touring bike or sportive/"adventure road" bike?

[Tangled Metal]

I'm replacing my stolen Specialized Crosstrail sport disc that I had kitted out with mudguards and rack plus other bits. It's going to see service as a commuter during the week (8miles each way) on the road. I'm using it at least every other weekend to do a day ride with my partner and 2 year old. My lad is either on a child seat (usually my partner's bike as my bike crossbar made it hard to mount the bike with my son in the child seat. He would also go into a Burley child trailer at times. We also take bikes on holidays. We ride on roads, gravel trails but have tried rocky bridleways in the peak district. Ended up pushing the bikes to lessen the bounce for our boy.

Now I've been able to cope with an hour on the bike before my hands, wrists and elbows started to ache. I've got bad joints from years of hard paddling in a kayak years ago. It means flat bars don't work because of fewer hand positions. This means I'm looking for either a tourer or something loosely based on a crosser. Which is best for me?

One more thing, we are planning on touring with tent and kit. We've got very lightweight camping gear (my backpacking gear can be as low as 5kg). My partner has an mtb kitted out with a rack. She's toured China, Columbia, SE Asia and eastern Europe in the past using MTBs. I've never tried it. I realise you can manage a lot on anything but the ultra skinny tyres road bikes. Got an old one of those but despite Reynolds tubing it's not good for touring.

So, could I get by touring with a racked specialized diverge? That would probably suit most of my riding. Should I get a Dawes galaxy or ridgeback. I like planet x Kaffenback or perhaps London road.but not got £900 for the drop bar version. My local LBS that I trust has a bike mechanic and sales people who have only bad words for the Dawes bikes. The mechanic says every galaxy he's seen has been in a bad state even if fairly new. I realise brands go in and out of favour. Indeed when I got my road bike 25 years ago the galaxy was THE touring bike to get according to all the lbs near me at the time.

So for £600-£800 what should I look at? I live near Lancaster, but tend to go to the lakes most. Where should I go to check bikes out and what to look at. There's a decent branch of Evans and K leisure lakes near me plus the wheelbase shop (looks like it's only good for budgets over a grand though). I've heard great things about spa cycles. Should I bother making a trip over or just test ride the bikes elsewhere then order from Spa? Also Ghyllside cycles in Ambleside sounds like a good bike for touring kit.

one last question, flat bar bikes seem to give you better frames/ groupset for your money. If I got a flat bar bike to get better kit on the bike is there anything I can fit to offer plenty of hand positions? I can only think of bar ends as I don't want butterfly bars. I have seen something from cinelli that fitted to the bars to form a loop that you can hold to get more aero. I guess they offer a different grip on the straights plus you are more efficient when streamlined (my tests indicate a few mph faster for the same effort). ideas?

TL:DR
Road, easy off-road, commuting, leisure rides, touring in future, child seat/trailer compatible, comfortable and fast. Which bike for £600-£800? Oh! Male, 6'5" tall and I fitted the xxl sized specialized Crosstrail if that helps.

[Brucey]

Blimey, that is a lot of information.

Firstly I think you need to make some incisive decisions. I'm not you, obviously, but if I were I'd think about;

a) using the old bike you have (or another one bought for small money specifically) for commuting. Commuting destroys bikes and attracts tea-leaves to anything half-way decent. A grotty looking bike will do the job if it is maintained well and is less likely to get nicked.

b) whatever bike you get, get the riding position sorted out. You should be able to set the bike up so that when you are pedalling normally, there is little or no weight on your hands. Barely the weight of your arms and no more. How you do this is you have the saddle well back so that the average upthrust from the pedals is enough to support your upper body without using any effort in your arms and hands. You should be able to pedal along with just your fingertips on the handlebars if necessary. If you get set up like this you will protect your hands and wrists from further damage.

c) use the old bike /commuting bike as a 'mule' to get your riding position sorted out. Once you have done this (by hook or by crook even if you have to buy some odd-looking stems and seat pins etc) you will know which frames/bikes are actually going to fit you. I would not be at all surprised to hear that you have unusually long thighs and that this means that very many framesets with steep seat angles are not for you.

