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After lots of faffing I have decided to flog my commuter and winter roadie and replace them with a single bike. The GT Grade looks to be the business. But..............
The problem is that I can stretch to the X, after a bit of a discount, which has "hydrolick" brakes but hardcore CX race gearing with 1x11 however the next one down is the 105 version which is usefully cheaper but has cable discs.
I could buy the X then fit a compact and a front shifter or I could buy the 105 and upgrade the brakes but this is just wasteful and more hassle.
Am I the only person who would like a GT Grade with a compact and hydraulic brakes but doesnt have the cash for the carbon models? Or have I missed something?
Cheers
EDIT: the factory gearing on the X would kill me when trying to get up anything steep, 40T on the chainring with an 11-28 cassette
Anyone?
Am I the only person
Yes
No off the peg bike will suit everyone, everywhere.
Buy one, and make the changes you want.
You could always keep it 1 x 11 and put a larger cassette on it. One of my cross race bikes doubles as my winter road / general off road / 3 peaks bike. It's got a 40 tooth chain ring and I use either an 11-32 or 11-36 cassette and I find the gearing fine.
Buy the 2015 sora for 500 flog everything bar the frame and build up from scratch. I'm going to put ultegra hydualic groupset on it and full carbon fork, kinesis wheels and a carbon seat post and ti saddle. Will better than the alloy x for a similar price once I've flogged the bits.
Any reason for the GT? There's plenty available with the spec you want, Cannondale, cube, etc
Second bigbeard. Surely any decent LBS will be happy to swap out a cassette or chainring on a new bike to give you the gearing you want?