fast(er) commuter required

[DLB]

currently i have a Edinburgh Continental road bike and a trek7.1 hybrid. Am thinking of upgrading from the trek to another faster commuter that will take a rack and panniers. I use both bikes for commuting (olthough mainly the hybrid) and realise how much faster the road bike is than the heavier trek.

Was thinking about a spec sirrus as i've heard much good about them on this site. Any other bikes worth considering? Would a tourer be quicker than the trek?

The riding would be mostly road (commuting 12 miles each way) i would also need a bike that can tackle towpaths etc incase i decide to ride the transpennine trail again.

As always, any advice/suggestions would be welcome

 

[RedBike]

Ii was going to suggest an audax / winter trainer like the Ribble, It''s probably quicker than the Edinburgh Continental; but sadly it wont cope with towpaths very well.

Mind you i'm not sure how well the likes of the spec sirrus would cope. 28mm slick tyres in mud?

Perhaps one of the new breed of cyclo-x bikes. Run it with narrow slick tyres for the commute and then switch over to a set of mud-plugger for the tow-paths.

 

[DLB]

i thought the sirrus was a more 'all round' bike and 28s would be ok on a tow path. oh dear.

never heard of a cyclo-x. will have a look online at these.

thanks

 

[RedBike]

A pure cyclo-x bike wont have eyelets for panniers / mud-gaurds. In fact you'll be lucky if it even has eyelets for bottle holders.

However, recently if seems to have become fashionable for manufactures to label their 'all round' bikes as cyclo-x bikes.

Planet-x's uncle john is probably a good example.

 

[Scoosh]

What sort of towpaths ? The ones around here have a fine, firm gravelly/cinder surface and are no problem at all for my Spesh CrossRoads hybrid (the forerunner of the Sirrus). 32s IIRC. Pretty sure my ancient Peugot road bike would cope with them too - on 28s.

I've also taken my Spesh on some real off-road tracks and it was fine (though I wasn't ). I generally reckon the bike will take a lot more than I will.

I would love to do the C2C sometime and would certainly take the CrossRoads. Ask in the LBS if they think the kind of bike you are considering would be able to do the kind of riding you are considering. They should know.

 

[DLB]

thanks for the comments

any other fast commuters i should consider that could go on decent towpaths/footpaths??

 

[swee'pea99]

Fact is, if you want a speedy bike for a 12 mile commute, you're not going to find one that's happy on a gnarly towpath. Can you not buy your new bike for the commute and keep the hybrid for your off-road stuff? Sell the Edinburgh on ebay to go towards the cost of the newbie.

 

[simoncc]

[quote name='swee'pea99']Fact is, if you want a speedy bike for a 12 mile commute, you're not going to find one that's happy on a gnarly towpath. Can you not buy your new bike for the commute and keep the hybrid for your off-road stuff? Sell the Edinburgh on ebay to go towards the cost of the newbie.[/QUOTE]

My Dawes Ultra Galaxy is certainly no slouch on the road with 28mm tyres at 100psi and it can also cope with very bumpy towpaths and bridleways with no problem at all. Any high quality tourer should be able to do the same. Many people now seem to think that all off-road riding has to be done on an MTB. This is not true. I only use my MTB for proper rough stuff like Coed-y-Brenin or other real off road courses.

 

[HLaB]

I've took my Sirrus on muddy canal paths and other rough surfaces but I wouldn't choose to often.

 

[DLB]

Thanks

i'll look into the dawes and maybe sell the (beloved) continental

Surprised the sirrus will not go on towpaths but i guess in mud it wouldnt cope

 

[Scoosh]

any other fast commuters i should consider that could go on decent towpaths/footpaths??

Specialized TriCross has "At the back, the stays are fairly conventional, while the dropouts feature cunningly-concealed rack eyes. You also get low-rider rack mounts on the FACT carbon fibre fork. It's described as a cyclocross fork, which means that it's got plenty of room for tyres and mud, cantilever bosses and "Speed Zertz" vibration-damping inserts."

Not too steep a price either. Sounds like it could tick most of your boxes - though anything is going to be a compromise - that's bikes

 

[DLB]

scoosh, that ticks all the boxes and looks really nice.I'll have a scan on google to try and find a local stockist.

I'll have a look at a tourer and the tricross and take it from there.

Many thanks

 

[domtyler]

I take my hybrid off road all the time, across fields, muddy tracks, tow paths. All on 28 mm Conti Sport Contacts (slick). Never had a problem.

 

[Maz]

I've took my Sirrus on muddy canal paths and other rough surfaces but I wouldn't choose to often.

I agree.

 

[DLB]

so some would go on tw paths and some would not?????

On my commute i go across a limestone type footpath sometimes on my hybrid 700x38 tyres and sometimes on myroad bike 700x23. surely if i'd got 700x28s i culd go on a similar paths. The transpennine trail would be ok (for example) on 28s even if they were slicks but not on a road bike.

Am i wrong? Any opinion appreciated.