d) It is all in the spec and the setup; I don't think there are always huge differences in brands but there are huge differences in the way the bikes leave the dealers, but that is a lot to do with the dealers. Dawes still make some pretty decent bikes and if there was one that fitted me and it was the right price I'd go for it. Last year's Dawes is often a cracking buy at this time of year.

e) given child-lugging duties etc I'd be tempted to suggest a tourer that is suitable for lugging a load with 37mm tyres or wider. A Dawes Horizon/ Galaxy maybe, or a surly LHT perhaps. Don't ignore the possibility of finding something better used, either.

hth

cheers

[Tangled Metal]

Old road bike is off the road due to being unsafe in many ways and unlikely to be made safe any time soon. Other, newer bike was stolen. I've got money for one good bike. If I get a hack bike it means I've got less money for a best bike. If I get. £200 hack bike it means £4-600 for a tourer or adventure road bike. Doubt I'll get anything good for that money.

If you look after the bike commuting doesn't have to destroy a good bike. My stolen bike lasted without much maintenance for the 9 months I commuted with it. Not much sign of wear neither. Perhaps it won't last 25 years like my old bike but it'll do more miles.

Unfortunately I'm one of those people who can only afford one bike. In that case I'd think get the best I can afford. It's not a big budget and barely high enough to get something good I think.

The real question is not whether a tourer can do everything I want to do on a bike, but whether a potentially lighter road/cyclocross bike could do everything. I think I.can possibly get a steel Dawes tourer or ridgeback tourer. I could just afford a specialized diverge or pinnacle arkose for example. Those last 2 look like I'd enjoy riding more for most of my cycling activity, but could they be kitted out for a tour? Would they cope?

[reohn2]

How does this look:- http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/road-bike ... oCGQnw_wcB

£100 over budget but IME an extremely good alround bike that would do all you're asking of it

[Brucey]

a CX bike, even a fauCX bike such as the ones you are considering, is less likely to be suitable for any real load lugging. Skinny wheels, high gears and steep angles do not a good load lugger make, and you may find that the geometry isn't for you anyway; no point in buying anything 'decent' unless you know you are going to be comfy on it, hence my suggested plan of attack.

I don't know when your other bike got nicked but in the nine months you has it, it may have only seen a few weeks of properly filthy salty winter weather after a pretty dry summer. Relatively benign conditions IMHO, not like the last couple of years before that. If you spent £50 on your 'old' bike and that helped you define your riding position properly then that could prevent you from making an expensive mistake. If you are not going to fix your old bike you may as well chuck it in the bin or flog it. If you do get a new bike for commuting, what are you going to do differently to prevent it from getting swiped?

Plenty of old hands on here would contrive to buy a nice used bike for about half your budget BTW.

cheers

[chocjohn9]

There happens to be the largest Dawes Galaxy, with an uncut steerer, on ebay, now, and it is Lancaster...

Current bid £102 with 4 days to go...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dawes-Galaxy- ... 2c96b09eef

[LuckyLuke]

Hi Tangled Metal, just curious, what model's your old bike?
You mentioned Reynolds tubing, is it 531?
What's up with the old bike that means it is off the road? (Is your forum name a clue?!)
I do find that 531 framed bikes can be a joy to ride, and some older road frames can have clearances and eyelets for mudguards & a rack.
You might have an ideal commuter already in your possession, with only some TLC & elbow grease required?
If you have the skeleton of a good bike already, some second hand parts might be all you need?
This forum is excellent btw, full of very knowledgeable and helpful folk. If you posted some pictures and a description I'm sure you'll receive a diagnosis and advice.

Re preventing bike theft, the consensus on various bike fora is that a determined thief WILL still your bike, if he / she desires; locks don't prevent theft absolutely, only buy you time. One way to prevent theft is not to tempt the thieves in the first place; apparently they prefer nearly new, branded bikes which are easier to sell on. An old, unfashionable but functional bike is less tempting. Ideally when you lock up your bike in a bike rack, you don't want yours to be the newest, brightest and highest spec one on display. Will you have to park your commuting bike in the same bike rack where your old one was stolen? If so that's another reason to ride a hack bike.

