I failed miserably at wrt, mainly due to lack of fitness. But like any cyclist I’m blaming my bike as well (calibre bossnut) which I found too heavy.

So I’m going to spend the next year getting fitter so I come back stronger but also keeping my eye out for a new bike. Budget will be limited to under £1k so will be going second hand to get best value for money.

Interested in recommendations for bikes I can keep in my eBay saved searches in the hope of finding a bargain.

Appreciate loads of variables but what sort of bike would you say I should keep any eye out for?

Any reasonably light hardtail or rigid - something like an On-One Scandal perhaps.

I'd also day that the WRT isn't anything specific or out of the ordinary and simply a good representation of UK bikepacking type terrain generally.

There are probably things you can do to your existing bike to make it lighter; different wheels, tyres, etc. Plus getting lighter kit, and, er, lighter yourself. If you like the handling of the Bossnut, making it lighter and more fun to push, might be a simpler option...

I was just thinking Scandal too, though not sure if the latest incarnation (Mk3?) has gone all "long-low-slack". Someone with one could probably say.

TBH at that budget you could do worse than watch Planet X and see what comes up in their erratic pricing schemes.

There are likely to be several Alpkit and Genesis models that could fit the bill but I wouldn't know which as no direct experience.

There are likely to be several Alpki

A Sonder Frontier could be a good shout.

While I'm the last person on earth who should be saying this... unless you have trouble fitting all your kit on the Bossnut then it's probably as good as anything. Probably no heavier than an all steel bike like my old Fargo! You might also feel less fatigued from a cushioned ride.

If you are going for a second bike then go all out and keep your eyes peeled for an On-One lurcher or whippet.

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 1:59 pm

There are likely to be several Alpki

A Sonder Frontier could be a good shout.

Ahem, I have one still for sale (XL frame btw)…

I failed miserably at wrt,

You can fail?

riderdown wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 8:15 pm

I failed miserably at wrt,

You can fail?

If you turned up then you’re already a winner, did you ride around a bit, see hill, valleys and rivers?
Result! I’d highly recommend failing in this fashion for several years

Sign up to Planet X emails and then do an impulse buy when the right one comes along. They’ve had some good sales recently and they tend to repeat themselves. Bank holidays can be good

Recently got one from them and it was one of the smoothest transactions for a bike that I’ve done (and this is from someone who many years ago swore I wouldn’t touch Planet X…)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265784032632 ... media=MORE

Might this be of interest rockbus... I have the 650b 3+ version and absolutely love it in rigid form. There's also another for £300 from Northampton on ebay...

I don’t have a lot of bikes to compare it to but the on one huntsman worked well for me. Not light at around 13kg but setup with 29x2.6 tyres was comfy, good on descents even while loaded and my legs were the issue on the climbs not the bike.

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 11:23 pm https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265784032632 ... media=MORE

Might this be of interest rockbus... I have the 650b 3+ version and absolutely love it in rigid form. There's also another for £300 from Northampton on ebay...

Thanks looks interesting, Northampton one isn’t too far from me , is £300 decent price?

Rockbus wrote: ↑Sun May 14, 2023 12:20 pm

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 11:23 pm https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265784032632 ... media=MORE

Might this be of interest rockbus... I have the 650b 3+ version and absolutely love it in rigid form. There's also another for £300 from Northampton on ebay...

Thanks looks interesting, Northampton one isn’t too far from me , is £300 decent price?

Pinnacles of pre-2020 era were good vfm at new / RRP price and they aren't a brand with a high coolness rating so S/H could be very good buy if it's in good nick. Later than that they bumped up the RRPs so they could show as eg '£1500 reduced to £1200' - it's just an Evans own-brand pricing tactic a lot of the time, if so the reduced-to price is the general retail value to compare to other brands.

Maybe this
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBTISRGX/ ... nture-bike

It has been cheaper but then again, it’s also been a lot more £££ too

Lovely bike to ride, really impressed with mine (I just changed the tyres). Bars are very flexible so added comfort but you may want to change these depending on your weight, what you’re putting on them (I’m 11 stone and they flex a lot). Can also finance it

I've done the WRT twice on my Pinnacle Arkose D2 gravel bike, just saying, in case that's an option for you...

Just wanted to chime in and say you definitely didn't fail at the WRT. On the start of the first climb out of Stu's you were done and going home. You, after a little encouragement, got over that climb and continued for the rest of the day. We did about 40km and 1300m of climbing. That doesn't feel like a fail. And then you rode back to Stu's the following day. I was well impressed. So get a new bike if you want, do some more riding (don't train - it's rubbish) but above all be proud of what you achieved. Looking forward to catching up with you at the next event