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Revisit new bike interest

cutting42

cutting42

Arrived at B4 Hacker Ergo
Since getting fitter and after really enjoying a few great rides on my ancient old full sus mountain bike I want to revisit getting a more multi function bike as well. I have a friend who owns in independent bike shop and spent a couple of hours there trying a few options.

I initially was thinking a modern mountain bike on 29's with a dual terrain tyre that could handle roads and faster smoother trails but have had my head turned by Cyclocross bikes in particular Ridley bikes.

I don't know much about them and they are amazing build with top end components but thought I would ask for independent advice ie you lot!

Going to spend a fair bit on this bike and will be getting a full fitting consultation as well so any other bikes worth considering or highly recommended.
 
stevec67 said:
Both types of bike that you mention are great. Which do you prefer?
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Probably erring towards a cyclocross style but am not familiar with Ridley and wanted to get folks opinions on the brand and possible alternatives to consider.
 
Sounds like you maybe want a gravel / adventure bike, which will typically have a lower bottom bracket and longer wheelbase than a cyclocross bike - much better on the road, and more stable / comfortable on longer rides.
 
I've only had one cyclocross bike and found that after an initial period of interest I then didn't use it much as, given I had road bikes and mountain bikes as well, I tended to use one of the more focused bikes as they were always better (and more fun) for any specific job. For example riding the cyclocross bikes on local trails and at trail centres was interesting as a one-off exercise, but my mountain bikes were just better for that. And on the road my road bikes were a bit lighter and a bit livlier, so also more fun to ride.

If I only had one bike then I'd definitely consider one, however with £3K to spend I'd probably use that to buy a road bike and a mountain bike rather than a cyclocross bike.
 
SteveG said:
If I only had one bike then I'd definitely consider one, however with £3K to spend I'd probably use that to buy a road bike and a mountain bike rather than a cyclocross bike.
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I think this is a key point. Do you already have a decent road bike ? If not would you like to do some road riding ? If yes then a cyclocross bike with off road tyres will be rather slow on the road. You could get a second set of wheels fitted with slicks - if space is a consideration that might be the best bet and swapping wheels is pretty quick.

£2-3K is a very comfortable budget, and if I had designs on doing a mix of off road and road riding I think I'd get a true XC mountain bike with front suspension, and a dedicated road or audax bike for just over £1k each. A cyclocross bike, even a high end one will be a compromise on road due to the tires, and nowhere near as capable off road as a mountain bike unless you stick to gravel paths and smooth bridleways.
 
Great comments. I only have one bike currently which is a 1998 Spesh Stumpy FSR XC. Love it to bits as I had it since new and bought at the same time as my daughter came along so will not get rid. So hence something slightly more road oriented was interesting

The adventure/gravel bike sound interesting and Ridley do them as well. Going to two bikes is a step up, not sure how well the storage facilities (or better half) will deal with three bikes ;-)
 
As above, really - if you can afford 3K, get a Road bike, and an MTB or Cycloross - you may find that one of them gets more use than the other, and you can sell on....

Ridley are a good brand.
 
Ridley are a very good make their road bikes are excellent, I had a cyclocross bike for a time it was ok but to easy gearing for the road, depends how fit you are.
 
cutting42 said:
Going to two bikes is a step up, not sure how well the storage facilities (or better half) will deal with three bikes ;-)
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Two sets of wheels - one shod with slicks for the road, the other with off road tires is a real option in that case. So long as the wheel rim is approximately the same width and both wheels are running the same cassette spacing wheel swapping would take a couple of minutes.
 
sean99 said:
Two sets of wheels - one shod with slicks for the road, the other with off road tires is a real option in that case. So long as the wheel rim is approximately the same width and both wheels are running the same cassette spacing wheel swapping would take a couple of minutes.
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If you go down this road you have to ensure that the rims are EXACTLY the same width. If not you have to rejig the brakes. If this is a twirl of the adjustor, happy days, but you would be surprised how little rim difference will take the adjustment beyond its limits. You then need to adjust the pinch point on the cable, which takes a little while depending upon how proficient you are.. After a few goes at this the cable will wear and you will have a few stray strands. Shortly after this you'll need to renew it. Ask me how I know this.
 
stevec67 said:
If you go down this road you have to ensure that the rims are EXACTLY the same width. If not you have to rejig the brakes. If this is a twirl of the adjustor, happy days, but you would be surprised how little rim difference will take the adjustment beyond its limits. You then need to adjust the pinch point on the cable, which takes a little while depending upon how proficient you are.. After a few goes at this the cable will wear and you will have a few stray strands. Shortly after this you'll need to renew it. Ask me how I know this.
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I guess I was lucky - I've done this with an old touring bike (swapped inch wide heavy duty touring rims for Mavic open pros) with no problems with cantilever brakes (same /similar to what you'd get on a cyclocross).

