Winter / Commuter with ability to take 28mm tyres and a rack

feisty

Hi

Wondered if anyone could help me please. I am looking for a Winter / Commuter with ability to take 28mm tyres and a rack.

I will use it up some hills in Kent in winter so ideally not stupidly heavy albeit any bike with a rack and guards will have weight so I am realistic about that.

Frame or entire bikes fine

Budget up to £2k (for entire bike) (but more than happy to pay half that)

Any suggestions please?

rwoofer

Genesis Equilibrium. Just fits 28mm tyres (measured) with mudguards or 32mm without. Eyelets for racks. Can be had for nearly halfnprice .

bendertherobot

As a previous Equilbrium owner, avoid that. 28's are doable, but, as stated, just. It's better to get something that has the clearance for 28's without having to faff unduly around. Indeed, I'd say try and go wider, 32's if possible.

Budget is good so world's your oyster there. I'd have a look at some of the gravel stuff at Planet X, the Vitus CX at Wiggle, anything Ti. But I'd go wider in winter. I'd go wider most of the time frankly.

arlowood

On One Space Chicken. Carbon frame, rack and mudguard mounts, can run 650b or 700c wheels, ability to fit up to 48mm tyres with the 650b wheels.

Only potential issue is that it is offered only with 1x SRAM drivetrains. If you think you might not be able to get used to that then you will have to look elsewhere.

SRAM Rival version can be had for £1600

https://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOSPCRIV ... 00c-wheels

jamiedal

Could always look at Planet X’s new London road, I know a couple of people who love them, I was going to get one for this winter but they stopped the cycle to work so with with a cube cross

pblakeney

I was going to say that my bike meets your spec. Went on a bike builder to check price.
Now £2668. :shock: I'll hang on to mine. Good luck!

chippyk

Jamiedal wrote:

Could always look at Planet X’s new London road, I know a couple of people who love them, I was going to get one for this winter but they stopped the cycle to work so with with a cube cross

They had the Apex 1 mechanical disc version for £499 the other week, got home from work, logged on to buy it, £699. Gutted.

feisty

Thanks

I'm not entirely surely of the difference between the London Road and the London Road SL, but it seems perfect in terms of clearance, disc brakes and pannier mounts. I may get the frame and forks and then get a bike built up. Probably 105 compact groupset with hydraulic discs as I read that these are pretty good for a commuter.

I know nothing about disc brake wheel sets. Any recommendations there bearing in mind the heavy commuting / winter riding kind of use?

jamiedal

feisty wrote:

Thanks

I'm not entirely surely of the difference between the London Road and the London Road SL, but it seems perfect in terms of clearance, disc brakes and pannier mounts. I may get the frame and forks and then get a bike built up. Probably 105 compact groupset with hydraulic discs as I read that these are pretty good for a commuter.

I know nothing about disc brake wheel sets. Any recommendations there bearing in mind the heavy commuting / winter riding kind of use?

Isn’t the so just the newer version with improved wheels with more clearance and slightly lighter?

arlowood

Jamiedal wrote:

feisty wrote:

Thanks

I'm not entirely surely of the difference between the London Road and the London Road SL, but it seems perfect in terms of clearance, disc brakes and pannier mounts. I may get the frame and forks and then get a bike built up. Probably 105 compact groupset with hydraulic discs as I read that these are pretty good for a commuter.

I know nothing about disc brake wheel sets. Any recommendations there bearing in mind the heavy commuting / winter riding kind of use?

Isn’t the so just the newer version with improved wheels with more clearance and slightly lighter?

Maybe that's why it's called the London Road SL

joe_totale-2

Bowman Pilgrims Disc or Kinesis 4s Disc would meet your criteria and could be built up for £2000. The Kinesis especially can be built up to be quite light and racy.

Or for less than half your budget the new Triban RC520 also does everything you want.

rwoofer

bendertherobot wrote:

As a previous Equilbrium owner, avoid that. 28's are doable, but, as stated, just. It's better to get something that has the clearance for 28's without having to faff unduly around. Indeed, I'd say try and go wider, 32's if possible.

Budget is good so world's your oyster there. I'd have a look at some of the gravel stuff at Planet X, the Vitus CX at Wiggle, anything Ti. But I'd go wider in winter. I'd go wider most of the time frankly.

Curious why you say avoid. It is one of my favourite bikes.

The problem with wanting easy clearance on 28s with mudguards, is that it means you must go disc, which adds a load of weight again. Given the equilibrium has long reach brakes it is about as good as you are going to get, although probably not the best.

bendertherobot

rwoofer wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

As a previous Equilbrium owner, avoid that. 28's are doable, but, as stated, just. It's better to get something that has the clearance for 28's without having to faff unduly around. Indeed, I'd say try and go wider, 32's if possible.

Budget is good so world's your oyster there. I'd have a look at some of the gravel stuff at Planet X, the Vitus CX at Wiggle, anything Ti. But I'd go wider in winter. I'd go wider most of the time frankly.

Curious why you say avoid. It is one of my favourite bikes.

The problem with wanting easy clearance on 28s with mudguards, is that it means you must go disc, which adds a load of weight again. Given the equilibrium has long reach brakes it is about as good as you are going to get, although probably not the best.

I assume most will be wanting the disc version now, so with a desire for 28's I'm pointing out that it's limited, the caliper version may be better in this regard. It is a good bike but, for winter, I'd go wider and as good as the bike is, you run into problems with 28's and going any wider than that.

feisty

Hmmm. Just checked the geometry of London road. I'm a weird shape. Basically long legs suggest a 58cm bike and body suggests a 56cm.

