Winter bike ideas

Cliveyp

It's coming to that time of year when I retire the Ridley to the garage and give up on riding until March.....only this year I don't want to do that.

I'm looking for a suitable winter hack that I can fit full guards on with 25mm tyres at least. Something alloy would be sensible, and I would guess that discs would be too. All this is in a circa £500 budget, so obviously used it first choice.

Any recommendations on what to look out for? I've got an option of a Scott Speedster CX20 that i'm contemplating looking at tomorrow evening, but being a CX bike it's a bit heavier than I really wanted.....

asprilla

If you are riding in the winder then an extra kilo or so on the bike isn't going to make much of a difference to your speed. Winder is slower anyway.

Also, if you get a CX bike then you can have the joys of being a mobile chicane for much better riders at local CX races, just like me.

Not sure of your sizing, but something like this would also be good: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Boardman-CX- ... Sw9h5ddk1o

keef66

How tall are you? Somebody on here is selling a 51cm racelight 4S disc frameset.

Cliveyp

51 will be too small. I'm circa 5'11", so a 54 is debatable.

I've currently got three offers on the table including the Scott mentioned above..

2017 Scott Speedster 20 CX - mechanical discs, full Tiagra, 10.7kg (ish) but less than £400.
2018 Whyte Wessex One - hydro discs, SRAM Apex 1x11, 9.5kg ish £550 (seems cheap)
20(??) Kinesis T2 - full Tiagra (probably 9sp), brand new old stock, rim brakes, 9.5kg, £500

Ohh, this is hard!

craigus89

A couple of things I would say...

I really wouldn't worry about the weight, a winter bike is usually for riding in crap weather, you aren't going to be racing on it or doing anything where sacrificing a few seconds on a climb is important. Not everyone subscribes to this philosophy and ride nice bikes all the time, but most do.

Avoid mechanical disc brakes, they are generally a pain to keep running well. Hydro are fine if you feel you need them.

arlowood

Cliveyp wrote:

51 will be too small. I'm circa 5'11", so a 54 is debatable.

I've currently got three offers on the table including the Scott mentioned above..

2017 Scott Speedster 20 CX - mechanical discs, full Tiagra, 10.7kg (ish) but less than £400.
2018 Whyte Wessex One - hydro discs, SRAM Apex 1x11, 9.5kg ish £550 (seems cheap)
20(??) Kinesis T2 - full Tiagra (probably 9sp), brand new old stock, rim brakes, 9.5kg, £500

Ohh, this is hard!

Of the options listed - Whyte Wessex all day long. Equal in weight to the KIneses despite having hydro discs. The Apex 1 x also means lower maintenance and less to go wrong during the crap winter weather

gsk82

There's usually a couple of condor fratellos going on eBay. I've just got a 2015 model for £400 and it seems really good. Full mudguards, pannier bosses, steel frame.