Winter road bike advice

[Daveb99]

With winter approaching I'm considering what I'll do for the winter, i.e. buy a winter bike, or adapt my existing bike with mudguards etc.

I have my eye on PaulSecteur's Spesh Tricross Sport on here (classifieds - please don't sell it to anyone else Paul!) and have provisionally bought the bike, subject to viewing etc - it's a lot of bike for the money it seems. My thinking is that I never use my mountain bike, so I could sell that, and the Tricross will be fast enough for winter road use, and also cope with paths, and slightly rugged road use, and generally be more suitable for slimy winter roads.

The other side of me is wondering whether to use my Secteur Sport through the winter. I don't commute on my bike - too far - I just use it for fitness rides 2-3 times a week, anything from 15-30 miles (will be further when I get fitter).

Will the Tricross be smooth/fast enough on the road? Should I just invest in some mudguards for the Secteur, and keep my mountain bike for messing about with the kids etc? Do I even need the mudguards (although I won't set out in pouring rain, it might rain whilst I'm out of course)?

Any advice/help/experiences would be much appreciated!

 

[mistercharly]

Mudguards don't just keep water and cack off you, they keep it off your bike. If you are only doing rides for fitness, then you might able to fit in cleaning your bike after every ride.

 

[fossyant]

If you fit road tyres to the Tricross, slap on mudguards, then it would be an excellent winter trainer (note you aren't commuting). If using the knobbly tyres will slow you down a bit on road, but you'll be fine off road !

Certainly fit mudguards for the winter.

You could fit the secteur with them, but it's N+1. Or you could decide not to bother.

If you were commuting some distance everyday, then the answer is mudguards all the time.

I still use both my road bikes in winter for training (mudguarded fixed for commuting) - best bike is mainly dry use, and the training bike will come out in the wet. Just get the salt off, and oil the chain !

My MTB is mainly a 'tag-a-long' puller, but come November, on will go some short guards and spiked tyres.

 

[Daveb99]

Thanks guys. Still not really sure what to do......decisions, decisions!

Can I even get mudguards to fit the Secteur Sport (very little clearance / room for them)?

 

[fossyant]

EASY - BUY THE BIKE N+1

 

[gb155]

SS - training / commuting

Carbon roadie - events / races ( eventually )

Mtb - canal and winter

 

[cyberknight]

The tricross sounds ideal , my current commuter does not have the clearance for more than 25 mm tyres + crud mudgaurds and i found last winter dodgy when it was icy and snowing.

I have a BSO MTB provisionally set up as a really bad winter hack but only when it is bad as it weighs about 2-3 times that of my commuter.

 

[mickle]

I'd like to just point out that most cross tyres are horrendously slippy on the road.

 

[Daveb99]

Thanks guys. Just had a quick look at my MTB for the first time in years and I don't think I fancy riding it on the road as a fitness thing, way too chunky and the front suspension will do my head in.

It's a tough decision - half of me thinks I'm being daft spending £450 on a winter bike when I could just use my Secteur.

The other half of me fancies the idea, and I could even remove all the Tiagra components (Shifters, Chainset, front derailleur, Bottom bracket) and fit them to my Secteur, and put my Sora components on the Tricross (same gearing, triple, 9 speed, so a direct replacement would be possible). I even have a Tiagra rear mech on my Secteur (was standard) so it would then be full Tiagra. With some 105 brakes that would probably be a worthwhile upgrade.

The Tricross would then be lower spec - but still perfectly OK (Sora).

How hard is it to swap all these things over - I'm fairly handy and practical - or am I just being stupid, i.e. Should I just use the Secteur through the winter and clean it after every ride? Oh, and what is N+1 ??

 

[PaulSecteur]

I *think* the only specialist tool you need is a bottom bracket tool. The tricross has the newer hollowtech type. If your secteur hes the same then you will be able to remove and re-fit both bottom brackets with it (if you want to go to that effort.
If your tricross has the older internal Bottom braket you will need tools for both type.

Apart from that I *think* all ther tools are just sockets, allen key, spanners, pliers and so on...oh, and maybe a chain whip and cassette tool of you are swapping the cassettes over.

 

[Daveb99]

Thanks Paul. Perhaps if I bring the Secteur over we can swap it all over (only joking :-))

 

[Daveb99]

Starting to think the purchase of Paul's Tricross Sport isn't meant to be, no replies to my messages and despite arranging to meet yesterday he didn't call me to confirm, and didn't turn up. A little odd, but I'm sure there is a perfectly plausible reason for it and when he contacts me I guess I'll find out.

In the meantime, it has allowed me more thinking time and I'm wondering whether I should just use the Secteur Sport all year round.

Has anyone successfully fitted Crud Roadracer Mk2 mudguards to a Secteur, and if so, did you have to put narrower tyres on than the standard 700 x 25 Specialized All Condition Sport tyres?

 

[Glover Fan]

Why not just use the MTB? I put slicks on my specialized hardrock with some mudguards and use that instead. When it comes to spring I'm as fit as a fiddle after trudging about on a heavy bike.