New Year, New Bike

aFlabbyPanda

So after nearly 18 months in the saddle I've promised myself an upgrade. I only use the bike for commuting (30K), needs to take mudguards & pannier, so I've narrowed it down to either the Planet X Kaffenback or the Ribble Sportive 365.

The PlanetX is a little cheaper and is my current preference (disc brakes, larger tyre clearance) unless someone thinks the carbon frame it really worth the extra spend.

Opinions? Other options I may have overlooked? I checked out Charge too but they seems more expensive.

Darkglasses

What groupset are you putting on the Ribble? There'll probably be a massive weight difference. Also I'd personally prefer normal brakes unless you think you'll really need them, just that much easier to maintain at home.

aFlabbyPanda

I was putting the same (tiagra 4600) on the ribble to make a fair comparison but it comes with the (sore 3500) . Seems to be around 200 pounds sterling in the difference (matched group set & tyres).

The kaffenback is the same weight as my current trek (yes I got the scales out...) but yes I was expecting the Ribble to be much less, the site lists just over a kilo but I'm guessing that's frame only.

aFlabbyPanda

So today I was think about building my own, is there any advantage to this beside picking the parts and saying you've built your own bike. Will I end up with a better spec'd bike?

I love my drops/aero bars in the summer but prefer a flat bar during the winter when picking my way through traffic in the dark. I was thinking about having 2 sets of bars with levers already attached to swam for summer/winter.

krissovo

BrianjG wrote: »

Will I end up with a better spec'd bike?

Yes but you will spend more than intended once you add everything up. Not necessarily due to parts being more expensive but when your shopping thinking to yourself i will go for the higher spec its only a few extra euro and they all add up

aFlabbyPanda

And are places like wiggle/crc/evans/ribble suitable for this type of thing or are there other sites offering better prices or options for pricing this up?

daragh_

I've had the Kaffenback for a few months and I love it. Perfect commuter /winter bike for me and tough as old boots. (Apart from today when I forgot to tighten a clamp on the stand when I was cleaning it and it fell and landed on the rear mech. Ouch!)

But it is pretty heavy compared to the Ribble.

07Lapierre

BrianjG wrote: »

I was thinking about having 2 sets of bars with levers already attached to swam for summer/winter.

Buy two bikes, one dropped bar, one straight bar. It's a nice idea to just swap bars,but not very practical.

aFlabbyPanda

buying 2 bikes isn't an option.

aFlabbyPanda

Does anyone have the Ribble 365? Tempted to get it and stick 28's on it (according to email from Ribble there is clearance) but would still need to sort a trunk/pannier. Currently trying to decide between that, the PlanetX Kaffenback or Trek Crossrip Comp (LBS).