doog
....
- Location
- The beautiful south
Its not, Deuter do rucksacks that sit off the back so no sweat.
Road bike or cyclocross ... decisions!
- Thread starter ChrisV
- Start date
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Its not, Deuter do rucksacks that sit off the back so no sweat.
smokeysmoo
Legendary Member
- Location
- Bolton, not very far from Nob End
Don't forget that whilst a CX bike looks for all intent and purposes like a road bike, one fundamental difference is in the gearing.
CX bikes have considerably lower gearing, and that can leave you struggling on the road when the pace picks up.
Speed may not be an issue for you, or it may, only you know that, but it's something to consider.
When I had my CX bike I ended up fitting full on road tyres to calm me down. The reason was that with the Schwalbe Nobbly Nics on it turned me into a go anywhere hooligan
I'd have MTB'ers looking at me like I had 3 heads whilst thinking WTF is that nobber doing up here on that?
Great fun though and a CX bike will definitely find a place in my garage again in the future.
CX bikes have considerably lower gearing, and that can leave you struggling on the road when the pace picks up.
Speed may not be an issue for you, or it may, only you know that, but it's something to consider.
When I had my CX bike I ended up fitting full on road tyres to calm me down. The reason was that with the Schwalbe Nobbly Nics on it turned me into a go anywhere hooligan
I'd have MTB'ers looking at me like I had 3 heads whilst thinking WTF is that nobber doing up here on that?
Great fun though and a CX bike will definitely find a place in my garage again in the future.
htid
Regular
- Location
- South Croydon
Just to point out, I use a backpack for my 10 mile each way journey and it's not bad at all. It does have padding to keep it slightly away from your back but still there's a large surface area touching me.
On disc breaks, I went for them on my hybrid for the commute simply to feel safer. There have been a few times I've had to slam the breaks on (due to traffic) and been very happy to have them, but then again I dont know how a good set of non discs would compare.
On disc breaks, I went for them on my hybrid for the commute simply to feel safer. There have been a few times I've had to slam the breaks on (due to traffic) and been very happy to have them, but then again I dont know how a good set of non discs would compare.
I think I'm going to get the Whyte Dorset - the reviews seem really good, it's probably a more solid option as a commuter (the Defy 1 seems racier but perhaps not as good on the commute, or not take as much?) and the rack option, space for bigger tyres if required seems good.
I definitely don't want a rucksack as I don't like putting weight on my back, so the luggage options seem a reason to go Whyte.
Also, I read that the Tiagra will operate as a commuter better as the 105 can be temperamental with mud etc. If I get into this then one day I might get a racier bike, with the full works!
Whyte Dorset? Good idea?
I definitely don't want a rucksack as I don't like putting weight on my back, so the luggage options seem a reason to go Whyte.
Also, I read that the Tiagra will operate as a commuter better as the 105 can be temperamental with mud etc. If I get into this then one day I might get a racier bike, with the full works!
Whyte Dorset? Good idea?
Custom24
Über Member
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Have you looked in more detail at the specs?
I chose a Whyte Suffolk £1200 over a Defy 1 £999 for commuting . Discs were important to me but so too were cartridge bearings in headset and wheels. OK, I should probably have been comparing vs Defy 0 on price, but anyway.
Defy can have mudguards so no difference there. I don't bother with panniers and use a Deuter AC lite. No sweaty back. But I like that I can have panniers if I need them.
Part of me still wishes I'd bought the Defy as I'm sure it's faster. But I like the Suffolk. What I'm guess I'm saying is that even after you purchase, you'll never know
, so don't worry about it too much!
I chose a Whyte Suffolk £1200 over a Defy 1 £999 for commuting . Discs were important to me but so too were cartridge bearings in headset and wheels. OK, I should probably have been comparing vs Defy 0 on price, but anyway.
Defy can have mudguards so no difference there. I don't bother with panniers and use a Deuter AC lite. No sweaty back. But I like that I can have panniers if I need them.
Part of me still wishes I'd bought the Defy as I'm sure it's faster. But I like the Suffolk. What I'm guess I'm saying is that even after you purchase, you'll never know
, so don't worry about it too much!Ha ha cheers!
I looked at the Suffolk. It's an extra £200 to get (quote):
Upgrades from Whyte Dorset
And does going to £1200 open up other bike options?
A minefield
I looked at the Suffolk. It's an extra £200 to get (quote):
Upgrades from Whyte Dorset
- The best disc brakes you can use with drop levers.
- Shimano 105 dual control shifters and rear mech take the gearing up another notch.
And does going to £1200 open up other bike options?
