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help me choose a new bike please!

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Started 9 years ago by ExcitableBoy
Latest reply from Instography
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ExcitableBoy
Member

Hi All,
Please help me with your usual words of wisdom. Despite only ever cycling, I always struggle when choosing a new bike, and this time more so than ever.
I have been looking for a while and my only certainty has been a flat bar, which I much prefer to a drop bar and disc brakes. Today I nearly bought a drop barred bike at ~2.5x my proposed budget(of £1000+/- £200) !
Needs/uses: a versatile bike for commuting, day rides and holidaying - in the early stages of planning to do LEJOG this Summer.

Bikes being considered:
- another hybrid, perhaps a Hoy bike
- a Cannondale BadBoy 29er
- Genesis Longitude (with thinner tyres, possibly different wheels)
and as of today a Genesis Croix De Fer, especially the stainless version at £2500. I went for a quick test ride and it felt nice. However, I'm still unsure about the drop bar, am concerned I would worry constantly about it being stolen and strangely feel it is too nice a bike for me.

Anyway, sorry for the excessive length of the post, but any help would be very much appreciated. Especially regarding whether the Longitude would be good for 60-80 mile day rides (I am used to doing this on my current Badboy) and the pros/cone of various CDF.
Cheers, A.

Posted 9 years ago #
gembo
Member

@excitable boy, you sound drop bar curious. Indeed you have been out on one. A very nice one. Genesis have a lovely heritage range, been mentioned on here before I will google - Smithfield and borough - both flat bars. If you are pushing boat out to the stainless one then I would also look at Shand bikes made in livingston from Reynolds steel. They are lovely.

Still no resale value in The Gunner for drop bar so worrying about theft is more along the lines of if someone steals your bike to order.

You are better doing LEJOGLE with drop bars indubitably

Posted 9 years ago #
Uberuce
Member

I love my Croix De Fer. Very comfortable and forgiving even when I'm knackered.

I'd look into getting the frame, then scouting around for a complete MTB groupset with a high enough top gear for road use.

Posted 9 years ago #
ExcitableBoy
Member

Thanks gents for the help so far. Gembo, I had forgotten about the Genesis Smithfield and Borough, one has an Alfine hub which I don't fancy, the other looks interesting although the spec seems a tad low? The frame however has the same geometry as the CDF - so I guess if I bought a dropped bar Version of the CDF I could convert to flat if not happy.
Überuce you have had the DayOne and CDF, I found riding my DayOne a bit twitchy, does the CDF feel similar ridewise to the DayOne? A frame and build might be a good shout- the Reynolds 725 is £475, the stainless £1250, guess it would be the 725; I have never built a bike before however and have great doubts that I could.

Posted 9 years ago #
Uberuce
Member

Tough one to answer, I'm afraid. The DayOne is an overly small 54cm and has had either flats or bullhorns; the Croix is 58cm(which is actually my size) and has drops. In terms of steering, those variables probably overwrite the differences in frame geometry.

I can say the 725 frame is nicer than the 520. Not so much in terms of being lighter; it just rides over stuff more smoothly.

The Cycle Service are perfectly happy for you to turn up with a bundle of internet-sourced bits and assemble them for you. At their rates it'll probably be competitive with a full-bike buy, but since your problem might be that no-one sells exactly what you want in one package...

I took my DayOne to them because I don't know how to change forks and install hydraulic brakes and that's what I wanted. It meant losing the bullhorns and going back to flats, which I wasn't happy about but had to be done to get the burly braking that was the point of the exercise.

I have reservations about riding long distance on flats; bar-ends are basically as good as drops for giving my wrists a break, but you've no access to the controls when using them. On my DayOne that's not such an issue because I've no gears anyway and legbraking is often enough, but on my MTB I just don't like the need to move hands. YMMV.

Posted 9 years ago #
Mandopicker101
Member

If you're sold on a flat-bar, I just noted a PlanetX 'London Road' flat bar set-up for under £600. The way they describe it, this bike seems tough enough for commuting on our ravaged roads and can handle some CX/off road-y stuff.

See details here

Oh and it has (mechanical) disc brakes.

Posted 9 years ago #
SimonS
Member

How about this or this.

I have the Suffolk as my winter bike. Loads of space for tyres up to 35mm or more and 32mm or so under mudguards.

Posted 9 years ago #
Instography
Member

Longitude with 35mm tyres is a joy. I built new wheels for mine to run skinnier tyres on roads, paths and tracks when proper fat nobbly tyres wouldn't be needed. Croix de Fer is also lovely. I've not done more than 30 miles at a time on the Longitude but it has the feel of a bike that you could sit on all day. The sweptback handlebars make it really comfortable and it is designed as a long distance off-road bike.

I also love my Long Haul Trucker, which is as comfy as an old sofa (especially with a B17). No idea how it would be with flat bars, although since I always ride on the hoods, I've often wondered how it would be with flat bars. But here's one looking very like a Longitude.

Posted 9 years ago #
gembo
Member

The Suffolk was on sale at EBC recently with big reductions, but not in the black colour ways in SimonS post. So couple of years old, but still had disc brakes. I will google.

EBC offers not around anymore, on whyte. They do have the Dorset which is like the Suffolk for £999 and some nice looking dearer whytes. See also their specialized tricross which started the cross craze, sport has discs is £1000. EBC do have deal on the east way bike which is Gary fisher trying to get in on the acket. However, the best is yet to come as if you want to make me jealous get a van Nicholas, EBC have one for 1600 which means their prices have crept up.

