Adventure bike still surprised me in a good way.

bongofish
bongofish Posts: 123
edited January 2019 in Road general
So some of you know I am new to road biking g and have seen my many discussions in my new road bike. What some of you may not know is I do own an adventure bike too. The Boardman adv 8.8. I changed the tyres out to a 28 gatorskin on back and a 32 specialized Roubaix pro in front and this thing is pretty crazy good.

I took my road bike to LBS for a set up and to raise the stem so today went out on the adventure bike. This thing took me on the road with no issues (95% feels like my road bike) but also took me on country dirt paths and then through muddy wood trails (nothing major but enough) and it handled all of this exceptionally well. Never felt unsafe infact got to a point t if actually trying to do very little jumps on the thing is I was riding along the woods....and then you hit the road again and it's nearly a road bike and feels great but also handles light to medium off road great too.

I do wonder if getting a light (9kg) adventure bike with maybe 2 sets of wheels . One for road and another for mixed terrain the way forward?

I still think my road bike is more suited to the road but literally by like 5%. I didn't like the tyres that came in the adventure bike (schwalbe g one all round 38c), they just felt a little to tuff on the road again. But the specialized Roubaix pros seem great on road and have that little bit of grip for off-road.

Anyway just my thoughts

Comments

  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    Why not just ride both for the next six months or so. Then make a decision for your self rather asking others to decide for you based on not a lot of info.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    If I had to choose just one bike to live with from my existing set of five) it would be my cross bike. With skinny tyres on its as fast as my road bike and with chunky tyres I can take it into the woods.
  • bongofish
    bongofish Posts: 123
    cougie wrote:
    If I had to choose just one bike to live with from my existing set of five) it would be my cross bike. With skinny tyres on its as fast as my road bike and with chunky tyres I can take it into the woods.

    Yeh the adventure/cross/gravel bikes seem to have some real versatility to them. With disc brakes becoming the new thing on road bikes now aswell there's nothing really stopping them from being a do it all bike. The our thing I've found it it seems hard to find one for under 9kg at moment
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Once you've got the bike rolling weight isn't really a problem.
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,872
    cougie wrote:
    If I had to choose just one bike to live with from my existing set of five) it would be my cross bike. With skinny tyres on its as fast as my road bike and with chunky tyres I can take it into the woods.
    Agree wholeheartedly with this.
  • trek_dan
    trek_dan Posts: 1,366
    cougie wrote:
    If I had to choose just one bike to live with from my existing set of five) it would be my cross bike. With skinny tyres on its as fast as my road bike and with chunky tyres I can take it into the woods.
    Same but just to add with a set of 32c semi slicks you can do both reasonably well.