One bike to do it all, impossible??
davidw007
Posts: 37
So...
When the Cannondale Slate first launched a few years ago I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen and managed to get my hands on one about 18 months ago.
I ended up selling my road bike and cyclocross bike to fund it in the belief that it could do everything.
However, the more I ride it the more I get the impression it's a jack of all trades but master of none.
It's pretty heavy and sluggish for road riding and off road the 30mm suspension helps but notthing a larger volume tyre couldn't also do (42c max clearance).
That's not to mention the poor tyre availability of 650b, lack of mudguard mounts and the lefty fork making it expensive and difficult to buy a second pair of wheels.
What does everyone think, is it impossible to have one bike to do it all?
I'm thinking I got suckered in by the marketing of the Slate and should have stuck with my road and cx bike.
When the Cannondale Slate first launched a few years ago I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen and managed to get my hands on one about 18 months ago.
I ended up selling my road bike and cyclocross bike to fund it in the belief that it could do everything.
However, the more I ride it the more I get the impression it's a jack of all trades but master of none.
It's pretty heavy and sluggish for road riding and off road the 30mm suspension helps but notthing a larger volume tyre couldn't also do (42c max clearance).
That's not to mention the poor tyre availability of 650b, lack of mudguard mounts and the lefty fork making it expensive and difficult to buy a second pair of wheels.
What does everyone think, is it impossible to have one bike to do it all?
I'm thinking I got suckered in by the marketing of the Slate and should have stuck with my road and cx bike.
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Comments
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Cyclo-cross bike with two sets of wheels. Sorted.0
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with the proliferation of gravel and other bikes I'm a firm believer that something akin to a a cx bike with mudguard and rack holes would be a good bet. or as cougie says a cx bike with a couple of sets of wheels.
not bothered about disc brakes though.0 -
It depends. If you're happy with a bike that's a 6/10 at everything then one bike with a couple of sets of wheels is the way to go.
Bikes that are specifically made for a certain function will always be better than an all rounder, no matter what the advertising says.0 -
cougie wrote:Cyclo-cross bike with two sets of wheels. Sorted.
A friend of mine has a new Orbea Terra with a pair of zuus road wheels and the stock wheels with gravel tyres on, he can keep up with fast club rides on it and loves it. He's not raced it, he's just been 'fast' bike-less since an accident in September. Seems like a great setup for a lot of people to be honest, if I didn't already have lots of bikes to fill niches I'd probably go down that route0 -
I've done off-road adventure races, ironman races, 100m + sportives, ascents of the Stelvio etc on my cross bike - just swapping the wheels/tyres over. I'm convinced its 99% as good as my carbon road bike.
It does have a double chainset so I have a wider set if gears than some 1x might give. Also 1x wasn't a thing when I bought it.0 -
The Terra he has is the 2x version, and he thinks it's equally as good as his Mekk Primo Ultegra which he raced on for a few seasons. He doesn't think it's quite as fast as his very new lighter, stiffer carbon aero bike but then he races lots and is often influenced by marketing rubbish (I really hope he reads this)0
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It's easier these days to find a bike that will do several different things pretty well with 2 sets of wheels / tyres.
When I raid my pension I have a hankering for a Mason Resolution as a well thought out 4 season UK mainly road bike0 -
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keef66 wrote:It's easier these days to find a bike that will do several different things pretty well with 2 sets of wheels / tyres.
When I raid my pension I have a hankering for a Mason Resolution as a well thought out 4 season UK mainly road bike
Gah I shouldn't spend time on that website, now considering swapping the CdF for a Bokeh0 -
Yes one bike to do it all is pretty much impossible but a cross race bike with a set of wheels set up for road probably does it best.