I used to ride a Surly Long Haul Trucker, which might fit your touring needs. It does allow for fat tyres and felt solid with loaded panniers.

Best wishes,

Luke

[531colin]

The prices of drop bar bikes are inflated by the ludicrously-expensive road STI levers that are a modern "necessity".
You can do an 8 mile commute on anything, I wouldn't even include your commute into the "new bike" decision. I agree that a hack bike is useful for commuting and the like.
If you are 6' 5" and want to carry a load, then you need 2 things....you need stiff, and you need stable. Weight at a height is the enemy. (read Lennard Zinn)
Re child seats, I found a high top tube an advantage when doing this on my own....straddle the top tube facing backwards, pick up the child and put him in the seat, with the bike held between your legs (a steering restraint might help) To get off the bike, kick your leg over the bars, which are probably lower than the saddle anyway.
Assuming your partner's bike has a lower top tube than yours, as the lad gets heavier and wrigglier, he may upset the bike more....high weight again, and worse if the weight is above the top tube......2 things going on, steering and frame flex.
I used to work at Spa, and design most of the bikes, the tourers are deliberately stable, and the big tourers have some big tubes (for stiffness).....the Adventure bike was designed by a lad 6' 4" and might be worth a look, a steel version is on the way.

[markfh]

Tangled Metal if you are thinking of a new bike then it is worth looking at the range of "Touring, Audax & Sportive" bikes on Spa's web site (http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s21p0) as they have a number of previous years models at reduced prices.

Also following after the link posted by reohn2, I noticed thatTriton have the 2014 Fairdale Weekender Drop at a reduced price (http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/road-bikes-c5/touring-bikes-c41/fairdale-weekender-drop-touring-bike-2014-p1275 which might be worth looking at although it only has a double on the front so it may not give you low enough gearing particularly when compared with the gearing on the Specialized Crosstrail Sport Disc. The other thing is whether their largest size (x-large) would be big enough for you.

[reohn2]

How does this look:- http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/road-bike ... oCGQnw_wcB

£100 over budget but IME an extremely good alround bike that would do all you're asking of it

Just checked they only have small sizes left

[Freddie]

How does this look:- http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/road-bike ... oCGQnw_wcB

£100 over budget but IME an extremely good alround bike that would do all you're asking of it

Just checked they only have small sizes left

There goes your commission out the window

[pwa]

My most used / most practical bike is an old Thorn Club Tour (Reynolds 725 700c wheeled tourer) and it is a great option for the sort of do everything riding you describe. There are lots of brands out there offering touring bikes of this sort. One thing I would consider changing if I were buying today is the brakes. I would consider having disc brakes to make the wheel rims last longer on what could be a high mileage bike. For year-round commuting in a hilly area I find I can wear through a rim in 18 months using rim brakes!

[thomas.irvine2]

As a disabled person who cannot hold a liscence I use my bike every day in all weathers to get around and it is pretty hard on a bike.

I switched to IGH and hydraulic discs to try and minimise the damage but I still find myself having to oil exposed bolts on the cranks etc as the salts just gets everything. My headset bolts and pedal flats are shot after this winter and I'll be getting some ti replacement bolts and new pedals in the next month or so. Doesn't have to destroy a bike but you have to be prepared to cleanimg and lubing religously in the winter and be prepared for parts to go quicker.

[iandriver]

+1 for the surly in your size. I'm the same height as you and have about 15,000 miles on my 62cm crosscheck, though if buying taday, I think I'd look at a disc model. I like to build them up from a framset, I'm sure I can get the right wheels for a big guy that way, and it saves me binning the front for a dynohub model. You can keep the costs down if you can find some good second hand parts such as Doere triple chainsets etc.

The spa stuff will be a no no for people our height.

[reohn2]

There goes your commission out the window

Another three ha'pence I've missed,Dang!