Confirmed Mountain Biker moving to the dark side. Spec me a bike suitable for commuting to work on fine days in the spring and summer, 20 mile round trip, and suitable for tackling End to End and similar occasional epics. Must be pannier and mudguard friendly. I have no idea on suitable gear ratios but bike would only be used on road and I prefer to ride up hills so I guess I’ll need a fairly low gear to cope with hills and loaded panniers. Am I best with standard road bike or tourer? Don’t need a flash expensive bike and would be quite happy with an older secondhand but good quality light bike. Not looking to spend loads of money but not sure on values of road bikes. Would £200 get anything any good (secondhand)? I am a fairly fit 50+ not a racing whippet!

Kona Dew or Kona Sutra may be worth a look?

. Am I best with standard road bike or tourer?

A standard road bike won’t take guards (no clearance) nor panniers (no mounts) so for your intended use and budget it might be worth looking for a 2nd hand tourer like a Dawes Galaxy or similar. Check out the CTC, ebay, etc..

Until you got to the spending part, I was gonna suggest a Kona Sutra…

second a used dawes if you can find one

So we are talking tourer rather than road to get what I need. Galaxy holds it’s price really well and would only get a really old one for the sort of money I was thinking of paying. Would like to have shifters on bars and brakes that can be operated while riding in the ‘high’ position on the bars. Am I asking too much??

I bought the very bike you’re after off the classifieds here last year for £200. Giant SCR2 with not a mark on it. Not too racy road bike with Tiagra triple, carbon fork for comfort and have added mudguards and a rack, and it came with crosstop brake levers already added(but cheap and easy to add anyway). Looking this year it seems road bikes are fetching a bit more on here, so maybe nearer £300 to get something similar. I also have an old (27″ wheel 531 steel) Super Galaxy semi dormant in the garage too, but having put a few miles in on the Giant, I now think the Dawes is overkill except for full front and rear loaded pannier camping trips, which I’m unlikely to get the chance to do again anytime soon. I can easily get all I need for a few overnight hostel/B&B trips into fairly light panniers I’m chuffed to bits with it. Look out for planet X Kaffenback frames too, could be close to what you’re after. Cheapest route may be to buy the frame you want, then buy a donor bike for most of the other bits, that’s the route I was going for when the Giant showed up in the classifieds. Anyway I’m rambling now, so pics

Well I could be looking at the wrong bikes. I’m looking at travelling light so do not need a bike capable of carrying camping equipment as well as clothes – just rear panniers with a couple of changes of clothes, shoes etc and maybe a lightly loaded front/handlebar pannier. I would like a fairly light bike and the Giant or similar would seem to fit the bill. Is it lighter than a Galaxy? Anybody else got any suggestions or even a suitable bike for sale. I’m 5’7″ so need something small/medium though I’m not to good on road bike frame sizes.

I have an On One Inbred (not the 456) as a commuter and tourer. Very happy with it.

I’m 5’8″ and the frame is a 16.

Bike has a full mud guard on the front now too.

Giant was just under 22lb before mudguards and rack, it’s maybe 23 and a half now. Galaxy weighs nearer 30! Heavier than my large 5spot, and that’s no lightweight. Modern alu Galaxys are lighter. Most bikes classed as winter training bikes or Audax frames will happily take guards and a pannier, as will some of the non sporty cross frames, but I’m guessing at your budget you’ll need to wait for the right deal to come along on a donor bike and then find a frame.

I ride a Giant SCR as my commuter and light tourer (i.e. rear panniers only). It’s perfect for the task.

Sure, it’s not as sturdy as a Galaxy or similar, but it’s a well enough made alloy frame with carbon fork that looks (apart from the freaky bar position 😉 ), just like midlifecrashes’ bike above. It’s well made and, given that the model MLC and I have retails at £500-ish, must be available s/h somewhere for something like your budget.

At 5’7″, I the SCR I ride is a “small” in Giant’s frame sizes. Because it’s so compact (measuring 46.5 cm), it’s hard to compare against a normal (i.e. horizontal top tubed) frame). I suspect it’s somewhere equivalent to a 52cm (I can ride up to abouyt 54cm, depending on TT length).

I really like my Kaffenback as a commuter – I put a rack and mudguards on t, plus some 28c tyres with a bit of a tread which it can handle some light off road too.

Kinesis Racelight T, or Tk – very nice frames if you happen to see one.

A photo from the ferry to Rotterdam for a trip to Belgium last November:

those giants are very nice i was looking at one of those but ended up blowing too much on a sabbath september 🙂 by the way youd prob want a small if you get one .

Here’s a pic of my Kaffenback

FWIW I really like my kaffenback as a commuter too. Not used it for touring mind, but is seems to be beefy enough for it and has all the bosses for racks etc. A very well thought out frame IMHO.

i also run a surly crosscheck which would suit your needs but not sure how often they pop up second hand tho

Surly Long Haul Trucker – been my daily commute for some time now.

There is a nice Kaffenback on ebay I’ve been watching for a week, but got impatient and went for something racier from the LBS (Allez, predictably). Might be a bit big depending on your inside leg but it’s built up with road kit and may well go for under £300.

Although some similar spec’ed I’ve been watching recently like a trek 1000 have bumped up in the last few seconds for not much less than what they cost new. Must be the good weather. Saw a cheap Tricross, and Ridley cyclocross. All the surleys have been single speed.