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I've decided that getting something a bit more gravelly than a straightforward road bike with mudguards makes more sense for winter as it opens up more options beyond the weekend club run. But I don't want a dog, on the basis that the club run is quite zippy...
Ideally budget around £1500, though might just sneak towards £1800 if really worth it.
In classic STW style, recommend what you've got please 🙂
I quite like the idea of a Kinesis 4s sorta thing, but they do seem quite pricey? What else would you recommend for a moon on a stick bike for year round fun?
On one Pickenflick (what I have). No mudguard mounts so that might be a problem on club rides, unless you bodge something.
Planet X Tempest.
Both in lovely Titanium, decent SRAM hydro groupsets.
Ridley X-Trail C (seeing as how you asked me to recommend what I've got!). It's light and quick enough to keep up with the brisk club runs I do, even on the fatter tyres (although some skinnier ones would certainly make life easier!) and robust enough to take abuse over the rough stuff. It's fast, stiff and fun to ride too. Only downside is mud clearance so I don't think it would be top of my list for CX racing in thick, thick mud as I think it would just clog up, but with some skinnier tyres, it may well be ok.
Paid £1600 for mine with a full Ultegra 2x11 disc groupset. Billy bargain, IMHO. Personally, I'd budget for a second set of road-specific wheels to increase flexibility, but if I had to run this as my only drop-bar bike, I wouldn't complain...
I haven't got one, but I like the look of Fairlight bikes if you have a hankering for steel
Arkose in budget , mason bokeh just out
The tricky bit may be tyres -- even something like a Schwalbe G-One allround in 35mm still comes out at 400g per end... a lot more than a 25mm winter road tyre.
But to recommend what I've got, I have some 38mm Gravelking's (slicks, not the SK), that only weight 330g...
The tricky bit may be tyres — even something like a Schwalbe G-One allround in 35mm still comes out at 400g per end… a lot more than a 25mm winter road tyre.
...but they are bloody fabulous tyres at that 🙂
Just bought some of these for the boy to give 'em a go. Billy bargain and seem nice and light:
https://www.merlincycles.com/continental-speed-folding-cyclocross-tyre-700c-x-35mm-93136.html
I didn't weigh them, but they certainly didn't feel sturdy. They're coming off this weekend for mud tyres, so will weigh 'em then.
I've built an arkose mainly for that reason. Great bikes.
Spare set of wheels with knobblies on makes a quick way to swap between off road and on road duties.
Kinesis 4S won't really have the tyre clearance you have, Kinesis tripster AT might be more in the vein. I'm really enjoying my RAG+ but its 1x specific and for more serious roadie use a double still wins IMHO. Quite hard to look past the Arkose for value
The tricky bit may be tyres — even something like a Schwalbe G-One allround in 35mm still comes out at 400g per end… a lot more than a 25mm winter road tyre.
Not my 25c road tyres (used all year round on road and gravel) - Schwalbe Durano Plus are 400g. The only tyre that doesn't frequently puncture on gravel.
Some good thoughts there - liking the idea of Planet X titanium, but mudguards and a dual ring at the front are a must.
I've found these and they seem to fit the bill:
https://www.orrobikes.com/bikes/road/terra-gravel-road-se
Or the budget might just stretch to this:
https://www.stevensbikes.de/2019/index.php?bik_id=11&cou=DE&lang=en_US
This might hopefully arrive soon...
Will try to get to an Evans to see about the Arkose or maybe Dolomite models?
Anything else? I'd hope to splash out in the next month to ensure having it for Christmas and the Festive 500.
The Ridley's look lovely, but too pricey. Specialized are nice, but I'd struggle to get Tiagra at that price point they're so overpriced.
A second pair of wheels does make sense and there is separate budget for that...
Any past year Genesis Datums in your size online to be found? Seen some good discounts that would just about make your budget . 30s prob not, but maybe a datum 20. At the moment a datum is high on my wish list. 2019 complete bikes are 1x only though. My wishlist build would be a barely justifiable 2x Ultegra di2 with a couple of wheelsets but it would be a one bike solution to replace summer road bike too.