I think a lot of gravel bikes are actually too heavy and lack the geometry to really invite you to do the kind of off road stuff you'd do on a cross bike. I've got a steel CdF which I do a lot of miles on but rarely bash it around bridleways or have a quick thrash on some non-technical singletrack like I did with the Empella cross bike I sold when I bought it. I do use the CdF a lot but mainly because it's nature encourages steady riding, it copes well with rough roads due to the fat marathon plus tyres I've put on it and unlike the Empella with it's cross race tyres if I do go off road at least I don't end up fixing a puncture most rides.
I think ideally I'd have a race bike for fast rides and obviously racing, a more relaxed touring/winter type bike which would take the place of the CdF and then a XC MTB possibly rigid with semi fat tyres though as I've never ridden a rigid with semi-fat tyres that could be a bad choice. However as I've already got the CdF I'll probably just keep it.[Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0 -
If you aren't going properly off road, a cross bike would be pretty good for most riding.
I have an aero road bike, and an ancient hard tail mtb; most of my cycling mates have cross bikes too, but I have stopped going with them on cross rides, because I can't keep up on the MTB. Or should I say, I can't keep up for long.
But they don't take the cross bikes when we go really off road, the South Downs have enough varied terrain to mean you really do need 2 and a quarter inch knobbly tyres. If it's dry, they work better on the flinty and tree-rooty bits, if it's wet they work better in the mud and the glassy-smooth chalk. And this is just the South Downs, I imagine the Lakes or Yorkshire or Wales or Scotland would make the case for a proper MTB even harder to ignore.0 -
I think the problem with the Slate for the OP is it's too far down the off road scale. A cross bike is more like a road bike with bigger clearances, the Slate moves things further across towards an MTB. A better cross bike with two sets of wheels would probably have been a better bet. A good cross bike on road tyres is probably quicker on the road than a lot of cheaper road bikes, so with a limited budget buying one good bike and two sets of wheels is probably better than buying two bikes at just over half the price.
Obviously there are lots of variables depending on the bike, rider, tyres, etc but broadly speaking I'd say that works. Works for me, Cougie and a few others at any rate, my cross bike has served me well on road and off, although my MTB is more comfortable off road.0 -
Fook me that's fugly, I prefer the look of the ali one.MrB123 wrote:https://www.damianharriscycles.co.uk/prod/rac_0013_mq/rondo-hvrt-cf-2019-road-bike
Ok, so not a cheap solution...
Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that.0 -
I've also got a Slate.
Love it because it means each ride can have a bit of everything in it. Particularly as I live in London, means I can get out of town on some roads, then cut through parks/forests/bridleways when they start to appear, then get really muddy for a bit and then head back in on a combination of paths/roads etc. It's not fast enough on the road to take out on a chaingang nor good enough off road to keep up with MTBs, but does mean you can ride literally anywhere which I absolutely love.
42mm knobbly 650b tyres are a bit more versatile than narrower CX tyres, but I wouldn't treat it as a bike that would ever replace my road bike. I'd probably have bought a hardtail instead of it if I lived more in the sticks, but at least the Slate makes riding out of town into the countryside pretty fun.0 -
Thanks all.
@Veronese68 I think you've hit the nail on the head, the Slate is too far towards a MTB than I probably wanted.
Perhaps a CX / more standard gravel bike with two sets of wheels is best and then a cheap Calibre MTB further down the line if there's ever anything the CX bike can't cope with.
Now to decide on which CX bike is best!0 -
You can read my views on the Slate here: https://advntr.cc/cannondale-slate-ride ... term-view/
It's not the saviour of the do it all bike, and it would be unfair to suggest it as such. I believe that when Cannondale introduced the bike they didn't really know what it was supposed to be, or where it fit in. I shall be using mine at Grinduro for the third time this year...one thing is for sure, there is a niche for every bike, but no one bike for every niche.“Faster, Faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.” Hunter S Thompson0 -
Cheshire Cat wrote:You can read my views on the Slate here: https://advntr.cc/cannondale-slate-ride ... term-view/
It's not the saviour of the do it all bike, and it would be unfair to suggest it as such. I believe that when Cannondale introduced the bike they didn't really know what it was supposed to be, or where it fit in. I shall be using mine at Grinduro for the third time this year...one thing is for sure, there is a niche for every bike, but no one bike for every niche.
