Drop bars and a rack

[Twilkes]

I'm looking for a commuting/light touring bike, have maybe settled on a Specialized Sirrus at £400 (I have a rack, mudguards and panniers already to fit to it). But I'm curious about a drop bar, lower profile bike. Most road bikes are probably out because of the lack of rack eyelets and the 700x28+ tyres I'd be using.

Is there anything suitable at £400-500 price point? I realise this is rock-bottom of the proper touring bike range, but maybe there's a not-too-racey roadbike that has the rack eyelets and wouldn't be imbalanced by a pannier?

I've been riding a Raleigh Pioneer Metro for 7 years, and looking for something not so heavy and a bit quicker into headwinds.

 

[vickster]

Most cx bikes will take a rack, guards, fatter tyres but you'll need to go used for under £500

Older giant defy models also have rack points, 28mm tyres an issue though. 25mm a limit with mudguards

Ribble do a winter bike, probably used option again, not sure where they start at new...actually right now at a smidge over £500, bargain

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/bikeb...part=BBRIBBLE7005AUDWINT&sub=conf_BBRW&bike=1

 

[Pale Rider]

Spa Cycles in Harrogate have a Dawes aluminium (cough, splutter) tourer for under £500.

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s21p2898

Only large size by the look of it, but might be worth giving them a ring to see if they have anything else to suit.

 

[mcshroom]

Now't wrong with aluminium tourers

Another bike may be the Revolution Audax which is currently down to £399 - http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-audax

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Alternately Bontrager do a thin profile rack that has fitments to attach into the rear brake set up and through an extended length (supplied) QR spindle through the rear hub. ~£50

It works well with single or double side panniers and doesn't look too out of place.

 

[Twilkes]

Thanks for that, hadn't even looked at the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative, and quite a few of their Revolution bikes tick the right boxes (the Cross in particular). Saw the Pinnacle Dolomite 1 in Evans today, but don't quite trust them for some reason (Pinnacles, not Evans).

Might be a trip across to the East Coast over the weekend then.

 

[HLaB]

Another option is a 'training' bike like the Kinesis or Ribble but of hand I dont know what price they start at.

 

[Twilkes]

I found a Kinesis bike for around £449, but unfortunately it doesn't come with any wheels or cranks or pedals or handlebars or shifters or brakes or pads or cassette or bottom bracket or grips or chain or cables, which would push me a little overbudget. The Ribble site looks interesting though.

 

[mattobrien]

I have a Kinesis Pro6, which is a cross frame and I have a rack fitted and panniers I use. The frame was £550, so not within the OP's budget unfortunately.

I used some parts from an older bike in mine and had to get a free new bits too.

 

[Twilkes]

Okay, I'm going to splash out on a drop bar Revolution Cross; or a more tempered purchase of a Kona Dew, possibly using some of the leftover money to switch to trekking bars and build some strong lightweight wheels.

The Kona is at bargain price and seems to share most of its spec with the pricier 2014 model. At around 12kg it's lighter than my current Raleigh (16kg(!)), and while I imagine I might go faster on the Revolution Cross, I'm worried that the components would be poor standard for a cross bike at that price (I've found some cheap clunky drop bar shifters to be clunky and stiff

The Kona would be good enough, but is good enough good enough?