I've just got an arkose for this. Only picked it up this week but initial signs are promising. I've got 32mm road tubeless tyres and mudguards on it. Turned up for this morning's club run to realise that everyone else had cried off due to the weather so went to play on some tame bridleways instead. It didn't put a foot wrong all morning.
Yep, just checked Rutland cycles has the 2018 Datum 20 (105 group set) for £1499.99 available in all sizes apart from xl. That’s a 38% discount. A no brainer in your situation unless freaky tall.
Am quite taken by the new Giant Revolt Advanced, £1800 for the base model
Specialized Diverge. There are still a few 2018 carbon models around for around £1500.
I've an aluminium Diverge E5 comp. Has done summer cross races, club runs, shop road rides, gravelly rides, gravelly type bikepacking, credit card touring, road sportives and off road sportives and the Hell of North Cotswolds. All just needed two sets of tyres. The future shock is a nice but you dont get hydro brakes. If you can get the Carbon one mentioned above that does have hydro brakes.
The wheels are shit though and really heavy.
I got my eye on one of these - but not seen any reviews yet. I have spoken to Boardman and they tell me that 700 wheels can be put on for summer road stuff.
https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/2232-adv-9.0.html
I bought the next model down from this which is within your budget:
https://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/bergamont-grandurance-expert-gravel-bike-2018-p330798
Its Road gearing but gravel capable, Ive ridden it on both and it’s really very smooth to ride and very stable.
Cube CX pro. Full 105, hydraulic discs, easily enough clearance for g one 38mm and mudguards, mudguard eyes although the rear fitting is a pain in the area becaude it is rearward facing but I screwed a piece of angled Meccano to it and all is well. I've done loads with mine, Paris Roubaix, the Pyrenees, CX racing, gravel sportive, commuting. It's about a grand and it's the bollocks.
2019 Whyte friston looks like a good option. It’s on my shortlist for a do it all commuter adventure bike.
Kinesis are bringing out the G2 which is shipping in December. Should be a bit lighter than the Tripster but with full Sram hydro for £1500
https://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Catalogue/Models/Adventure/G2-BIKE
Another vote for the Kinesis G2 - saw them at the Cycle Show in September and they looked ace.
[b]and a dual ring at the front are a must.[/b]
See that requirement cuts out most of the modern pure CX bikes which I'd have said would be perfect for what you were after. Specialized Crux, Giant TCX SLR (2018 model which you can pick up for about £1600 now, down from £2000) or the new Canyon Inflite 7 (£1800) but they're all single ring...
Canyon have an Ali version of the Grail on the way?
with non-weird handlebars?
I'm in the same boat, I'll probably go Canyon cross bike though when the time comes as I do fancy getting back into CX racing next year when I 'm a bit fitter.
I’m also looking for similar and ideally ti...
if anyone has spotted any bargains out there at the moment, or looking to sell.... I’d love to know
cheers
+1 Whyte Friston. I absolutely love mine. Fast, supremely balanced and just wants to go EVERYWHERE. Feels equally at home on the road as it does on the finest trails in the Surrey Hills. Sure, the latter (namely the fast/rooty stuff) will sometimes make your hands and wrists ache, but the grin factor will more than make up for that.
Interesting.
My old roadrat is struggling to keep up on the faster stuff and isn’t really right for the few cx races I have entered.
Was thinking alloy frame with decent wheels would be better than carbon with lower end stuff.
https://www.evanscycles.com/pinnacle-arkose-x-2018-adventure-road-bike-EV275629 is now a great bang for the buck option, reduced to £810, or £735 if you trade in an old bike.
<strong class="bbcode-strong">and a dual ring at the front are a must.
I'd echo the comment that that's possibly unnecessarily restrictive.
