£600 Hardtail MTB commuter.

[Pale Rider]

Or better still, just run two bikes, each with suitable tyres for it's intended use. That way you don't have to endlessly bugger about swapping wheels around and doing minor brake/gear adjustments. My entire operational bike fleet probably comes in under OP budget.

That is a possible weakness of my plan, although I know a couple of cyclists who have winter wheels for studded tyres who don't have to adjust the gears when they swap.

If your young and fit you don't worry.

Get the best bike ,wheels and tyres are for later if needed

Tend to agree, unless the OP plans on doing extreme mountain biking which is unlikely.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

That is a possible weakness of my plan, although I know a couple of cyclists who have winter wheels for studded tyres who don't have to adjust the gears when they swap.

I've sometimes swapped 700c wheelsets between my Raleigh hybrids, to use a particular type of tyre, and although they are nominally the same sort of wheel, and all have 6-speed Shimano gears on the back, the indexing tends to need a tweak to get really clean changes and silent running. They will work as fitted if you can't be arsed, or don't mind mechanical drivetrain clatter - but even supposedly same-spec wheelsets do vary slightly in dimensions and since the rear mech is fixed to the frame, any dimensional variance in the wheels will affect the gear set up, even if not by enough to stop it working.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Well done confused the OP completely he asks for advice on bikes & the post goes off about tyres

 

[carlosfandangus]

Apologies, I too got involved with the "tyre's", however all I can really add is that I have had two Vitus from chain reaction, an alloy flat bar hybrid
(really a roadbike) and a carbon road bike, the Vitus's were both excellent bikes and i would not hesitate in buying another one, if the OP chooses to get a Vitus he wont go far wrong in my opinion, tyres are a choice to make, it depends on the amount of use on the road and that of the trails at the weekend, stick with what comes fitted and make an informed choice in the future.