£800 bike

[Brucey]

how easy is it to fit mudguards and a rack to the specialized? There looks to be precious little clearance between the seat tube and the rear tyre, and most of that space may be occupied by the new long arm design on the FD-R2000 Claris double FD



as fitted to the bike. As illustrated above the arm is in the 'small chainring' position. When you are on the big ring the arm swings inwards and on some bikes will take up most of the room that you thought you had for a mudguard.

Similarly can you fit a rack? If not, how are you going to carry stuff or go touring?

cheers

[djnotts]

Certainly a close fit! And have to cut away part of the rear 'grd it seems:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic ... mudguards/

[TrevA]

:D But no, sir means BORING!

In the same way that an ordinary saloon is boring when compared to a Sports car. But which would you want for day to day use?

[djnotts]

"But which would you want for day to day use?"

The flashest and best and most FUN that I could afford! That's what is so nice about bicycles compared with cars or m'cycles! They are (relatively) cheap.

[Brucey]

FUN noun ; enjoyment, amusement, or light-hearted pleasure:

various meanings in the bicycle context including

- not being able to fit mudguards properly
- when mudguards are fitted you realise they don't have anywhere near enough clearance
- it may not be possible to fit a rack
- it has gearing that is unsuitable for offroad or carrying a load up hills

etc etc

I'm glad I don't commute on a 'fun bike' then....

cheers

[djnotts]

Missed the flippancy I think!

[Bonefishblues]

Missed the flippancy I think!

TBF, I'm sure fitting mudguard can be fun - it's just that I've yet to experience it

[newtotouring]

Will the Ridgeback Voyage be ok for having a go at a 200k Audax later this year, or would it be too heavy duty for this?

Thanks newtotouring.

[Brucey]

It'll be fine.

cheers

[newtotouring]

Thanks Brucey ☺

What improvements would you make to the Voyage straight away ... if any?

[Brucey]

if I had such a machine, new, I'd adjust it correctly to fit me (changing the stem if necessary), and then I'd...

a) adjust and lubricate the hubs properly (the correct adjustment is a little free play that just disappears when the QR is tightened, and the standard grease is not very weather proof)

b) stress-relieve the wheels properly

c) make sure that the seat pin, pedals, stem and cables etc were greased to prevent corrosion.

optionally I'd

d) fit a longer front mudflap
e) fit a stronger rear rack if I wanted to carry a heavy load
f) fit SPD pedals
g) use different tyres according to the conditions
h) fit a different saddle if I didn't get on with the OE one.

cheers

[newtotouring]

Thanks again to everyone for their very useful contributions to this post.

After much consideration I am pretty set on the 2017 Ridgeback Voyage, for various reasons.

Just before I do though, would it be silly to over-look this Roux bike?

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B7643.html

Seems great value and with a decent steel touring or cross fork added it might just be really good?

🚴

[Brucey]

it is good value for what it is, but what it is, is a much cheaper bike. The description on that link is (I think) cobblers BTW; it has a steel fork and a 7005 frame, IIRC.

By the time you have bought mudguards, pedals, rack, road tyres etc it will cost a fair bit more.

I would fight shy of recommending a bike with no-name hubs in BTW; I'd maybe fancy my chances of setting them up and lubing them so that they worked OK, and maybe improvising spare parts and repairs should the need arise, but this isn't a standard thing at all; in the event of a problem in a no-name rear hub (not uncommon) a lot of LBSs will recommend a new rear wheel as a good repair.

By contrast if they are set up and lubed correctly (as per my earlier post) most shimano hubs will last several sets of rims. In the event of trouble you can buy spare parts easily.

There are many other differences for sure. Whatever you do decide, I'd suggest that you don't delay too long because the stocks of last year's models will probably not last too much longer.

cheers

[pete75]

Thanks again to everyone for their very useful contributions to this post.

After much consideration I am pretty set on the 2017 Ridgeback Voyage, for various reasons.

Just before I do though, would it be silly to over-look this Roux bike?

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B7643.html

Seems great value and with a decent steel touring or cross fork added it might just be really good?

🚴

If you were considering a Roux this might be a better bet https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m1b0s21p3283/ROUX-Etape-250 . At the same time you could buy a set of these wheels https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s178p30 ... isc-6-bolt and it would still fall well within your budget. A set of good handbuilt wheels is one of the best improvements for any relatively low priced bike.

It seems very similar to the Edinburgh Revolution Country which was well thought of.

[freiston]

I might be a bit late with my suggestion, but it's the newer version of my bike and is bang on the money. I've made some changes to my 2014 edition, but the manufacturer has made changes too - and mostly for the better, I think. I prefer bar-end shifters over "brifters".

https://www.evanscycles.com/jamis-auror ... e-EV306037

And a picture is always nice