Posted 9 years ago #
wingpig
Member

I never went further than the tops of the hoods, so converted to horns, which provide a similar position but with better brake-reach. Not tested over more than 74 miles but perfectly comfortable for it.

Posted 9 years ago #
ExcitableBoy
Member

Thanks again everyone I may be more befuddled now though :)
The Whyte Stirling etc look nice, but the tyre/guard clearance I fear is too small.
I had been considering a Kaffenback2 and the London Road suggested by Mandopicker1 looks interesting, but not quite what I'm looking for.
It would seem that what I should do is buy them all like Instography ;)

After reading what Instography wrote I thought I had my answer, as I went to Evans yesterday with a view to sizing, testing and buying the Longitude - then putting narrower wheels on. However, they did not have the bike in the shop anymore - it is also only on their website in a 19", I had assumed the 17" would fit me best.
EBC sell the frameset and I am tempted to go along those lines; but I'm worried that 9 months down the line I'll have spent more than the cost of the full bike and have 2/3 of a bike in bits.
@Insto: I am 5' 10+" I have a feeling you are a tad taller than me, what size frame did you get please?

@wingpig: horns sounds interesting. The TourDF has shifters:-

Microshift BS-T09 9sp Barcon (Front = Friction / Rear = Index)

could these be coaxed onto horns??

Again, thanks all for taking the time to read and advise, A

Ps I think I've now narrowed it down to:

- find someone who sells the Longitude
- the TourDF
- a Longitude frameset and build myself
- a CDF 725 frameset and build with flat bar

Posted 9 years ago #
wingpig
Member

Those microshift shifters look pretty analogous to the Shimano ones I have up my horns. As recommended to Baldcyclist on his thread, try a Zenith horn over the Charge Slice for ensuring internal fit.

Posted 9 years ago #
algo
Member

I would definitely consider Uberuce's suggestion of getting the cycle service to build you a bike. I bought an old and cheap and dilapidated country explorer 525 steel framed disc compatible bike - the same frame as they sell now and the same as the Roux Etape. I find this frame really comfortable but certainly the longitude or CDF are nicer frames.

The only thing I spent any serious money on was the wheels - if you're going to commute and do long days on the bike in my opinion wheels is where you want to spend the money - cycle service know about good wheels too no doubt (mine are Mavic A319 and Deore XT hubs). Oh - and brakes as I often pull a trailer so went for icetech rotors and TRP spyre - but for flat bar there are all manner of good hydraulic options. I now have a good tourer with strong wheels which didn't break the bank (many people find the frame ugly which matters if you care about that sort of thing):

If you find a frame you like then I'd really consider building it up with good wheels and then scouring the internet for cheap components. It doesn't have to be a group set you buy either - you just need to make sure you get the chainline for the front shifter and bottom bracket compatible (just copy what Genesis did).

For what it's worth I use a deore rear mech, tiagra triple front with 48-36-26 at the front and 11-32 at the rear (9 speed) - these are all available pretty cheap and I reckon really good for the job.

Posted 9 years ago #
ExcitableBoy
Member

@wingpig, thanks I fancy a bike with horns, maybe if I start by making up a Longitude, then I'll make another using the 725 CDF frame and 1x10. I worry slightly that building bikes from frame up could become addictive, in a way buying bikes is not??

@algo, I am swaying to the build option, although rather anxious whether I'd manage to pull it off.
I think I'd need:

Longitude frame(comes with fork and hbar) £375
wheels £150 - 200
groupset (CRC has Deore XT M610 triple for) £165
brakes £100
seatpost £30
BB £20
tyres £50
pedals £30
inertubes, cables, grips etc £30
saddle, already have

total ~ £ 1000

Does this sound about right? Have I missed anything major?

Posted 9 years ago #
I were right about that saddle
Member

@ExciteableBoy

Good stuff. May I suggest that instead of trying to imagine and realise perfection, something which inevitably involves multiple conversations of bottom bracket this and seat stay that leading to you dreaming about inbound spokes and brake rotor diameters you just buy a bike you fancy and gently mould it to your needs, indeed let it mould you to its needs?

This is quite traditional. Who among us can imagine what a bike will ride like by looking at a cardboard box of bits? Buy a bike you like and upgrade it in light of experience. Your spend will be spread over at least a year. My latest upgrade is to a bike I bought in 1999, but it may well not be definitive. The sixteen year journey has taught me a great deal about bicycles and I can't now imagine ever buying a bike that was right for me from the off.

So buy one you like and accept that it's merely the first iteration of your project.

Posted 9 years ago #
algo
Member

IWRATS has a good methodology - I think though that in this case the build suggestion is not so different given you have already narrowed down your off-the-shelf options. I am basically suggesting that you rebuild one of them with the handlebar that you know you like, but also getting really good wheels to start with. I may be skewing things slightly as I don't have much space to store stuff and my ultimate goal is just having one bike that does everything (going against the trend).

For the sake of completeness I would just check your list - does the frame and fork combo come with headset? Also I'd add on mudguards and a rack...

Posted 9 years ago #
Instography
Member

I'm 6'3" and got the biggest one 20". Personally, I think if you're using pretty standard components, you should just buy it already built online. Then you can take the IWRATS approach and replace bits as it takes your fancy (or they wear out).

Posted 9 years ago #

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