Commuting cycle suggestions?

I'm looking for suggestions for a commuting bike and wondered if any posters
here had any recommendations?
I do about 20 miles per day, all city cycling(Edinburgh)
I'm looking for a bike with drop bars and have seen and been interested in
the Specialized Tricross Sport. Mainly because it's a road style bike but
with the slightly wider tyres and mounts for guard/pannier etc. I have read
some reports that there can be severe juddering under braking due to the
setting of the canty brakes on the front fork, although an upgrade to
v-brakes may cure this. This seems a costly fix for what seems to me a
pretty pricey bike for my 20 mile commute.
So, can anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy, can keep up
with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm road tyres(have
you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?

--
!Speedy Gonzales!

Remove the SPAMTRAP to reply

I'm looking for suggestions for a commuting bike and wondered if any posters
here had any recommendations?
I do about 20 miles per day, all city cycling(Edinburgh)
I'm looking for a bike with drop bars and have seen and been interested in
the Specialized Tricross Sport. Mainly because it's a road style bike but
with the slightly wider tyres and mounts for guard/pannier etc. I have read
some reports that there can be severe juddering under braking due to the
setting of the canty brakes on the front fork, although an upgrade to
v-brakes may cure this. This seems a costly fix for what seems to me a
pretty pricey bike for my 20 mile commute.
So, can anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy, can keep up
with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm road tyres(have
you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?


On One/PlanetX bikes seem pretty tuff, versatile and reasonably priced
- plenty of room for wide tyres and fenders - no integrated headset
nonsense. The Pompino for SS/Hub gears, or the Kaffenback for
derailers.

Regards,

Duncan

"!Speedy Gonzales!" wrote in
message m...
So, can anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy, can keep up
with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm road
tyres(have you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?

Dawes Galaxy?

Have a look at www.spacycles.co.uk for lower prices.

!Speedy Gonzales! wrote:

So, can anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy, can keep up
with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm road tyres...

Cannondale Bad Boy? Or perhaps start with a Cotic Roadrat frameset with
geary dropouts and go from there. My commuting, town and shopping-hauling
bike is an ancient Specialized Stumpjumper with racks, mudguards and skinny
tyres, and it's still fairly light for playing in traffic.

have you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?

Yes, and they're in an absolutely shocking condition. There are potholes
large enough to break the suspension on a car, let alone my nice handbuilt
wheels. Following numerous calls to Clarence, the city also has some of the
most badly repaired roads I've ever seen. Rant, rave, etc.

Becky

!Speedy Gonzales! wrote:

I'm looking for suggestions for a commuting bike and wondered if any
posters here had any recommendations?
I do about 20 miles per day, all city cycling(Edinburgh)
I'm looking for a bike with drop bars and have seen and been interested in
the Specialized Tricross Sport. Mainly because it's a road style bike but
with the slightly wider tyres and mounts for guard/pannier etc. I have
read some reports that there can be severe juddering under braking due to
the setting of the canty brakes on the front fork, although an upgrade to
v-brakes may cure this. This seems a costly fix for what seems to me a
pretty pricey bike for my 20 mile commute.
So, can anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy, can keep up
with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm road
tyres(have you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?

A good cyclo-cross bike? Seriously. And don't rule out the tricross; I'd be
surprised if the 'brake judder' problem was down to anything more than
incompetent assembly or servicing. Yes, cantis are slightly different to
adjust, and probably these days there are a lot of spanner-monkeys out
there who don't have the knack. But it isn't hard.

Having said that, don't believe the stories about canti brakes being somehow
specially powerful I have frogg-legs on my cross bike and they look macho
as hell, but in terms of actual stopping power they're certainly no better
than a pair of Campag callipers. The benefit of cantis is that they work
well with bigger tyres than callipers; and that's (really) all.

Cross bikes are very adaptable and good fun; I commute on mine (Hamilton to
East Kilbride). But I use 28mm tyres for commuting. I have 32mm mud tyres
for it for off-road stuff, but I really question the benefit of fat tyres
on the road.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

See one nuclear war, you've seen them all.

On 24 Feb, 22:05, "!Speedy Gonzales!"
wrote:
I'm looking for suggestions for a commuting bike and wondered if any posters
here had any recommendations?
I do about 20 miles per day, all city cycling(Edinburgh)
I'm looking for a bike with drop bars and have seen and been interested in
the Specialized Tricross Sport. Mainly because it's a road style bike but
with the slightly wider tyres and mounts for guard/pannier etc. I have read
some reports that there can be severe juddering under braking due to the
setting of the canty brakes on the front fork, although an upgrade to
v-brakes may cure this. This seems a costly fix for what seems to me a
pretty pricey bike for my 20 mile commute.
So, can anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy, can keep up
with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm road tyres(have
you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?

--
!Speedy Gonzales!

Remove the SPAMTRAP to reply
Raleigh Venture. About £300. I ride over some poor roads and no
problems in 3 years. Comes with mudguards and rack. Bought mine from
ebay. Aluminium frame and goes fast.

On 24 Feb, 23:06, "vernon" wrote:
"!Speedy Gonzales!" wrote in
edia.com... So, can anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy, can keep up
with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm road
tyres(have you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?

Dawes Galaxy?

Have a look atwww.spacycles.co.ukfor lower prices.

Would you use a Tourer for commuting?

!Speedy Gonzales! wrote:
I'm looking for suggestions for a commuting bike and wondered if any
posters here had any recommendations?
I do about 20 miles per day, all city cycling(Edinburgh)
I'm looking for a bike with drop bars and have seen and been
interested in the Specialized Tricross Sport. Mainly because it's a
road style bike but with the slightly wider tyres and mounts for
guard/pannier etc. I have read some reports that there can be severe
juddering under braking due to the setting of the canty brakes on the
front fork, although an upgrade to v-brakes may cure this. This seems
a costly fix for what seems to me a pretty pricey bike for my 20 mile
commute. So, can anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy,
can
keep up with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm
road tyres(have you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?

Unless you can lock it indoors at both ends, something that costs less than
£700.

"!Speedy Gonzales!" wrote in
message m...
I'm looking for suggestions for a commuting bike and wondered if any
posters here had any recommendations?
The Revolution (Edinburgh) Country or Dawes Horizon, pretty much the same
bike, about £400.
I get front brake judder but it's just a reminder to reset the toe-in.
Jim Jackson

spindrift wrote:

On 24 Feb, 23:06, "vernon" wrote:
"!Speedy Gonzales!" wrote in
edia.com... So, can
anyone recommend better, a bike that is pretty sturdy, can keep up
with traffic, cost around £700 and come with wider than norm road
tyres(have you seen Edinburgh's roads lately?

Dawes Galaxy?

Have a look atwww.spacycles.co.ukfor lower prices.

Would you use a Tourer for commuting?

can't see why not, all sorts of bikes get used, mtb's hybrids etc.

a tourer would have space for bigger tires and paniers etc.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com