What to Buy?

[Hudson1984]

Hi all,
so i've just come back to cycling after a few years off (hip replaced and now so just trying to get back to normal)
anyway! Technology seems to have moved on in those short years. Aero isn't the be all and end all, disc breaks everywhere and fat tyres.
interesting!
Having tried a 28mm tyre I can now see why people like wider and next year (or at the end of this one) I'm tempted to move to a bike with wider clearance to allow for this.

HOWEVER

Good Lord have bikes gotten expensive!!! I remember £1000 being the point in which Carbon was pretty much guaranteed and you'd get some models with 105 stuff. Whilst I appreciate times change and ally frames are no doubt better than they were but holy moly!

So, for my tightness and not wanting to spend crazy money on a bike, I was wondering what would be a good bike to look out for?

I ride purely on the road, no bumpy stuff if I can help it
my road riding is mostly a short 20 mile ride with a friend once a week, then a longer ride once a month of about 50 miles (I have a turbo hack that will stay where it is for training rides)
We're aiming to do some organised rides next year which again will be about 50 miles or so.
I'd like to fit wider tyres circa 32mm.
Ideally I'm wanting it to be a year round bike - don't really want one for summer and one for winter. 1 Bike to rule them all!
I'd like (mainly because I like how it looks....sorry) a 1x12 setup. But not sure if this is really wise!
I live in Suffolk which of course is mostly flat but I do like to take my bike with me on holiday so hills are "possible"
I really prefer carbon!

I'm thinking Gravel is the way to go - maybe a Specialised Crux?

£1500 maximum, what should I look at?

[oaklec]

I would go for something like the Sabbath Silk Route sold by Spa Cycles. It's not carbon, or disc brake, or 1 x 12 but would probably work well for 50 mile rides around Suffolk in all weathers.

EDIT - Up to 700x38 tyres with mudguards

[Alcyon]

No recommendations, just an observation: when I got my present frame about twenty-five years ago, 700cX32 was still an acceptable choice for a touring/commuting bike. Given the poor state of the roads locally, and the poor state of my body even more locally, I would really like the capability to run wider tires, at least another centimeter in width would be nice. Something to think about, and easily attainable now.

[Nearholmer]

I’m not into carbon bikes, so have no recommendation, but I do have a caution, about opting for a typical “off the shelf” gravel 1x setup for your specified duties: you might well find that the top gear is too low.

To secure the low gears needed for sustained off-road climbing, these setups often sacrifice top, which might become a consideration given that you live somewhere fairly flat.

Also, if you only want to go up to 32mm tyres, you might want to consider a cyclocross bike (the Crux is one, isn’t it?), some of which come with 1x, but slightly higher geared. You might also find that it can in fact go up to 35mm or even 38mm tyres, which is possibly wriggle-room worth having. Not all have easy mounting of mudguards though.

Oh, OK, I will give a recommendation: have a look at the Boardman ADV range. They now do a carbon one geared for road use, with 2x12 105, although it’s a bit above your price point, I think. The ADV are reckoned to be very good value.

[PH]

I'm thinking Gravel is the way to go - maybe a Specialised Crux?

£1500 maximum, what should I look at?

Are you looking for secondhand? I just Googled the Specialised Crux and those I see start well north of your price point.
If it is secondhand, you're better off starting with a list of what you want, realistically broken down into essentials and desirables, then making yourself stick to it, however good a deal on something else sounds.
If you're looking new, then maybe a link to what that is, so others can offer comparisons.

[rareposter]

I'm thinking Gravel is the way to go - maybe a Specialised Crux?

£1500 maximum, what should I look at?

I'm thinking more of an endurance road bike than a full gravel set-up.
You could get a brand new Sonder Colibri for £1500:

https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-colibri-al-105

Aluminium frame but a 12sp 105 groupset and well worthy of upgrades. Very capable bike, 32mm tyres with mudguards, 36mm without.

Ribble do a carbon framed endurance road bike for £1600, the R872. Lower groupset (Tiagra against the 105 of the Sonder) but again, decent enough for future upgrades.