Years ago when I only had room for one bike I used to swap tires and tubes on a mountain bike. 2" knobblys for off road, 1" 100psi slicks for road - that was a real pain in the rear end, but it worked.
 
Alex N said:
Sounds like you maybe want a gravel / adventure bike, which will typically have a lower bottom bracket and longer wheelbase than a cyclocross bike - much better on the road, and more stable / comfortable on longer rides.
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IME bikes called CX bikes can be anything from racing bikes with extra clearance for mud tyres to rehashed touring bikes labelled up as CX bikes to take account of the latest bike craze, so I wouldn't be too confident about the differences above. Some so-called CX bikes have pannier racks FHS, do we really imagine that CX racers need luggage?

How long before good old tourers come back into fashion? We've all got MTBs. We (now) all have road bikes, or "those old fashioned ones with the curly handlebars" as I heard them described at the height of the MTB boom. Some of us then ended up with hybrids, others ended up having their road bike fleet subdivided into carbon roady, Audax, winter bike, you name it. Around this time CX bikes were about as popular as a pork pie in a mosque, and as easy to find as a G&T at an AA meeting. Tourers were ridden by wrinkly old blokes who favoured steel frames, Bluemels mudguards and proper saddlebags. Finding a new one of them was like looking for a virgin divorcee on a 40+ singles night. Now all the mags are persuading us that CX is the new thing that we should all be doing and suggesting that riding round in circles in a muddy park in Bradford on a Sunday morning in November and dismounting to run through puddles carrying a bike is what we've been missing out on all these years. No thanks. I have a roady, a MTB for XC and trail centres, another MTB for adventure stuff (off road touring with pannier racks for camping), an old MTB with slicks that I use for touring and town, and a 700c hybrid that's been turned into a single speed and gets used around town because it's as light as a feather to throw about, it only cost £30 and I don't care about it. Gravel bikes are yet another marketing invention, I really do think it's time tourers came back. I see too many people riding pure road bikes on a commute and carrying gear in a rucsac. Er, duh. Wake up. Get a pannier, you can thank me later.
 
sean99 said:
Years ago when I only had room for one bike I used to swap tires and tubes on a mountain bike. 2" knobblys for off road, 1" 100psi slicks for road - that was a real pain in the rear end, but it worked.
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Yeah, I tried that for a bit. I just ended up having the wrong tyres fitted most of the time, it was a PITA.
 
stevec67 said:
IME bikes called CX bikes can be anything from racing bikes with extra clearance for mud tyres to rehashed touring bikes labelled up as CX bikes to take account of the latest bike craze, so I wouldn't be too confident about the differences above...
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I’m pretty sure a Ridley CX bike will be as I described, fairly racy, with a high bb and short wheelbase. My only recent experience of CX bikes is a pretty good Specialized Crux, with a similar geometry, and there’s no way I’d want to ride one on the road for too long, and certainly not on any fast descents in the Peak.

Sure, the whole gravel bike thing has a lot of marketing surrounding it, but some are pretty good. I looked at a few last year - a Genesis Datum was lovely - but thought it was too much of a compromise, for me.
 
Depends rather if the "desire" is for bicyclebling or simply for rediscovering the joys of riding.

If the latter you can budget £500 and have all the joy you could want. £1K if you want a road bike and a crosser.

I'm just off a 14 hour flight so might be a little cranky but I ride a Trek 1.1 in Thailand and a Seven Axiom or Colnago C59 in Europe. I enjoy the rides equally.
 
Erm...

merlin said:
My MTB weighs twice what my road bike does. My cyclocross bike about 35% more Tony. I enjoy them.

E Bikes are "electrically assisted" so you can still lose the blubber at the same rate - you just go further and see more :)

I'm selling all my bikes now anyway and taking up fishing. An ebike kind of appeals - but not one limited like those in the UK.
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I ride a gravel bike, two sets of wheels, one with 40s with tread another with slicks. I had a 1500 road frame waiting to be built up, sold it. Perfect bike does me for the commute, some cx and longer chaingang rides.
 
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