UKH

I’m stuck in a decision rut and hoping that the wisdom that lurks here can help me out.

I have 2 bikes and only room for 2 bikes. Not that interested in a single do-it-all bike. Currently, one is a 8/9 year old Giant cyclocross bike I bought second hand and use for road cycling(I never actually ever got round to use it for it’s intended use). The other is a steel “hybrid” Ridgeback bike I’ve owned since the 90’s.

I’ve settled on getting a new/actual road bike that will see me right for my current use and future plans. The dilemma is whether to keep the CX or hybrid or ditch both and get something new(er) as I’ve started doing more bridleway/ rough track riding on the hybrid over the past 6months and rediscovered the enjoyment of it.

Hybrid

pro’s - gearing, I love the ride of steel, upright riding position, solid on trails

con’s - it weighs as much as Belgium, it’s old with old kit, the triple maybe less efficient than something else newer.

CX

pro’s - responsive/quick in some situations, light, disc brakes.

con’s - I find the ride can be hard/crashy/ twitchy, gearing isn’t great for steep hills
 

Get something else- what would it be?

Anyone been in the same situation and which way did you jump?

All thoughts are welcome if you can get past the ramble that has turned out to be!

 

In reply to SFM:

Sounds like you should get a good gravel bike... If you can find any in your size at an acceptable price. If go hydraulic brakes and 2x if you do lots of road, and 1x if it's less.

Keep the hybrid or cyclocross as a transport for commute and pub, whatever looks a bit rubbish and can fit mudguards. 

In reply to SFM:

What tyres and pressure are you running on your ‘cross bike?

In reply to SFM:

Surly Crosscheck. Steel, and can fit it with wide bars. I’ve got one with drops. 
Unless you’re a road biker and need ultralight, this bike does it all. Panniers the lot.

Terrain wise, it hasn’t got discs or shocks but I’ve ridden it around forests etc and go off track. I’m not talking black runs here, but some mountain bikers look bewildered that I’ve done their route and some roadies huff and puff keeping up! ( they don’t know my route. I pull out of the woods, half way up a steep hill and lash them to the top. ‘Where did that come from’ moo haha moo haha)

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

25mm and 100-110psi

In reply to Dave B:

I’ve gone off the idea of a gravel bike as in someways I feel it would be too similar to the CX I have just now, I’d rather get a road bike for the road or are you saying bin both CX and Hybrid to get a gravel as a one size fits all(road and trail)?

In reply to SFM:

Assuming you're not interested in road racing (else you would have said) the best 'quiver' (IMHO) would be a general purpose road/gravel bike (make sure it can take wide tyres, mudguards and 2X) plus an full-suss MTB for when it gets too rough for a gravel bike (which will be rougher than you think). 

If you don't plan to do anything which requires (or benefits from) an FS MTB, then the gravel bike will do everything you need, so perhaps just get two sets of wheels - one for mainly road (e.g., 32mm GP5000) and one for rougher stuff (40-45mm knobblies) - or some other combination.

In reply to Dave the Rave:

That’s v similar to the old Ridgeback but looks a sh!tonne lighter and miles more fun. That could be a possible answer for the fun/utility bike. Will have a deeper look, thank you.

In reply to SFM:

A gravel bike (of the sort I envisioned) is quite different to a CX bike: Wide tyres so you can go properly off-road (particularly when it's rocky), proper mudguards so it's OK on roads in wet weather and possibly better (much better) brakes if your old CX bike has cantis. Probably more versatile gearing too.

In reply to SFM:

Regarding a gravel bike as too similar to a CX bike is IMO a mistake. A CX bike is deigned for racing. It most likely if its a bit older, has cantilever rim brakes (which by and large are a bit  crap especially when wet) and will be limited to a roughly 30mm tyre. You might be able to squeeze 35mm in. You will also have tall gears as when it gets too steep, you jump off and run in a cx race. These are all quite limiting for every day riding - I know because I had a CX bike which I rode mostly on more MTB style rides and I got hammered by it.

Gravel bikes are a very broad church from basically a modern CX bike, through to wide tyred, almost old 90s dropbar MTBs but with better kit on it and a better geometry. This latter tyre would be what I would suggest looking at, a 650b wheeled beast with 2" tyres and a good single or double groupset depending on the area you will cycle in. 

