Hybrid, Road, or Cyclocross?

[saul]

Hi to All,

I currently own a Viking Camden Hybrid, which in all honesty was price driven than features, and now am looking at upgrading. Presently I mainly use the bike for my commute to work, mainly road, but have recently found alternative routes that will allow canal paths, woods etc.

Would like to do more serious cycling in the future, but also allowing me to use the paths, and trails. I am now confused as to what type of bike to upgrade. My budget at present is around £600, however if I can get my boss to agree to a cycle2work scheme then maybe a bit more.

My food for thought at present lies with the following:

The Boardman cyclocross

The Triban 5 Road Bike

Not too sure which Hybrid though.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks

Saul.

 

[Elybazza61]

I'd go the cross route.
If you can strech the budget a bit;

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/arkose-one-2014-cyclocross-bike-ec054863

or this which is cheaper;

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/pro...-disc-14?bct=browse/bicycles/cyclocross-bikes

I'm in the process of building a Planet X xls frameset up as a commuter/winter/off-roader but the disadvantage is no fixings for mudguards and a rack;it is nice shiny carbon though and £1000 for a complete bike is a bargain really and I'm penny pinching to keep my build to a reasonable price;

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXXLS105/planet-x-xls-shimano-105-cyclocross-bike

 

[Rooster1]

ROAD ROAD ROAD all the way

 

[saul]

I'd go the cross route.
If you can strech the budget a bit;

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/arkose-one-2014-cyclocross-bike-ec054863

or this which is cheaper;

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-cross-disc-14?bct=browse/bicycles/cyclocross-bikes

I'm in the process of building a Planet X xls frameset up as a commuter/winter/off-roader but the disadvantage is no fixings for mudguards and a rack;it is nice shiny carbon though and £1000 for a complete bike is a bargain really and I'm penny pinching to keep my build to a reasonable price;

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXXLS105/planet-x-xls-shimano-105-cyclocross-bike

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions, I need to pop into Evans tomorrow will have a proper look at the Pinnacle, if I get auth. on the scheme it will then be in my budget.

Saul.

 

[KneesUp]

Presently I mainly use the bike for my commute to work, mainly road, but have recently found alternative routes that will allow canal paths, woods etc.

Would like to do more serious cycling in the future, but also allowing me to use the paths, and trails.

ROAD ROAD ROAD all the way

Cross if you want to do the trails and paths - you could do them on a road bike, but it's be no fun. It's be like wearing brogues to play rugby.

 

[HLaB]

My preference is towards Road but its more down to you

 

[saul]

In real terms, how much difference would there be between the road and Cross? Also I presume that I could always change tyres etc at a later stage if needed. At present my ride is approx 95% road and 5% path & trail. Not sure exactly how much more this will increase though.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I'd go cross if you're going to be on trails quite regularly. The comfort difference between a 23 or 25 tyre at 100+psi and a 28 or 32 at 80-90psi will be quite noticeable and the former will be quite skittish and unsettling on even quite smooth but loose gravel in a way that CX will handle happily. Whereas the differential on the road will be far less unless you're really planning on seriously head down a**e up riding.

 

[vickster]

You won't be able to fit cx tyres to a road bike and quite probably not 23mm tyres to a cx

Road will be quicker on roads, cx more comfortable on roads, but marginally heavier. More practical than many roadbikes if wanting a rack and decent fixed mudguards

Edinburgh bike have a good range of cx

If you go boardman, spend £32 on British cycling membership to get 10% off at halfords and other indispensable benefits

Fwiw the boardman looks way better than the dull black boardmans Edit, it's a dull black boardman, sigh

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Bearing in mind n+1

Keep the hybrid, stick some slightly more aggressive tyres on it for the trails (assuming they need it) and buy a road bike for everything else.

Unless you really enjoy faffing about aiming to swap tyres around and the like will just mean you don't bother riding as much as you think you would (you'll fancy road, it'll have the knobblies on, or vice versa).

Expand your road routes to enjoy the road biking, take the hybrid when the feeling takes you. Wait until you decide to upgrade that to a hardtail MTB :-)

 

[vickster]

I am not sure east London really provides the terrain for off roading requiring an HT MTB

 

[KneesUp]

In real terms, how much difference would there be between the road and Cross? Also I presume that I could always change tyres etc at a later stage if needed. At present my ride is approx 95% road and 5% path & trail. Not sure exactly how much more this will increase though.

I rode a road bike on 23c tyres home from work last summer. I then didn't ride again for 8 months it was that uncomfortable - and that was all on (Sheffield's appallingly maintained) roads. I should also point out that apart from kids bikes, I'd only ever owned road bikes up until that point.

I now commute 4 times a week on a mountain bike with 2" tyres. It's slower, but feels less like riding a tiger.

I used to ride my road bike on trails because it was the only one I owned - you can do it - but you spend your whole time worrying about the wheels and avoiding soft bits so you don't sink in. A cross bike with 35c tyres won't be loads slower on road (but it will be a bit slower) but it will be a lot more accomplished on the trails.

 

[HLaB]

In real terms, how much difference would there be between the road and Cross? Also I presume that I could always change tyres etc at a later stage if needed. At present my ride is approx 95% road and 5% path & trail. Not sure exactly how much more this will increase though.

I borrowed a roadified cross that had narrower rims fitted to it to allow narrower tyre but there are still fundamaental difference in the geariing (cyclocross is lower, great for climbing but less sustainable at speed) and the brakes on cross are usually canti's which IME are not as good as dual pivot callipers.

 

[vickster]

The boardman linked to has disc brakes

 

[saul]

You won't be able to fit cx tyres to a road bike and quite probably not 23mm tyres to a cx


Fwiw the boardman looks way better than the dull black boardmans Edit, it's a dull black boardman, sigh