New bike time

[middleagedmadness]

It's coming up to my favourite time of year , c2w in September , looking at a genesis CDA 20 ,croix de fer10 , giant tough road SLR gx2 or on the outside a genesis vagabond , anyone got any experience of the above bikes so I can start to slim the list down to get a couple of test rides before I buy ( I know a lot don't like the c2w schemes but I get a decent allowance of £1200 and the work stand the cost of the final payment so the bikes normally come in about 40% cheaper )

[BobCatMax]

I have a 2012 Croix de Fer and it is my go to bike.

Love it almost as much as my first born. Currently sporting 35mm panaracer pasela TG its doi g a lot of road duties at the moment but performs equally well up on the downs. I've even kept up with some mtbs around the woods when we've snuck some singletrack in.

Its a bit weighty, that would be my main gripe

[middleagedmadness]

glad to here as i was a bit biased towards a genesis , love my lonitude and am so tempted by the vagabond but not sure if its the same bike but with drops and skinner tyres, what the max tyre size for the croix de fer ,will it fit 38s/40s in do you know

[BobCatMax]

The vagabond caught my eye too. I'm pretty sure that runs 650b, so you get a much fatter tyre on there.

If I was picking something out for more off road duties than the CdF I would go with that.

One of my other gripes is tyre clearance.

This is with the 35c ones on..
https://imgur.com/gallery/wL2Cs9j

[middleagedmadness]

cheers BCM , think ill move more towards the vagabond ,now to find one to try out

[Bearlegged]

I had a CdA, 2015 model I think. Good bike, really opened up my riding options compared to the 23c Bob Jackson it replaced. I've since replaced it with a Cotic Escapade, and (without wishing to sound like a 'steel is real' zealot) I much prefer the ride feel of the steel frame.

I know older CdF frames were a bit limited in tyre clearance, but I think* they've improved this greatly over the last couple of years.

*Don't take my word as gospel!

[middleagedmadness]

I'll make a few calls and see what the max tyre width is ,I like the vagabond but also croix de fer ,I agree that the steel frames feel much nicer than ally ones

[johnnystorm]

Marin Four Corners seems worth a look and way under budget, look on Google shopping and someone is selling them for £680.

£1200 will get you a stonking Arkose. I know steel is real and all that but I bet an Arkose feels as good as a similar price steel bike.

[restlessshawn]

I had a 2016 cdf with 40mm nanos no bother (I didn't have a front mech, not sure that would matter)...bit of a tank mind

[middleagedmadness]

Marin Four Corners seems worth a look and way under budget, look on Google shopping and someone is selling them for £680.

£1200 will get you a stonking Arkose. I know steel is real and all that but I bet an Arkose feels as good as a similar price steel bike.

Arkose is out as the company only uses cycle solutions or I can use that voucher at alpkit ,but between the 2 I have a decent chose each year

[PaulB2]

Since you can use the voucher at alpkit, have you looked at the Sonder Camino?

[middleagedmadness]

Since you can use the voucher at alpkit, have you looked at the Sonder Camino?

Yes mate but not sure about 1x gear trains you know I like spinning up them Welsh hills

[Bearlegged]

... not sure about 1x gear trains you know I like spinning up them Welsh hills

Alpkit do double chainset options for the Colibri, might be worth asking if they could sort out a double Camino?

[middleagedmadness]

... not sure about 1x gear trains you know I like spinning up them Welsh hills

Alpkit do double chainset options for the Colibri, might be worth asking if they could sort out a double Camino?

good call now i have another to add to the list ,think alpkit do a weekend try before you buy for a few quid,so may be worth the call

[PaulB2]

Since you can use the voucher at alpkit, have you looked at the Sonder Camino?

Yes mate but not sure about 1x gear trains you know I like spinning up them Welsh hills

I’ll admit that I do like the double on the Arkose but I noticed that my lowest gear is a 32 x 32 while the camino’s is 40 x 42, a touch lower.

