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new bicycle choices

It looks like a new bike industry sub-niche to me! Those bars would mean I ride off road slower than I would with flat bars. And as we are off-roading I don't see how aerodynamics is part of it.
 
It always bugs me that push bikes are so damn unreliable in spite of having hardly any parts compared to a car or motorbike... I've found every cycle I've had really bad on reliability... snapped spokes, bearing failures, snapped crank (yes really, twice) and of course punctures...
 
I'm keen on off-road bikes without suspension. Might get one with fat tyres next.
I'm ahead of you. 20-odd years ago I bought my MTB, with rigid forks, 26 x 1.9 knobbly tyres, and rode it all over. After 5 years or so I bought susp forks and rode it like that until they wore out. I'm now back on the rigid forks with 1.5 semi-slick tyres and it's my pub/commute/touring bike. Of all my bikes it's the one I would keep, it just works.
 
I still prefer flat bars off road. Not too wide, but wide enough to dial in a dab of oppo with confidence when the thing has a slide.

I think it depends on your definition of "off road" and what percentage of the ride is "off road". I don't own a gravel or cyclocross bike because I wouldn't have the use for it, but if there were lots of bike paths / tow paths / smooth bridleways around I might find use for one. Around here (Boston MA suburbs) it's either pure road, or knarly, rocky, rooty off road, so road bike or mtn bike with minimum front suspension.
 
It always bugs me that push bikes are so damn unreliable in spite of having hardly any parts compared to a car or motorbike... I've found every cycle I've had really bad on reliability... snapped spokes, bearing failures, snapped crank (yes really, twice) and of course punctures...

You are either terribly unlucky, buy cheap bikes, buy boutique low spoke count wheels, or weigh 250lbs+ (or a combination).
 
It always bugs me that push bikes are so damn unreliable in spite of having hardly any parts compared to a car or motorbike... I've found every cycle I've had really bad on reliability... snapped spokes, bearing failures, snapped crank (yes really, twice) and of course punctures...
Eh? In ~20k miles on the abovementioned bike I have worn out many things many times over. I've never broken a spoke (bent a few), had no bearings fail (plenty wore out), no snapped cranks, fewer punctures with chunky tubes. Never felt the need for slime.
 
I think it depends on your definition of "off road" and what percentage of the ride is "off road". I don't own a gravel or cyclocross bike because I wouldn't have the use for it, but if there were lots of bike paths / tow paths / smooth bridleways around I might find use for one. Around here (Boston MA suburbs) it's either pure road, or knarly, rocky, rooty off road, so road bike or mtn bike with minimum front suspension.
I live in England. As opposed to New England. Bear in mind that it rains continuously here and only stops in order to snow, so everything with less traffic than the M25 turns into an off-road mudfest as soon as it sees a wheel. In addition, the things that pass for roads here would make Kenyan bush tracks look like the I-95. Every few weeks here a cyclist drives into a pothole and is never seen again. You can appreciate the market desire for a fat tyre bike, if for no reason other than the fact that it might not sink so fast when immersed in 3 feet of murky water.
 
I plan on riding mainly on the road, so I want a bike which is fast on the road, but which can handle canal towpaths and the like. No requirement for thick mud or jumping tree roots! Ability to take a pannier is an advantage. So I am looking at endurance bikes which can take a 28 to 35 mm tyre and mudguards. Gravel bikes can in general take even bigger tyres I believe.
 
New England is famous for its potholes due to the harsh winters, so spring cycling requires a sharp set of eyes - no amount of wide tires is going to help if you hit a pothole 3-4" deep and 6" wide - and you never ride through a puddle here or you could end up going over the bars if it's hiding a monster pothole.
 
I plan on riding mainly on the road, so I want a bike which is fast on the road, but which can handle canal towpaths and the like. No requirement for thick mud or jumping tree roots! Ability to take a pannier is an advantage. So I am looking at endurance bikes which can take a 28 to 35 mm tyre and mudguards. Gravel bikes can in general take even bigger tyres I believe.

Sounds like the perfect bike for roads, towpaths etc. I use an old Dawes galaxy for this type of thing. Not as sexy as a gravel bike, but much cheaper and just as practical.
 
I am a big bloke (6'4" and about 19 stone) but I've had these problems with every cycle I've had over many years... just dire reliability. How come I can do 12,000 miles on a motorbike with no problems even though it has thousands of parts but I'm lucky to get 100 mile from any of the cycles I've owned without something going badly wrong....?

I wish they were much more robustly built and don't get this obsession with low mass... what difference can it make to shave of a couple of pounds when the rider is so heavy (yep me more than most!). Something like a mountain bike but with road bike high pressure tyres, stronger spokes and longer cranks than usual would be my ideal machine.
 
I am a big bloke (6'4" and about 19 stone) but I've had these problems with every cycle I've had over many years... just dire reliability. How come I can do 12,000 miles on a motorbike with no problems even though it has thousands of parts but I'm lucky to get 100 mile from any of the cycles I've owned without something going badly wrong....?

I wish they were much more robustly built and don't get this obsession with low mass... what difference can it make to shave of a couple of pounds when the rider is so heavy (yep me more than most!). Something like a mountain bike but with road bike high pressure tyres, stronger spokes and longer cranks than usual would be my ideal machine.

Buy a quality mountain bike and put on slick tires with 80-100 PSI. Mountain bikes usually have 175 mm cranks which is about as long as they come. I think you're looking at about £500-600 to get a quality mountain bike.
 
I am a big bloke (6'4" and about 19 stone) but I've had these problems with every cycle I've had over many years... just dire reliability. How come I can do 12,000 miles on a motorbike with no problems even though it has thousands of parts but I'm lucky to get 100 mile from any of the cycles I've owned without something going badly wrong....?

I wish they were much more robustly built and don't get this obsession with low mass... what difference can it make to shave of a couple of pounds when the rider is so heavy (yep me more than most!). Something like a mountain bike but with road bike high pressure tyres, stronger spokes and longer cranks than usual would be my ideal machine.

What about a penny farthing, that should blend in nicely with your outdated musical tastes and business promotional skills.

Bloss
 
When MB's first arrived in the UK they were often just touring bike frames (and happily, often also in Reynolds 531) with wider forks and rear stays to allow for wider rims and fat tyres, huge rabge 21 gearsets with something daft for going up hills, and flat bars. They were great for road and track, and those with semi slick tyres are now called
Hybrids.

Buy a properly well made one and it'll last and last.
I like these
http://www.oxfordbikeworks.co.uk/models/model-1/

but the Ridgeback Expedition is similarly shaped and a few hundred less I think. Tough as boots.
 
Buy a quality mountain bike and put on slick tires with 80-100 PSI. Mountain bikes usually have 175 mm cranks which is about as long as they come. I think you're looking at about £500-600 to get a quality mountain bike.

I bought a brand new Giant Comfort GSR and broke that too.... it's propped up against a shelf in my workshop with a snapped crank (when gently pulling away from a super market car park and not when under any real load such as going up hill etc... strange) and several snapped spokes in the supposedly heavy duty rear wheel...

Present road bike is verging on unrideable now due to knackered bottom bracket...
 
I have done 40'000 km now on my BMC road bike with 1 snapped spoke on the original wheelset, a replacement wheelset, a few sets of brake pads, new steering headset bearings, 2 sets of bottom bracket bearings, new chains every 6000 km, a few sets of tyres and a couple of cassettes.

Only 3 punctures in all of that time, two of those were snakebites front and rear due to riding through a pothole at speed on a descent.

Not that bad, IMO.
 


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