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-r ... anthracite

If you want a Crux for £1500, it'd be secondhand only. Although they're great bikes, I've got a carbon one! And if you're over 6'2", I'll sell you mine for £1500. Full carbon frame & fork, carbon bar and seatpost. GRX hydraulic disc brakes.

[AndyK]

I'm thinking Gravel is the way to go - maybe a Specialised Crux?

£1500 maximum, what should I look at?

I'm thinking more of an endurance road bike than a full gravel set-up.
You could get a brand new Sonder Colibri for £1500:

https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-colibri-al-105

Aluminium frame but a 12sp 105 groupset and well worthy of upgrades. Very capable bike, 32mm tyres with mudguards, 36mm without.

Ribble do a carbon framed endurance road bike for £1600, the R872. Lower groupset (Tiagra against the 105 of the Sonder) but again, decent enough for future upgrades.

I've been looking at both the Sonder Colibri and their Camino (gravel) model.as a potential replacement for my winter road bike. Between those two the Camino ticks the boxes for me: a high stack-to-reach ratio means being less stretched out, while the long wheelbase means less toe overlap, which matters a lot when you're not very tall and have big feet. I'm going to spend many hours on the bike in poor weather: I want it to be comfortable. The Camino is also available with the 2x12 Shimano 105 groupset, by the way, currently for £1549 but they periodically have sales that knock several hundred quid off the prices.

On the full-carbon front, the Orro Terra C is currently available with SRAM Apex 1x12 groupset for £1499 - and it's a lovely looking bike, though the sales people are hard to get a reply from, and the comments to their Facebook posts suggest that some current owners don't find the company very responsive to queries about spare parts either.

The Ribble CGR is also on my shortlist - again, looks better for endurance rides than the R872. But we're back to aluminium frames, which the OP wasn't keen on .

[rareposter]

On the full-carbon front, the Orro Terra C is currently available with SRAM Apex 1x12 groupset for £1499 - and it's a lovely looking bike, though the sales people are hard to get a reply from, and the comments to their Facebook posts suggest that some current owners don't find the company very responsive to queries about spare parts either.

Orro / the distributors have just gone bust. On the one hand, there'll probably be some very cheap bikes around; on the other hand, there'll be near zero warranty and spares support!

https://road.cc/content/news/major-uk-c ... ion-310581

[AndyK]

On the full-carbon front, the Orro Terra C is currently available with SRAM Apex 1x12 groupset for £1499 - and it's a lovely looking bike, though the sales people are hard to get a reply from, and the comments to their Facebook posts suggest that some current owners don't find the company very responsive to queries about spare parts either.

Orro / the distributors have just gone bust. On the one hand, there'll probably be some very cheap bikes around; on the other hand, there'll be near zero warranty and spares support!

https://road.cc/content/news/major-uk-c ... ion-310581

Ohh er. Thanks for the heads-up. I hadn't seen that. Not that surprised about the distributors - I've had a trade account with them for ages and struggled to find anything to buy from them because they never had the bits I wanted in stock. Their stock control seemed erratic to say the least.
The bikes are available from, and in stock at, various retailers so it should be safe to order one that way (assuming you pick a retailer that isn't about to go bust!) but from bike owners' comments online I did get the impression that there are a number of custom parts that are only available from Orro.

[Hudson1984]

well... slight change on plan....
I had thought a gravel would be the right direction and had had a look at some of the suggestions so thank you for that, however!!

Wife has now decided she'd quite like to do relay duathlons together, which does sound good to me too. Which will somewhat move the direction of the new bike. I don't really want a TT bike (which i'd expect would mostly be the "best" bike to go for) so looking toward some of the more aero bikes of the world.

any suggestions here?

I think i'll likely keep my other bikes as winter rides, making the new one, dedicated event bike. So for me personally it'll be for sportives, with wifey it'll be doing shorter and flatter events.

So somewhat light, somewhat aero to tick both camps? I mean we're not looking to win these things but do want to do our level best to not be last lol