My best bike is a custom geo Ti build with a 55.5cm top tube and a 220 (!) Headtube (albeit the 110 stem is slammed with no spacers and not flipped). So on a regular bike I'd flip the stem and add spacers to gain height at the front end. Obviously, the more relaxed the geometry the fewer the spacers I'd need and the less odd it would look.

(I have had 58cm bikes with much shorter stems but find the handling gets a bit funny as stems get 80 or below. 90 is doable)

So is there a relaxed geo frame that meets the above? The alloy Cannondale Synapse Disc 105 is almost perfect but discs are mechanical. And they don't sell the frameset.

photonic69

Rubble CGR??

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-c ... ano-105-1/

joey54321

If you're after something a little bit special you could probably build up a Mason Defintion for < 2k if you went with TRP Spryres/mechanical shifting and brakes.

Hydro are better, but the spryes are still fantastic brakes and on the road the difference will be pretty marginal IMO.

I'm in the same position (though with a smaller budget) and am currently looking at the Masons.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-venon-crw ... -bike-105/ could work, depending upon your size.

keef66

PhotoNic69 wrote:

Rubble CGR??

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-c ... ano-105-1/

That's what sprang to mind when I read the OP. Ticks all the boxes. 105 R7000 hydro and Aksiums seems a great spec and a relative bargain. The orange is also a great colour for a winter / commuter bike.

Not sure about building a Mason frameset down to a budget using mechanical discs; I think they deserve hydros...

As an aside I'm constantly fantasizing about one of the Mason bikes, possibly the Resolution. Mainly because they make perfect sense for the kind of riding I do and the roads / weather I encounter, and only partly because I'd then have my name plastered all over the bike

Might invest some of the tax-free lump sum from my pension when the time comes.

joey54321

They do, but you can upgrade to hydros later

I don't want to hijack the thread, but has anyone got some good recommendations for a quick, fast handling, racer-type bike with mudguards (preferably also rack) mounts and space for 28-30mm tyres and discs?

My 'winter' bike is my old 'summer' bike so is not really suitable for mudguarded commutes and wet weather. However, I also use it as my bike when I go on holiday or travel with the bike because of the easier gears so I still want a good handling bike. I just want to upgrae the frame for now as I have some thru axle wheels I can use and will be using TRP Spryers at first. Any suggestions? The Mason would be ideal but that's £1150 for the frameset which is perhaps a bit spendy. Closer to £500 or so would be good.

keef66

Off the top of my head I'd say the Racelight 4S disc?

I have the original Racelight Tk, from which the 4S evolved.
It's relatively long and low, lively winter trainer, but rim brakes and max 25mm tyres with guards. I'd say it's as engaging to ride as my summer carbon bike.

The 4S has a taller headtube, but it also has a dedicated carbon fork, room for bigger tyres, disc brakes and the latest version has thru axles front and rear.

joey54321

To the OP, you could look at these:

https://fairlightcycles.com/product/dep ... cba1185463

They do lots of fit options too, I've never ridden a steel bike but £900 for the frame could be doable for me.

I did think about the Kinesis, it's just...I don't like the look of it. I know it's a shallow reason to not buy a bike but it's something I'll be spending a lot of time on.

keef66

My Racelight was an entirely function based decision at the time, and I wasn't sure about the huge (but paper thin) downtube or the graphics, but it's really grown on me. I quite like the current 4S

moonshine

keef66 wrote:

Off the top of my head I'd say the Racelight 4S disc?

I have the original Racelight Tk, from which the 4S evolved.
It's relatively long and low, lively winter trainer, but rim brakes and max 25mm tyres with guards. I'd say it's as engaging to ride as my summer carbon bike.

The 4S has a taller headtube, but it also has a dedicated carbon fork, room for bigger tyres, disc brakes and the latest version has thru axles front and rear.

the 4S looks great now they have changed to Thru axles. https://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Catalogu ... ht/4S-DISC
they were QR only when i was looking last year and i have a Cervelo C3 now, which can take guards but not a rack.
I'm going to see if i can make a bracket to fit my Tubus Fly rack to my C3.. if it doesn't work - but i might still get a 4S

ayjaycee

keef66 wrote:

It's relatively long and low, lively winter trainer, but rim brakes and max 25mm tyres with guards.

I've just finished a Kinesis 4S build based upon last years frame and forks and love it. I've fitted 25mm Conti 4 Seasons on Mavic Aksiums with TRP RG957 long drop calipers and Kinesis Fed Off mudguards and reckon there's enough room for the 28mm version of the tyres as well. I'm waiting until I need new wheels before I even think about converting to disk brakes.

feisty

Thanks all. That ribble seems perfect. Can't work out the full weight of the bike but I'm guessing around 10.5kg which would be fine

photonic69

feisty wrote:

Thanks all. That ribble seems perfect. Can't work out the full weight of the bike but I'm guessing around 10.5kg which would be fine

Go with the Ribble. I would (almost did but they had no stock left in my size when I was buying)

It won commuting bike of the year 2017-18. A guy at work has one (2018 model) and it's very nice.

durhamwasp

On-One Space Chicken (£1299) vs Ribble CGR AL (£999), tough choice! Any recommendations?!

Darius_Jedburgh

Depends what size you are after.
The Ribble CGR^^^may fit the bill perfectly. I know, I have one. I'm thinking of selling it and trading up, so if you fancy a large, in good condition, with Hunt wheels, and at a reduced price .......

durhamwasp

Thanks for the offer, but medium is my size.

Compact with mechanical disc brakes Vs 1x with hydraulic brakes seems to be the main comparison, both look like they are roughly the same weight.