1x might not work so well on a pure road bike but I don't think it's a bad idea for a more all-round bike. Depends what gearing you need though, do you need a seriously low gear for local off road climbs or are they much the same as the local roads? By the same token would you actually be left behind without 53-11 on the road, with the CX bikes I can keep up (not comfortably by any means) on a 32-14 singlespeed. So something like 38t and 11-30 would give a gear that could be grunted up any incline or trail surface. But close enough and high enough gears to survive on the road anywhere except the fens.
Hmm, might need to rethink this single ring at the front thing then...while also adding Ribble to the list of possible contenders. The Ribble reboot looks like it's going to give us some nice looking bikes for a change...
It's weird, there are so many options it's hard to know what way to turn....that's a good thing by the way 😉
For the last five years I have been using a Chinese Carbon cx frame as my Swiss Army Knife bike. Commuter, Winter, CX, Gravel, shopping etc bike.
I would say any decent CX bike will fit the bill. If you are going to use it on the road I would recommend a 50 x 34 as probably the most flexible gearing. You can then pick a cassette to suit. If you are using it on the road then a double chain ring is much better than single unless you can live with the big jumps. I now have a dedicated cross/gravel bike and 1x makes sense off road but not so much if you ride the road a lot.
A second pair of wheels is a good idea unless you want to keep having to change tyres which if you run tubeless like I do is a bit of a pain.
Most CX/Gravel bikes will take mudguards, I use adaptors that fit into the QRs which make removing and adding the full mudguards a 5 minute job.
Most decent CXs in your price range are pretty much on a par with an equivalent road bike so you should be able to keep up on the club run.
One other note, go for full hydraulic brakes, cable ones are alright but do need more tinkering.
Regards
Single ring needs two wheelsets. I have a titanium Charge Freezer running 1x10 with a 38T on the front. Fine for cross with a 12/32 cassette. And gravel. But you need a much smaller block on the back for road. I run 11/23 and am not hugely under geared. You might struggle up the hills though. Since you said club runs, will you want mudguards too?
Geometry is the thing here. Most gravel and on-trend bikes have slack geometry with 71 degree or less head angles (eg, Arkose). A light bike with slow geometry will always feel slow. But a heavier bike with decent road geometry will feel much faster. Old fashioned cross bikes had 72.5 or even 73 degree head angles. Look for one of these if you can. Mine runs mini-Va and stops just fine but disks are the thing now. I’m ambivalent, but buying new, you’ll have limited choice. That makes spare wheel set choice more important if you have other bikes.
Single ring needs two wheelsets. I have a titanium Charge Freezer running 1×10 with a 38T on the front. Fine for cross with a 12/32 cassette. And gravel. But you need a much smaller block on the back for road. I run 11/23 and am not hugely under geared. You might struggle up the hills though. Since you said club runs, will you want mudguards too?
+1 for mudguards, decent ones are more of a faff to take on/off than change wheels! Aad anything less doesn't do it's job on the clubrun.
Which is why I'm succumbing and buying a second gravel/CX/winter bike, I'll have a Vagabond and a CAADX, I've not quite decided which one will get pounded on the commute with guards and which will be the gravel/CX bike though.
I'm thinking of commuting on the vagabond, it's possibly the wrong decision in terms of having a capable gravel/mtb option (the CAADX is good off road, but it's still a CX bike) but would better suit having a dynamo, racks etc. Doing it the other way around I'd end up with a really heavy CX bike commuter and a mid weight drop bar'd mtb. I'm hoping the Vagabond will still just about be quick enough for the 15-16mph clubrun leaving the CAADX for CX/gravel clubruns.
I've got a Whyte Glencoe, same frame as the Friston/Gisburn, but with 650b wheels. I got a set of 700c's as well, which gives the best of both worlds all round. I've ridden it on roads, blues and reds at trail centres, a bit of gravel and a couple of CX races. It's coped fantastically with everything I've thrown at it!
Thanks all.
Have ordered one of the new Grail's in alloy with 105 - price makes it easy, and will be here for Christmas.
Will get a second set of wheels...
@brexitrefugee: nice one, I have done the same! which size/colour did you go for? 🙂