A year ago I did a transformation job on an old bike, and found talking through the options here really helpful. I'm looking at a new bike, and not finding quite what I want ready made, so here I am again
The background:
We're looking at moving house next year, quite possibly to somewhere with less space to store multiple bikes. (See also the For Sale board...) So I've been taking a look at the riding I do and enjoy.
The average ride is mostly on road, a half day to a day from home. Being able to take a bit of byway, forest track or easy bridleway really adds to a ride - but realistically its 10 - 20% of a ride in most cases. I'm happier to link a route with cycletrack than major road and I'm a fan of "lost lanes". There's usually a bar bag with a camera in it on the front.
I have a mountain bike, and have enjoyed riding the south downs a bit, but I'm not really a trail centre thrills type.
I've been known to cycle commute. It used to be most days, lately its a few times a year.
Once or twice a year I put some extra bags on the bike and go for a little tour. More often with YHA / pubs for the overnights but sometimes camping. These tend to be like the average ride, in that they're not purely road and often somewhere hillier.
Once or twice a year I do an audax of the 100 - 200km variety.
Will that change?
We're moving to Edinburgh from Sussex, so more hills rather than fewer. The kids are getting older, so I hope there'll be a few more weekends away and longer rides, maybe some adventure race type things.
I don't really see myself taking up time trialling, head-to-head racing or chasing segments on Strava. This is the only club i'm in, so group rides are rare.
So, I think I'm looking for a "gravel" / adventure road bike. It looks like a reasonable compromise to achieve all that.
What does that mean to me, given that I've already said that the ones in the shops don't seem quite right? This is an on-trend type of ride after all!
- A build that won't break or be wildly sketchy if i go off road, but not the weight of a mountain bike. Can take maybe 38c tyres with guards of some sort. I can imagine a second pair of more roadish wheels if I do enough e.g. audax to merit them. I'm OK with Aluminium frame, carbon forks.
- A geometry that's not sluggish, but ultimately nearer tourer than racer. Certainly i'd like to put small panniers on sometimes. Current bikes have a chainstay length of 425mm, but I have to put panniers quite well back, so lets make 435mm a minimum.
- Bars etc: Shallow drops with a slight flare. Probably bar end shifters and shorter reach levers as I was underwhelmed by combined gear / brake (admittedly 10 years ago Sora).
- Brakes: cable discs. From what I've read Spyres. Because I enjoy being a bit away from it all. Accepting that a broken calliper or lever is going to be an issue, I can repair a cable easier than a hose.
- Gears. I'm not super strong, more of a sit and spinner than a sprinter, but don't mind a hill. Equally, somewhere above 35km/h I'd probably accept freewheeling as nature's way of telling me to catch my breath. Practically, i've found myself using gain ratios of 1.6 to 6.5 this year. I might get fitter, or go for bigger hills, but if I'm not pushing my component choice to achieve that then I can tweak over time. After a considerable time with Sheldon's gear calculator, assuming 700 * 35c tyres and 170mm cranks, that gives me a 26 / 36 double and 11-32 cassette.
- Budget. Ideally under £1500. Some / all of it may go on a cycle to work scheme.
So, questions / assumptions that I'm going to put out there...
Frame choice, I think these would all work (give or take finding my size - standover 785mm max, effective top tube 560mm give or take):
Alpkit Sonder Camio Al
Ribble CGR Al
Kinesis Tripster AT (maybe depends on finding a discount)
Planet X London Road (as suggested)
Gear choice.
I hope this bike will be lighter and more sprightly than my old Trek, but I'm assuming that's rarely more than a gear different in practice. I'm sure we've had threads before on the value of 50+ tooth chainrings, and I'm in the "not feeling it" camp - though i'm nervous about just how low that top gear is despite the maths.
Gear specifics.
I'm thinking 10 speed Shimano mountain bike, ideally XT sort of level. eg FC-M8000 chainset, RD-M786-GS rear derailleur (medium cage, shadow, clutch). The 11 speed seems to have 3 disadvantages: most of the cassettes are 40 tooth one-by things, not as thick / strong (though i accept we said the same about 9 speed in the past), and twice the price for chains and cassettes. I'm not sure whether there's bits that won't take a 10 speed chain though.
Also, that particular chainset seems to come in a couple of versions with different chainline (48.8 and 51.8mm). I've yet to work out what would tell me that I definitely want one or the other.
I'm sure there's other things, but that feels like plenty for now