off-road and bike packing and then the usual 700c for road rides. Pretty much every long ride or exploring new tracks off-road I've wanted wider lower pressure tyres at some point.

badgermat

If you like Focus you could try the Paralane, which actually comes with mudguards and works pretty competently as a road bike.

Otherwise, take a look at the 3T Exploro. Aero frame, road-ish geometry but huge clearances for massive tyres (on 650 or 700 wheels). It's not cheap, but is good. Particularly if you can embrace SRAM Force 1X gruppo on the Team version as a complete bike.

Admission - I've just bought a 3T with Force 1x and 700x35 wheel/tyres so I'm looking for all kinds of validation. But it is a bloody good bike that is actually faster than my old <8kg carbon roadie with Dura-Ace.

bm

DeVlaeminck

I've got a CdF, it's certainly not a bike for riding fast on the road and the idea of racing cross on it wouldn't appeal at all.

Candyon

I've been looking at the Orro Terra and Specialized Diverge. Not sure of their CX credentials but they both seem very versatile bikes.

Camcycle1974

This http://www.enigmabikes.com/bikes/etape/ I should think

davidw007

I've got a Cannondale Slate and use it for all sorts of riding.

It's a little heavy on the road but I don't race and prefer to link up road miles with off road sections so it's perfect.

big_harv

Mine. I'm currently hanging towels on it.

#sad

molteni_man

Hi Joey and Candyon.
Have a look on this thread towards the bottom of P1 re both the Orro Terra and the Focus Paralane.
viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=13089199
I think these ( and similar) are the closest you can get to a ‘ do all’ bike.
I rode mine (Orro) on my 20 mile ‘hilly’ commute to work today and I do enjoy the planted feel on descents and capacity to deal with some pretty beaten up Hampshire lanes!
Like Candyon not sure re CX capacity. I think Orro have increased the capacity for wider tyres now too.
Happy looking!

williamac

Joey

Have you had a look at the Kinesis bike range (Granfondo, ATR, etc). Couple of options depending upon how important some of your requirements are. Granfondo only takes upto 30mm tyres but ATR to 45mm.

I'm happy with my Granfondo Ti v2. c 8kg all up weight. Fast, handles well and I've used it as Winter Bike with Mudguards, Summer best including summer trips to Alps, Tenerife, Majorca, Maritime Alps and it copes with all you can throw at it and doesn't hold me back compared to others on their best bikes. Also done light touring with Rack and Panniers. Closest thing I could find to the "One Bike"

Gets great reviews.

If you want something a little more Cross, then the ATR might be up your street, or even the recently announced G2.

William

DeVlaeminck

The ATR might work, you wouldn't get a cross tyre on the GF, Reilly Gradient reviews well as an ATR alternative and not a bad price for titanium.

Beatmaker

Ive just bought one of these as my winter/gravel/cx bike: https://www.merlincycles.com/ridley-x-trail-c-force-1-carbon-gravel-bike-117572.html It has sold out now unfortunately.

First ride this Thursday, I'm doing a lakes gravel ride with a stop halfway to watch the ToB time trial up Whinlatter.

arlowood

How about a Giant Toughroad SLR GXO

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/ro ... ver_382047

Bought as a do-it-all bike by "bristolpete" and by all accounts it has lived up to that demand. See this thread for more info

viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=13088598&hilit=Giant

CitizenLee

arlowood wrote:

How about a Giant Toughroad SLR GXO

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/ro ... ver_382047

Bought as a do-it-all bike by "bristolpete" and by all accounts it has lived up to that demand. See this thread for more info

viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=13088598&hilit=Giant

That is an incredibly nice looking bike, even more so when muddy!

andyh01

I'm going through this myself as I'd rather have one good bike then several average bikes and I can guarantee if out on one I'd wish I was on another and my riding style has changed prefer more off road beaten track then pure on road I have loads of canals and national cycle networks around me in Leicester-shire I might want get in cyclex or x-country, my commute may change and therefore requirements may change too.
I've gone from Alu to carbon to Ti and back to Alu for frame choice depending on budget the ones that best fit my needs are;
3T Explore not sure on mudguards or rack mounts carbon unidirectional frame
Open U.P again not sure on mudguards or rack mounts carbon unidirectional frame
Enigma Escape Ti
J.ack Ti
Mason Bokeh Alu - full rack and mount eyes 700 or 650b di2 compatible, internal cabling

I think the best value that will meet my needs the most is the Mason Bokeh, I have test rode both the J.ack and Enigma as fairly local unfortunately the Bokeh is too far from me, so I'm tempted to buy the frameset and build myself with help of LBS so I can try different finishing kit along with bike fit so everything will fit for me.

kingdav

I bought a used 2017 caadx frame with apex1 hyrdaulic groupset on it minus wheels for about £400 on ebay. Add £300 hunt wheels and road tyres for the winter commute, plus another set of cosine wheels (£50 from this good forum) and I have a lot of bases covered.