[Solo]

Marin Four Corners seems worth a look and way under budget, look on Google shopping and someone is selling them for £680.

£1200 will get you a stonking Arkose. I know steel is real and all that but I bet an Arkose feels as good as a similar price steel bike.

Having a 80s/90s retro soft spot for Marin, that 4 corners looks like such a tempting n+1!!

[mechanicaldope]

I had a 2016 cdf with 40mm nanos no bother (I didn't have a front mech, not sure that would matter)...bit of a tank mind

I also have the 2016 but do have a front mech. Ran 40mm Nano's front and rear but it was extremely marginal, although fine, on the clearance between the front mech and the rear tyre. With the bike setup as it came there was probably 0.5mm clearance while in the big chainring which was less than I was happy with. However, a slight tweek of the wheel dish brought it out to just over 1mm clearance then a bit of careful dremeling of the mech cable bolt and some tight tolerance setting on the max limit screw and all was fine. Managed the trans cambrian like that no problem. Paint has worn in the inside of the fork where there appears to be plenty of clearance but not sure of that was from the tyre, the mud guards (when commuting) or bag straps.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I’ll admit that I do like the double on the Arkose but I noticed that my lowest gear is a 32 x 32 while the camino’s is 40 x 42, a touch lower.

The Arkose LTD has 40/42 (or maybe it's 40/40?) Anyway, for general riding it was more than enough range but I do recall thinking that as the percentage of off-road increased, I'd probably knock a few teeth off the front.

[middleagedmadness]

I’ll admit that I do like the double on the Arkose but I noticed that my lowest gear is a 32 x 32 while the camino’s is 40 x 42, a touch lower.

The Arkose LTD has 40/42 (or maybe it's 40/40?) Anyway, for general riding it was more than enough range but I do recall thinking that as the percentage of off-road increased, I'd probably knock a few teeth off the front.

Maybe it's just in my brain Stu (or what's left of it) but I always feel I was missing a gear or 2 on either end when I put the 1x on my fs ,so I put that back to its original triple ,might put it on my longitude and see how I get on with it ,on paper it's got more or less same ratio as my double ,strange thing the mind .Any how I do like the look of the pinnacles but they aren't a option on my c2w scheme and being a tight fisted oldish git I hate the thought of paying full price for a bike when I can get one 35-40% less ,once my pension is fully paid up ( intend on finishing work early to enjoy life) I may treat myself to something special,but at the end of the day it's still just a bike and I enjoy the ones I already have

[MikeW]

I took delivery of the genesis cda10 this week. It has 40mm tyres on as standard and is great to ride.

[middleagedmadness]

I took delivery of the genesis cda10 this week. It has 40mm tyres on as standard and is great to ride.

Any issues with the Claris groupset ,have one on a defy road bike(2014) I sometimes commute on and it's a bit jumpy and constantly needs adjusting, but with the Sora on my old Boardman CX it never needed much doing to it and it had a much harder life than the defy

[Bearlegged]

The Claris shifters and mechs I got with my CdA are still working fine. My original plan had been to run them into the ground, then upgrade, but no excuse for shiny new bits yet...

[middleagedmadness]

The Claris shifters and mechs I got with my CdA are still working fine. My original plan had been to run them into the ground, then upgrade, but no excuse for shiny new bits yet...

That's grand then ,they must have sorted the issue with the trim on them , now that causes more problems as it opens up a few more bikes and I'm still bleedin confused , time to arrange some test rides end of July /August

[robsmuddygloves]

I've got a vagabond, I really enjoy it, suits my riding and location and keeps a smile on my face. It gets a big thumbs up from me.

[MikeW]

The Claris shifters have been fine. I've ridden the bike everyday since getting it and had no problems. The vagabond looks great too but I've got s longitude for the rougher stuff so the cda suits my needs better. I was torn between that and the croix De fer but I'm glad I went for the cda now. I use it to commute and for local rides mostly.