Winter Hack Bike

I posted this on another website, would appreciate any advice -

I'm coming to the end of my first season racing (or first season racing after a gap of 18 years) and thinking it would be a good idea if I had a bike for training in the winter so I can protect my trusty road bike. I haven't got a turbo trainer (and don't have space for one) so all my riding is done out on the road - inevitably that means the bike getting wet, gritty, muddy and salty during the winter (which can't be good for all the bits and pieces).

I don't want to spend much money (say £500 tops). I'm not sure whether to look for something second hand or try to get something new. The problem with second hand is it might be a bit tricky to find something the right size and it might be that some of the components haven't been looked after too well and will need replacing. I've got my old, old road bike (from 1990) at my parents' house, but I've decided against using that as I can't be doing with the gear levers on the down tube - too much hassle now I'm used to them being up with the brake levers.

I'm thinking I want something with proper mudguards (i.e. full-length ones that should protect the components, not just my back or the rider behind me). I probably want more wintery tyres (so 25 ro 28mm width and a bit more tread).

Any suggestions?

http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&source=hp&q=surly%20cross%20check&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf

too pricey, obv

I can see why you don't fancy using downtube levers, but you could always ride the bike as a de facto single speed perhaps? Certainly riding fixed has definably imporved my strength and my hill-climbing abilities, so it could be a useful added bonus.

Otherwise, I'd trawl around for a second-hand roadie, something decent in your size with say 105 gear. The Bikeradar buying and selling forum might be good for this - you could put out a wanted ad and see what people suggest.

Definably imporved? That's a big claim, Mark. ;-)

I've never really 'got' fixed - why ride without gears? It seems to go against logic a bit. I normally try to ride with a fairly constant cadence, which means shifting up and down quite regularly (which is mercifully easy with these new fangled gear levers next the brake levers). Unless you completely avoid steep hills I don't know how on earth you could ride with just one gear - you'd have to be superman to get up the hill and then spin like a maniac to get down the other side. Also, the problem with the old bike is that (in addition to having downtube levers) I think the frame is maybe too small for me now and there's no clearance for mudguards.

I'm thinking of joining the local 'chaingang' for winter training rides - I think riding without a mudguard wouldn't go down too well. Also, if I'm going to be trying really hard to keep pace I don't want to make things unneccesarily difficult for myself by giving myself just one gear.

I'll have a look at that bit of the Bikeradar site (the bikeradar forum is where I posted that in the first place).

Ribble do a nice winter hack. £579 with Campag tiagra and £558 with Shimano Sora, mudguard eyes and everything. If you can get it on cycle scheme them that would fit the bill. (actually by messing with the custom builder on their site you can get it under £500, just switch out the mavic Aksium wheels for ones with the Sora hub). I had a friend with one of these a while back and it was much loved.

Other option is to build a bitsa from eBay and the like. I build my girlfriend's for well under £300 and it has an FSA gossamer triple crank, bits of chorus, record and ultegra, admittedly I had the wheels already and a few other bits. It all sits on a Kona jake cross frame which would be another good frame to look at. A good idea would be to look at your summer bike and see if there is anything you are going to trade up at the start of next season, and build the winter bike up from that.

It's BECAUSE you can't just pick and choose a gear that your legs are forced to do work they otherwise wouldn't do, and that's what builds the strength. Of course, if you train properly on a geared bike, then you'll be able to achieve the same effect - indeed a better effect, as it'll be more rounded. But if you think of a moderately hilly ride (or, even, a pancake flat ride with lots of traffic lights) on a fixie as interval training, then you can see why it makes a difference. There are no short cuts, basically.

Though I do completely avoid steep (unless they're short) hills when I'm on the fixie!

7 posts on Bikeradar, eh... get yourself over to the commuting forum, it's much more fun :)

Those ribble winter bikes do look very tempting. I always seem to end up spending more than whatever arbitrary 'maximum' figure I set myself.

i rode in shortsleeves yesterday-- today: snow. winter is coming. :(

Re: commuting thread - I don't commute, so I would be tarred and feathered if I posted there.

Not sure you would, but then again you might not find some of the threads very interesting...

I've just ordered myself a winter bike from Ribble. Woo-hoo!

Hmmmmm. I haven't heard anything from them since I made the order a week ago. This thread on Bike Radar http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12651747 doesn't sound very promising. It sounds like I could end up waiting more than a month. :-(

That's annoying! What were you expecting in time terms?

Well, I'm pretty sure the bike I ordered from wiggle last year turned up within two or three days, so I was hoping for more of the same. On the ribble website they said that they were experiencing very high demand and it could take 21-28 days, but judging from that thread it could be nearer 6 weeks (with little possibility of getting any response from them by phone or e-mail in the meantime).

Sorry about that, as it seems to be on my recommend that you bought from them. I had not heard of such problems.

Well, as long as it turns up at some point it's not the end of the world, I suppose. The thing is, no money has been charged to my credit card, not even the £100 deposit I agreed to pay, and they don't answer the phone or reply to e-mails, so I don't even know if the bike will ever get built. And it's all your fault! I'll probably sue...

cancel the order, dispute any pending transaction with your card issuer, and move on

frustrating, but if they can't be bothered to answer inquiries, thats not acceptable (to me).

Plant X/On-One or Dolan might be worth a look before you cancel.

It's difficult to cancel something if there's no record of any payment and the business doesn't answer the phone or reply to e-mails. All I have is an automated response from 9 days ago saying that my order has been received. I can log on to the Ribble website, supposedly to track my order status, and it still just says 'received'. I assume this is how it will stay until they actually get round to assembling the bike and despatching it, which will probably be in several weeks' time once they work through their backlog.

None of the numerous complaints on that BikeRadar thread were about the bikes themselves, just about the appalling customer service. So I'm prepared to wait. But in the meantime I'd like to be able to contact them to a)find out why the deposit hasn't been paid, and b)find out when they're likely to deliver it (because I'm going to be away for a bit of late October and don't really want the bike to be returned unopened to Preston).

So, like I said, I'll probably just sue Ed.

hahaha

you can phone the credit card company, warn them of the incoming charge, and ask them to refuse it.

I've had an e-mail reply! They should be building the bike at the end of this week and delivering next week. Woo-hoo!

cancel payment anyway, just for lols

& then sue Ed

so i think my winter hack bike is gonna be my dad's old mountain bike

It turned up, by the way. Just before I went away for a week, so I haven't actually had a chance to ride it yet.

Good, I feel at least half redeemed.

Took it out for a rather frustrating 25-mile spin. Frustrating because I had to keep stopping and adjusting things - hopefully I've got everything sorted out now.