In reply to beardy mike:

I’ve got a gt 105 gravel bike which I use with 38mm tubeless tyres at 40psi. That’s perfect for gravel tracks, a bit of mud and a few bumpy bits .. for full on mud and a really rocky track I’d be using a mtb with wider tyres and a bit of suspension. I’ve got two sets of wheels for the gravel bike, the 38mm for the more off road experiences and 28mm tubed for road winter biking

In reply to SFM:

Thinking of something like the ribble cgr if you ride lots of road, or their gravel bike if you want more tracks. (other brands available) 

Quite different to ride than the cx bike. Much more versatile. Two sets of wheels... 

I note you say you have discs on the cx bike.

In reply to JimR:

Yeah, I just remember riding off road on quite rugged sections with 30mm Miche Mud Pros was just unpleasant. I did it because of a bee in my bonnet. Now I have 40mm WTB Nanos which are decent enough on 700c wheels and they do OK, especially on gravel and fast rolling surfaces. I have wide flared drops and find I can ride pretty much any reasonably easy MTB trails, maybe not with jumps etc. But those long easy XC trails, the lightness makes up for the suspension or lack there of. I have a steel frame and forks and ut works well for me. Only thing I would change would be wheel and tyre size and I might do that for summer this year...

In reply to SFM:

Ditch the hybrid. Sort out the gearing and tyres on the cx.

I expect bigger tyres at lower pressure (as is the fashion) will take out the harshness of the current cx ride.

In reply to beardy mike:

I don’t think I’ve fully appreciated the range that is in the Gravel bike genre. On the back of your comments have been doing more digging.

Most of my riding is in and around the North Downs of Kent/Surrey so perhaps I need to backtrack a bit and re look at the right Gravel bike/set up rather than a pure road bike plus something else. 

In reply to Dave B: I had looked at Ribble but hadn’t considered the CGR range. Along with Beardy Mikes comments could be a plan to head there and try a few out. 
The bulk of riding is done on the road so would want that to be the focus if went for a single bike.

In reply to JLS: thank you, will try that out over the next few weeks and see how I get on.

In reply to SFM:

I think th thing about a road bike is that they are very much a one trick pony by design. They are the shiz nizz  if you just want to go fast as possible on a road. For my needs, which is riding country lanes between  offload tracks, green lanes, easy single track etc, a gravel bike pretty much covers it...

In reply to SFM:

When I got my cx bike it came with Schwalbe tyres which I ran at about 60psi on the road. The ride was harsher than my road bike at 80-90psi with Vittoria Corsas. With Challenge Grifo open tubulars at 35-40 psi it’s lush. The suppleness of the tyre and the pressure makes a huge difference. 

In reply to Marek:

Like this...? 😀 (I put a 50 mm tire on the front this summer when I was doing some off road bikepacking, 40 at the back as there's less clearance - but just kept them on as they are comfy grippy and seem no slower on the road on my commute at least).

In reply to TobyA:

That looks nice. What's the bike?

In reply to SFM:

Stock will be the issue at the moment. Hope you can get what you want. 

In reply to elsewhere:

Boardman ADV 8.9, not too expensive, but has hydraulic brakes that I really wanted and has been brilliant over the last 8,804 kms (thanks Strava!) that I've ridden on it. I've upgraded the wheels to Hunts and been through a few different pairs of tyres, changed the BB once, the chain a couple times, a few sets of brake pads and trashed one back mech and hanger. But it's my commuter (quite a lot of my miles are off road so plenty of mud and gloop in winter particularly) and I don't clean it religiously, so I think it's doing rather well!

In reply to TobyA:

Yep, looks like what I call a 'sensible'* bike (on the grounds that we don't have much in the way of US-style gravel roads in these parts).

* Optimised for function rather than image.

In reply to SFM:

I ride around the same area and have been having great fun on a Merida Silex. 45-48x650b on predominantly off road days on the Greensand ridge and North Downs. It's also super stable loaded up for bikepacking trips with either 650b or 700c wheels depending on the trip. 

This is probably at the slacker end of the gravel bike geometry spectrum though and would never be a replacement to my road bike. Just a great accompaniment!

In reply to SFM:

Gravel /adventure bike all the way.

I got one about 4yrs ago and hardly ever use my road bike now. Its such a versatile option.