Bike recommendations

[Allison McKenzie]

That is a good call. You could have this:

Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Di2 2018 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Di2 2018 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Paul_B]

Cable actuated disc brakes....hmmm! Got BB7s on my road/gravel bike do it all out of necessity bike. Hate them with a passion. Rubbish! Always going out of alignment and rubbing. Next to impossible to set right. Even a very good bike mechanic at UK s largest bike shop sends it back rubbing. In fact I've had 4 different bike shops send it back after fettling and it still rubbed straight after using it. My old bike had hydraulic disc brakes which stopped a lot better, had better modulation and needed no adjustment or work done on it for the 1.5 to 2 years I had the bike.

I know the theory about field maintainable cable disc brakes but in the UK where you're never that far from a bike shop that's really not a big advantage I reckon. Not compared to the all round better performance of hydraulic disc brakes. Don't fall for the cable actuated disc brake trap. It'll end with constant tinkering and the purchase of 1 and 2mm feeler gauges or other checking tools to obsessively achieve the recommended gap between disc and pad only to find out the disc isn't completely flat. It'll become an obsession to constantly tinker with cable disc brakes, trust me it's the parts on my bike I'm most often tinkering with and I'm absolutely not interested in carrying out bike repairs and maintenance. Fit and forget or bike shop mechanic is my attitude to keeping your bike on the road but those damned brakes just drag me back to them. It's own form of gravity that's as powerful as a black hole!!! But I exaggerate!

 

[Allison McKenzie]

I agree, my other half got a planet x with cable discs. It is pretty spongy compared to hydraulic.

Having said thay, they were easy to set-up and it stops way better than rim brakes though, especially in the wet. And he has great clearance in the wheel arch.

 

[slowworm]

I wouldn't say I'm close to a bike shop and I don't plan to keep taking a bike back to be serviced. But as disc brakes have been mentioned a few times I'm not sure I really need them. My current mtb has old fashioned rim brakes and they cope with the speeds I go at. I even have to be careful with them as they can lock the wheels on the poor roads. I've also not seem many cheap 2nd hand bikes with disc brakes yet. It is useful to hear about all the problems you can get, even if I do own several sets of feeler gauges already!

As for getting another mtb. I could spend some money on my current one but getting new tyres, a pannier rack and a few other bits and bobs will work out the same price as some of the 2nd hand bikes I've seen. Another mtb would most likely need another set of tyres as they all seem to be sold with wide off road tyres.

As the bike will mainly be for the roads I still think some form touring bike, or similar, is the way to go. But it'll depend on what turns up.

 

[Paul_B]

Drop bar road bike with a comfort geometry is ideal. Google the main brands for their versions of that bike type them keep an eye out for secondhand ones of them. Brands that I think are worth looking at include specialized, canyon, Cannondale, trek, Kona, Giant and possibly cube.

BTW what brand comes up my secondhand locally often depends on what is sold locally at your main bike shops. I know places where there's a big cube dealership and another where there's a Giant brand store. In those towns you see a lot of those brands and less of every other brands. Near me there's a store selling genesis, I see more of those near that store than elsewhere because of it.

Specialized is sold all over and Cannondale too. They all do good road bikes for riding on rough roads and that can take guards, wider tyres (wide as in 32mm instead of 23mm typical road bike tyres) and rack.

Happy hunting.

 

[Paul_B]

I agree, my other half got a planet x with cable discs. It is pretty spongy compared to hydraulic.

Having said thay, they were easy to set-up and it stops way better than rim brakes though, especially in the wet. And he has great clearance in the wheel arch.

My bike is a px London road

 

[Allison McKenzie]

Snap (his is in black). Did you build it yourself? That's time i won't get back.

Have only done a bit on it, and we got on ok. I am not knocking it, just he moans about the brakes, and the weight, especially when I kick his bottom on a climb. I think his tum weighs more than the bike though.

 

[Paul_B]

No, I bought it made up with tiagra ten speed perhaps 5 years ago. It's the same weight as my ancient Raleigh mtrax road bike but that is Reynolds steel and not the good kind of steel..

I don't cycle with anyone who can beat me up hills. Not through choice just years of walking up hills quickly without many breaks and even with a heavy load until money allowed for weight reduction (28kg) meant I developed quads capable of moving the earth away from me with every step. Kind if like chuck Norris doing push ups. Ever fancied touring parts of Scotland with a compact chainring stuck on 50T and only a 25T big dog, rear panniers and a very heavy single wheel trailer? I still had to wait for my partner carrying our 3 year old at the top of 1 in 4 hills. I think that trip or one of the later ones possibly affected that bike.

Anyway it's my do it all bike. I've rocked up at a bike park to meet a fs MTBer and still left him on the hills. Then a long wait for our partners and our sons. The px lr bike is a solid bike for the money? I haven't managed to break it yet, more the shame because it would justify a new bike. Gravel bike design is a whole different world now, so much better.

 

[MrEd]

a crossover would be good, i have a specialized crosstrail disc and its great, sort of a halfway house between mountain bike and road bike