A minefield
KneesUp
Guru
IMHO no, it's not. The marketing department of Shimano want you to think 105 is better. The people who have paid extra for it want you to think it's better. Many people will be able to tell you why it's better. But if you get on a bike that works and ride it, you should forget about the bike. I don't ride my bike wondering what it would be like on another bike, of it the gears clicked in a billionth of a second sooner, or if the jockey wheels had a greater percentage of unobtanium in them.
Anything apart from the frame and the handlebars is a wear item. Buy the bike that best suits you with the parts that come in budget. Ride it and enjoy it. When things break of wear out replace them with better ones, the same ones, or don't replace them at all for a bit, depending on cash flow at the time.
I saved up for ages to replace the rear mech on my 'racer' when I was a kid - it had an Exage one (I think) and I swapped it for a 105 one. Admittedly it looked great, but it didn't ride any differently or shift any differently. And I put the Exage one back on after I broke it - still changed gear. Then I spent £60 I didn't have on a Shimano 600 crankset - offset by selling the Exage one to a friend, admittedly. Again, it looked better, to me at least - but it didn't make the blindest bit of difference to how the bike rode or how it changed gear. And yet, oddly, 12 years after it was stolen it's the crankset I'm most annoyed at losing. So really all that happened was I spent more money for no actual cycling benefit, but in doing so got something I was more upset at losing.
Anything apart from the frame and the handlebars is a wear item. Buy the bike that best suits you with the parts that come in budget. Ride it and enjoy it. When things break of wear out replace them with better ones, the same ones, or don't replace them at all for a bit, depending on cash flow at the time.
I saved up for ages to replace the rear mech on my 'racer' when I was a kid - it had an Exage one (I think) and I swapped it for a 105 one. Admittedly it looked great, but it didn't ride any differently or shift any differently. And I put the Exage one back on after I broke it - still changed gear. Then I spent £60 I didn't have on a Shimano 600 crankset - offset by selling the Exage one to a friend, admittedly. Again, it looked better, to me at least - but it didn't make the blindest bit of difference to how the bike rode or how it changed gear. And yet, oddly, 12 years after it was stolen it's the crankset I'm most annoyed at losing. So really all that happened was I spent more money for no actual cycling benefit, but in doing so got something I was more upset at losing.
You make a very good point.
I did the same with golf. Have owned more than a dozen putters over the course of 3 - 4 years. Spend hundreds buying them then selling 2nd hand at a loss because they didn't deliver what I hoped they might.
The actual component that made the difference was me.
Now putt with a £39.99 putter I got reduced
I just want to buy a bike then ride it, as you say. I'm sure for me I'd probably get away with a £500 bike or less, so the Dorset should be more than enough!!
I did the same with golf. Have owned more than a dozen putters over the course of 3 - 4 years. Spend hundreds buying them then selling 2nd hand at a loss because they didn't deliver what I hoped they might.
The actual component that made the difference was me.
Now putt with a £39.99 putter I got reduced
I just want to buy a bike then ride it, as you say. I'm sure for me I'd probably get away with a £500 bike or less, so the Dorset should be more than enough!!
Bodhbh
Guru
Does it really matter unless your racing? I dunno what typical CX gearing is, but even on the highest MTB gearing (44 front, 11 back) I don't spin out till I pass 30-35mph (i.e downhill). I'm sure on a CX bike that's quite a bit higher.
KneesUp
Guru
Thank you
And on that note, I'd get a Charge Plug 3 (£850) because it's a bit more old school (i.e. it's steel) and a bit more geared toward being taken off the roads and onto trails. Plus it's a nice colour.http://road.cc/content/review/112830-charge-plug-4-road-bike (Plug 3 is the same bike but with lower spec Shimano bits)
(because I know you were short of choices!)
EDIT - Plug 3 is currently £640 at Evans. If you want to spend more on the same frame and wheels with more expensive components, the Plug 4 is the same price as the 3 normally is.
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Custom24
Über Member
- Location
- Oxfordshire
.Ha ha cheers!
I looked at the Suffolk. It's an extra £200 to get (quote):
Upgrades from Whyte Dorset
Are these two worth an extra £200? This is my first road bike, my first bike as an adult being a hybrid a month ago, so do I need to go even higher spec?
- The best disc brakes you can use with drop levers.
- Shimano 105 dual control shifters and rear mech take the gearing up another notch.
And does going to £1200 open up other bike options?
