Cycling UK Forum

[quote="karlt"]I've started using the "good" bike (Triban 500SE, look I've got kids instead of money, OK?)

The Tribans look good and get good reviews. The latest models have wider clearance (which will probably give them a less sporty feel) for bigger tyres. Ribble Audax / Winter bikes are another possibility (more like the older Triban, Kinesis and the Spa Audax). Experiment with tyres, because they make a difference too and, if you are mechanically minded you can sometimes adapt and squeeze a bigger tyre and or mudguard in where no mudguard was meant to go, but beware getting too close to the tyre as it just clogs on muddy surfaces.

I think the trick is to keep all the old bikes, as long as you have room. I have commuted through fresh snow up Pennine hills on a lightweight, sporty fixie, but rutted ice needs a different beast. Some of my bikes are over thirty years old and still get used when they are most suitable. Sometimes they get passed on to someone else with a need and sometimes they come back again when they buy new. A good winter training bike that will take a 25c wheel and mudguards will do most things and steer round potholes much easier and quicker. CX bikes look interesting for this multipurpose role, but I haven't ridden one as a road bike personally. Ironically the bikes I have always found least satisfactory are touring bikes and they are the most often swapped, but I still have one in the collection, currently sitting on a turbo trainer - after all, now I am retired I don't have to go out in the horizontal hail to get to work. Good luck.

Even later spotting of this thread... I have had one of these from new since the 1980's. It has been used regularly on commutes and long distance rides, on and off road, with very little maintenance. My daughter used it at university and then it was handed back. I have replaced the bar grips and not much else since setting it up with rack, mudguards etc. all those years ago. The handiest thing about the frame is just to bend it round a split fold rear seat in the back of a car. It now has panniers on with tools in for clearing the local cycle paths, including a broom that can also be taken apart easily . When you ride it people think you are an impoverished cyclist, not a classic design aficionado and no-one has ever tried to steal it!