Cycling UK Forum

This is my potential commute to work which I'd like to do day by day during the summer

Horsham RH12 to Haywards Heath RH16 via Plummers Plain, Slaugham, Staplefield and Cuckfield

I'm 47, 6' 2" tall, have been a regular cycle commuter in the past but lapsed until recently, weigh 15 stone odd, and in good health and fit (I ref Rugby Union three times a week in season and play squash during the summer, and can do a 40+ mile 'moderate' day ride without problem)

I've just started commuting on a mid-range front suspension MTB which I don't want to modify as it is perfect for off road and which is unsuitable anyway what with the boing, boing, boing from the forks. Work have agreed I can go down the bike to work scheme route, so I can get quite a bit of bike for my money but I've been looking at bikes around the £600 - £750 range. I know I want a road bike with drop bars, that I can put guards and a rack and dyno lights etc on. I have a yearning to do the odd randonee or Audax for fun and a bit of credit card/toothbrush touring maybe 5 weekends a year but mainly it will be a 3 season commuter.

I'm looking at
Edinburgh Bicycle Coop Revolution Country Explorer 08 (current fav. & quirky which appeals)
Dawes Audax (but I want one with a triple chain set and would have to fit a rack so its either an old model or a day one upgrade)
Dawes Galaxy (buy one job done I guess but dull dull dull it just doesn't inspire me)
and then this swam into view
Specialized Tricross Sport (to which I'd have to add guards and a rack, and I love Specialized MTB's; there are five of them in the shed!)

What else should I look at and add to the list? Pro and cons of what is on the list already? Could you share personal experiences of any of these (but the Galaxy - I don't need you to tell me how much you all love your Galaxy's I know you do and a Galaxy is a safe bet)

I have a Super Galaxy, which I use for my daily commute. It has a triple chain set. My route takes me from Battersea to Kew in SW London, and I do a lap of Richmond Park as part of the commute. It is perfect for job. I also bought a Dawes Audax Supreme through FW Evans Ride2Work scheme, which I occasionally use for my daily commute and obviously will be using for Audax events. Again this is perfect. Incidentally I just finished a LEJOG on my Dawes Super Galaxy, and had no problems lugging up all the hills with two full panniers. I am a big Dawes fan, so you know my preference

see my pm but also have the Dawes Audax which is great bike with 105 and reynolds 631 purchased from Spa cycles.

I used to have dawes galaxy which was also a great bike bit more suited to carry grear and stronger wheel set

opps forgot my dawes audax has a triple chain set as well

It's worth checking out the Ridgeback Voyage and Ridgeback Panorama - Dawes Horizon and Galaxy equivalents but I think better specced and a wider range of sizes so may suit your 6'2" better. Also, free lights on offer if you buy in June and download the form from their www.ridgeback.co.uk/tube

My Thorn Club Tour did 16 miles each way for me no bother. Comfortable and fairly fast I wore out a pair of rims in 2 years but other than that and replacing the chain once. I did 3 years with no problems.

I ride a Giant Expression N7. It has a nice set of features for someone who has to tote around a couple of panniers and a rack pack and doesn't want to get greasy. One of the panniers holds a top of the line MacBook Pro, so I've learned how to fall on the other side.

dawes audax seems a fast ride but seems also easy to control, not nervous like a full race bike. spa cycles have some 06 models so will take a rack; i didn't know they've stopped putting mounting points on the frame.

How about a Raleigh Randonneur, available second hand only if you're lucky. A safe bet, and with a slightly faster/sportier reputation than the Galaxy. Second hand price should allow lots of spare cash for some juicy upgrades.

I have a Dawes Ultra Galaxy (2007) and a Dahon Cadenza. Of the two the Dawes is by far the better commuter. It's more robust and deals with London's potholes better. It also gives a better ride quality so the Dahon has been demoted to a backup bike.

My only gripe is that the Dawes is geared for touring which means I sometimes run out of gears on a downhill.

Been using the Edinburgh Bike Co-op Country Explorer for the past 500 miles, it's been great. I was looking for a drop handlebarred tourer with disc brakes (I tend to get through rims like no-ones business), so it was either this or the Kona Sutra. The Kona was a couple of hundred quid extra so I plumped for one of these and have no complaints at all.

Peyote, can you give us a brief run down' of your Explorer please?

I'm interested in the Kona Sutra but am willing to learn about alternatives.

pioneer wrote:Peyote, can you give us a brief run down' of your Explorer please?

I'm interested in the Kona Sutra but am willing to learn about alternatives.

What would you like to know? The spec is on the Edinburgh Bike co-ops website, my first impressions when compared with my previous roadbike (a Specialized Allez) were that it was slow to accelerate, less nippy but far better and more stable when upto speed and a lot more comfortable over dodgy road surfaces and in the wet!

Though I think the above would apply to any comparison between a "sport" road race bike and a tourer!

The main comparisons I made between the Kona and the Explorer were the disc brakes and the equipment that came with it. Both use Avid discs so there wasn't a meaningful comparison there, the Sutra comes with front and rear racks, but I only own a pair of rear panniers so the Explorer catered adequately for that. The Explorer comes with mudguards which was a plus, and I prefered the STIs to the bar end shifters that came on the Sutra (and the Dawes Galaxy for that matter). The groupset spec of the Explorer is a stage lower than the Kona, but I'm not that fussed between Sora and Tiagra both seem reliable and have good reputations though Tiagra is probably crisper and lighter. If I'm honest I know more about MTB groupsets and it's like comparing Deore to Deore LX.

The price was then the final decider (even though the Sutra's paint job looks v. cool!).

Is that the kind of thing you were looking for Pioneer?

Yes, thanks. But my major concern would be the frame. I have an aluminium framed road bike that I ride perhaps twice a year. This I put down to the fact that the combination of ally' frame (plain gauge not butted) and high pressure road tyres gives a very harsh and unforgiving ride. (The bike was an impulse buy!).
When/if I ride this bike, I limit the milage to about 60 tops', any more than that and I suffer for days. It is a bike purely for fast day rides.

How do you cope with the Explorer on long rides? Any major discomfort due to the frame or nothing worth noting?

I realise the tyres,frame angles,handlebar height etc,all play a part in this cocktail of long term comfort, but I'm trying to get everything sorted in my mind and work out if an ally' framed tourer can really cut the mustard'.

Thanks!

didn't the Dawes Horizon use an alloy frame for several years? They've gone back to steel now (thoiugh I suspect for commercial reasons rather than some inate superiority of Ali vs Steel at this price point) I see plenty of Horizon's out there with happy looking riders. Legend has it the Explorers frame comes out of the same factory as made the Horizon frame.

Will be placing an order for an Explorer as soon as work have done the bike to work paperworl with EBC