A minefield
Sorry I wasn't suggesting you needed to look at the Suffolk. I was suggesting to look at the difference in specs between your choices for things like bearings and wheels, not just drivetrain. And I was also saying (contradictorily, I guess) not to over-analyse, since even after purchase, you'll still be wondering anyway ( if you're like me)
For me in the end, I got embarrassed about "wasting" too much of any one LBS time, and so a lot came down to which shop was able to give me the vibe I needed.
smokeysmoo
Legendary Member
- Location
- Bolton, not very far from Nob End
Like I said, maybe, maybe not.
I've never raced but I did find I was spinning out on my CX bike compared to my road bike.
Then again my road bike has a standard double whereas most folk nowadays seem to have compacts, so that would of made the difference feel greater to me I suppose.
I only mentioned it as a consideration that's all
Iainj837
Guru
- Location
- Shepton Mallet Somerset
I had a defy 1 a 2010 or 2011, I had mudguards and if I remember rightly it had mountings for a rack
Wafer
Veteran
- Location
- Somerset/Devon border
The only concern I've had since getting my Synapse is whether I should've gotten the Dorset! Certainly well reviewed, a less common option, reasonable spec for the price(I got 105 but I don't think I'd pay extra over Tiagra now), slightly bigger stock tyres, bit more thought for things like mudguards(£20 for Whyte branded mudguards). I'd still go for discs but that's a personal choice and I'm certainly no expert.
Go with whichever feels better and excites you more, I doubt either will disappoint.
Go with whichever feels better and excites you more, I doubt either will disappoint.
amasidlover
Guru
- Location
- Gatley
I've had a Whyte Dorset for almost 3 weeks now. I did want the Suffolk but couldn't find it in my size (even from Whyte) - if you can get it I'd say that the hydraulic brakes and 105 for an extra £200 are good value. However...
I am absolutely loving the Dorset.
I spend most of my time commuting on it, but because I also race Triathlons and ride a TT bike for training rides I found all of the current crop of commuter road bikes too upright and slow ( whole thread about my selection process ), the moment I took the Dorset on a test ride it felt fantastic...
After having it 3 weeks I would say the following;
Discs are great; they're on a par with well set-up V-brakes when in the dry and in the wet they lose very little power at all - so much so I feel I have to be very careful to stay within the limits of the tyres.
The pictures of it make it look really dull and in fact from a distance it does look just like a dull grey bike, but up close the detailing is very stylish and sexy - which means I have something which is quite attractive, but actually I still fee comfortable leaving parked up when shopping or in the gym.
The ride; its fast, it feels like you're wasting very little power when you go for it and it feels like it makes you want to ride fast (the Klein Pulse MTB I ride being the only other bike that I find has anything like a similar feel), yet it is incredibly comfortable, more so than the 531 steel framed bike it replaced.
But what I would say is that if at all possible, test ride some of them - when I set about chosing a new bike I was expecting to do it all on spec alone because I didn't think a short test ride would really reveal much, but actually a few hundred meters told me an awful lot about almost all of the bikes I rode.
The other one worth considering is the Focus Mares AX 5.0 which was another one that felt really nice to ride, sadly again out of stock in my size otherwise I would have gone for that as my LBS had it and it had a dynamo hub as standard (which I have since added to the Whyte for another £150...)
I am absolutely loving the Dorset.
I spend most of my time commuting on it, but because I also race Triathlons and ride a TT bike for training rides I found all of the current crop of commuter road bikes too upright and slow ( whole thread about my selection process ), the moment I took the Dorset on a test ride it felt fantastic...
After having it 3 weeks I would say the following;
Discs are great; they're on a par with well set-up V-brakes when in the dry and in the wet they lose very little power at all - so much so I feel I have to be very careful to stay within the limits of the tyres.
The pictures of it make it look really dull and in fact from a distance it does look just like a dull grey bike, but up close the detailing is very stylish and sexy - which means I have something which is quite attractive, but actually I still fee comfortable leaving parked up when shopping or in the gym.
The ride; its fast, it feels like you're wasting very little power when you go for it and it feels like it makes you want to ride fast (the Klein Pulse MTB I ride being the only other bike that I find has anything like a similar feel), yet it is incredibly comfortable, more so than the 531 steel framed bike it replaced.
But what I would say is that if at all possible, test ride some of them - when I set about chosing a new bike I was expecting to do it all on spec alone because I didn't think a short test ride would really reveal much, but actually a few hundred meters told me an awful lot about almost all of the bikes I rode.
The other one worth considering is the Focus Mares AX 5.0 which was another one that felt really nice to ride, sadly again out of stock in my size otherwise I would have gone for that as my LBS had it and it had a dynamo hub as standard (which I have since added to the Whyte for another £150...)
