ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
After quizzing the good people on this forum for advice for a new commuting bike, I was pointed in the direction of a Raleigh Royal (2014) touring bike.
At the time of writing you can get hold of one for £360 (postage inc.) on Amazon, which seems like a pretty good deal if anyone's in the market for a cheaper tourer/commuter.
I've had it about a week now and taken it out for a couple of rides, so thought I'd share my thoughts after the first 100 or so miles.
Here's the bike, with some specs listed:
http://www.raleigh.co.uk/ProductType/ProductRange/Product/Default.aspx?pc=1&pt=14&pg=9050
In the flesh it all looks rather smart (although personally I prefer a horizontal top tube to a sloping one), and hopefully slightly less steal-able than a flashier road bike.
The frame and forks are both steel, give a very nice ride, and give a total weight of 14.5kg. Once I'd flipped the stem, the riding position is only a little more relaxed than my road bike, though there is ample scope to have the handle bars higher up for long days touring.
The bike comes fitted with some fairly solid wheels (extra spokes, double walled rims), schwalbe marathon tyres (which I find to be very good indeed for puncture resistance, if you can stand the extra weight), mud-guards, a rear rack, and half decent pedals with clips.
The gearset is all shimano (acera RD, integrated shifters), with a 48-38-28 triple and an evenly spaced 11-32 8 speed cassette. The enormous range is basically the reason I needed this bike - there are some big hills around my parts. Suffice to say I can now spin up the 16-20% hills on Dartmoor without worrying whether my knees or the main axle will be the first to explode!
Ride wise, the bike tends towards the sturdy/comfortable rather than edgy/exciting. This is not helped by the rather wide handlebars and somewhat tall frame (the crankset is a little higher than usual, so the whole riding position is shifted upwards). On the flip side, it feels steady as a rock on the 16-20% descents, and the slightly wider tyres did a great job on very poor road surfaces. For a commuter/tourer this isn't really a fault, though those looking for a weekend fun bike may wish to look elsewhere.
So if you're looking for a solid commuting/touring/do-anything bike, you could do a lot worse!
Big thanks to mcshroom for bringing the bike to my attention during my searching!!!
At the time of writing you can get hold of one for £360 (postage inc.) on Amazon, which seems like a pretty good deal if anyone's in the market for a cheaper tourer/commuter.
I've had it about a week now and taken it out for a couple of rides, so thought I'd share my thoughts after the first 100 or so miles.
Here's the bike, with some specs listed:
http://www.raleigh.co.uk/ProductType/ProductRange/Product/Default.aspx?pc=1&pt=14&pg=9050
In the flesh it all looks rather smart (although personally I prefer a horizontal top tube to a sloping one), and hopefully slightly less steal-able than a flashier road bike.
The frame and forks are both steel, give a very nice ride, and give a total weight of 14.5kg. Once I'd flipped the stem, the riding position is only a little more relaxed than my road bike, though there is ample scope to have the handle bars higher up for long days touring.
The bike comes fitted with some fairly solid wheels (extra spokes, double walled rims), schwalbe marathon tyres (which I find to be very good indeed for puncture resistance, if you can stand the extra weight), mud-guards, a rear rack, and half decent pedals with clips.
The gearset is all shimano (acera RD, integrated shifters), with a 48-38-28 triple and an evenly spaced 11-32 8 speed cassette. The enormous range is basically the reason I needed this bike - there are some big hills around my parts. Suffice to say I can now spin up the 16-20% hills on Dartmoor without worrying whether my knees or the main axle will be the first to explode!
Ride wise, the bike tends towards the sturdy/comfortable rather than edgy/exciting. This is not helped by the rather wide handlebars and somewhat tall frame (the crankset is a little higher than usual, so the whole riding position is shifted upwards). On the flip side, it feels steady as a rock on the 16-20% descents, and the slightly wider tyres did a great job on very poor road surfaces. For a commuter/tourer this isn't really a fault, though those looking for a weekend fun bike may wish to look elsewhere.
So if you're looking for a solid commuting/touring/do-anything bike, you could do a lot worse!
Big thanks to mcshroom for bringing the bike to my attention during my searching!!!