I read this article last night and actually ordered the Salsa bars you recommended!
I'm going to keep the Slate for now and then look to add a CX or road bike in the future.0 -
If you are not hunting for KOM's and/or not racing, get a real carbon gravel bike with 29 inch wheels (instead of 650b and without suspension).
A gravel bike with road wheels is just as fast as road bikes except for aero-bikes and specialized climbing bikes in climbing.0 -
The question you need to ask yourself is why do you want one bike to do it all? Limited budget, lack of storage space..? Then you need to balance those constraints against the slight disadvantages of having a bike that will do it all pretty well, but not perfectly (as opposed to having two or more bikes that are more perfectly suited to their applications, which is always going to be preferable if you don’t have any constraints).0
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cougie wrote:I've done off-road adventure races, ironman races, 100m + sportives, ascents of the Stelvio etc on my cross bike - just swapping the wheels/tyres over. I'm convinced its 99% as good as my carbon road bike.
It does have a double chainset so I have a wider set if gears than some 1x might give. Also 1x wasn't a thing when I bought it.
how was descending the Stelvio with a cross bike? i guess at 50+km/h.. never tried a cross bike but the higher bb drop should be less stable in theory..0 -
Absolutely no bother at all. Left my pal for dead and he was on his pro peleton issue s works tarmac.
The road barrier was down due to the snow so the roads were so quiet. Until I met a lorry coming up in the tunnel. Id maybe take it a bit easier there next time.0 -
Modern endurance disc brake frames allow for this, but still with some compromises. I can use my disc brake domane with 33mm knobblies for CX and I've also done the off-road South Downs Way on it.
Its good in the dry, but the tyre clearance would be an in issue in the boggy races, but for general riding and not racing it is absolutely fine. My domane now sits with 32mm tyres on, good for winter road riding and also dry light off-road rides. It doesn't cope with any wet muddy single track though.
Like Cougie I've also used my old CX bike for road riding, same wheels just with 28mm slick tyres. I didn't notice the higher BB being a problem, but then again I wasn't coming down the Stelivio! I'd have thought it was more about your body position on the bike, reading the lines and braking accordingly, I would imagine you would have the feel of the bike and know how to take it into corners.0 -
cougie wrote:Absolutely no bother at all. Left my pal for dead and he was on his pro peloton issue s works tarmac.
The road barrier was down due to the snow so the roads were so quiet. Until I met a lorry coming up in the tunnel. Id maybe take it a bit easier there next time.
Interesting.. I like the aggressive position of a cyclo-cross compared to the much relaxed of the adventure-endurance bikes. I can imagine myself building up a cyclo-cross with long stem to compensate the generally short top tube of cross bikes.. and at least for me get my do-it-all bike. Good memories even for me down the Stelvio with my old Fausto Coppi road bike.0 -
Joe Totale wrote:It depends. If you're happy with a bike that's a 6/10 at everything then one bike with a couple of sets of wheels is the way to go.
Bikes that are specifically made for a certain function will always be better than an all rounder, no matter what the advertising says.
Totally agree with this statement.
From experience, when having a custom frame built as a 'bit of an all-rounder' (i.e for winter riding, gravel, road and light touring) what I found was that one had to make compromises at the expense of the bike not actually excelling at any one thing. The bike in question was custom steel from a UK frame builder that I won't mention (even though they have an extremely good reputation). The bike felt fast and was okay(-ish) but the handling, was shall we say, uninspiring.0 -
Going down the one bike route myself, recently started cycling to lose weight and get fit again, well about a year and a half ago, the bike I bought was not quite right and I have just ordered a 3t exploro, I am intending to use it mostly on the road but I have the option of larger tires and 650b wheels when I need it.0