I still ride my carbon nice day bike and my every day allez commuter though.

photonic69

I too was looking at a do-it-all bike as my commuter and Winter Sunday Club Run bike.

My criteria was £1000 or less. Hydraulic disc brakes. Tiagra or 105 groupset. Endurance geometry. Would take 28mm tyres with full mudguards. The first four were quite easy to meet. I looked at Pinnacle Arkose's, Cannondales, Ribbles, Vitus and the Giant's - specifically the ToughRoad as it looked great on the WWW. In the flesh when in the shop I really didn't like it. Far too MTB meets Road for me. The other Giant Contend wouldn't take 28's and guards.

I then found a Felt VR30 which I fell in love with and bought. Will take up to 32 tyres I believe (not with guards though), handles beautifully and is a great climbing bike with Super-Compact front chainrings. It's not as swift as my Giant Defy but I've still got a numebr of PB's on the new bike.

See here: https://eu-en.feltbicycles.com/collections/vr

joe_totale-2

PhotoNic69 wrote:

The other Giant Contend wouldn't take 28's and guards.

I've got the rim brake version of the Contend and I've got full guards (the Giant specific ones) and 28mm Hutchinson Sector tyres in there and working well.

photonic69

Joe Totale wrote:

PhotoNic69 wrote:

The other Giant Contend wouldn't take 28's and guards.

I've got the rim brake version of the Contend and I've got full guards (the Giant specific ones) and 28mm Hutchinson Sector tyres in there and working well.

How much clearance do you have? On my Defy with Defy specific guards I could just run 25's with the clearance of a fag paper. Got really fed up with digging out mud and crud from the brake bridge mount during Winter rides.

joe_totale-2

PhotoNic69 wrote:

Joe Totale wrote:

PhotoNic69 wrote:

The other Giant Contend wouldn't take 28's and guards.

I've got the rim brake version of the Contend and I've got full guards (the Giant specific ones) and 28mm Hutchinson Sector tyres in there and working well.

How much clearance do you have? On my Defy with Defy specific guards I could just run 25's with the clearance of a fag paper. Got really fed up with digging out mud and crud from the brake bridge mount during Winter rides.

I won't lie, clearance isn't amazing and you wouldn't get any bigger tyres in there but I've ridden it it some pretty cruddy conditions and it's not given me any problems.

freefall_junkie

I can second the Focus Paralane recommendation above. It is a stunningly good all rounder. I bought mine as a winter/commuting bike which can also take a bit of gravel, but it is so much fun to ride on typical UK rough road surfaces that I often take it in preference to my 'best' bike, a Bianchi Infinito CV, even when I am going for a fair weather road ride. I am running it on 32mm Bontrager AW3 slicks, but there is plenty of clearance for wider knobbly tyres for CX. In fact for 2019 Focus have a couple of 'GC' versions of the Parlane which use the same frame but come with one-by drivetrains and off road tyres.

Candyon

Molteni Man wrote:

Hi Joey and Candyon.
Have a look on this thread towards the bottom of P1 re both the Orro Terra and the Focus Paralane.
viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=13089199
I think these ( and similar) are the closest you can get to a ‘ do all’ bike.
I rode mine (Orro) on my 20 mile ‘hilly’ commute to work today and I do enjoy the planted feel on descents and capacity to deal with some pretty beaten up Hampshire lanes!
Like Candyon not sure re CX capacity. I think Orro have increased the capacity for wider tyres now too.
Happy looking!

Thanks, I'm going to have a look at an Orro on Saturday to get an idea for size.

What height and frame size do you have? I'm 5'10" and a bit, the bike shop that has it in stock has a medium which the guy in the shop reckons should be right for me.