Anyone with Adventure Road Bike experiences?

PinkFloyd

PinkFloyd

PinkFloyd

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Joined
21 Sep 2005
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Location
Bradley Stoke, Bristol
Currently I've got an old Specialized Allez that's in need of replacement and I'm after something more comfortable to ride. Whilst something with a more touring geometry and slightly bigger tyres would probably fit the bill the adventure road bike style bikes are really catching the eye.

I accept that on ideal roads they're not going to be as quick and fun as a pure roadie, but I've got some pretty poor roads nearbye and like the idea of being able to do some gravel paths and similar to explore a bit more. As an FYI I've got a mountain bike and this would mainly get used for road riding/fitness.

Anyone here made the transition and have any thoughts?

I'm currently eyeballing the Specialized Diverge and the Fuji Jari in particular. The former looks a well rounded bike with a pretty frame whilst the Fuji's 1x11 drivetrain and internal cabling appeals for easy cleaning and maintenance.
 
Pinnacle Arkose 4 here, I got it on the bike to work scheme predominantly to start racing local cross league, but it has turned into my commuter/winter bike, and bloody good at it it is too. It's survived being chucked off my roof at 70mph, and some big hits all without any major dramas.

105 5800 and Ultegra Hydro Brakes, if you're going to be using it all year, this would be my minimum spec. 1x11 is great for ease of use and if you're not needing to race or hammer it down huge descents at 50mph you'll be fine! Adventure bikes do seem to come at a bit of a premium though when looking recently for my GF, in the end I got her a Norco Threshold A which is 105 5800 and full Hydros, bit heavier and more CX orientated, but does have all the holes for mudguards etc.
 
The Pinnacles do look good, I'd been looking at the Dolomite before starting to lean towards something a bit more all surface. Look to be very good bikes for the price, just maybe a bit boring compared to the 2 in the OP :D
Like you say they do seem to come at a bit of a premium, I guess due to the way they're marketed and a little less common - but I guess I'll just have to deal with that!

I can't say I'm too concerned about hydraulic brakes right now. I know they're awesome and I'd not touch a mountain bike without them, but I've found normal rim brakes are ok for most usage on the road and would expect cable disks to be more than capable of the sort of riding I'm likely to do on an adventure bike. Probably on my nice to have list rather than vital!
 
I've ordered a Shand Stoater and waiting for it to be built as they build it from a pile of tubing. It's a disc braked drop bar tourer with room for 40mm width tyres which can be used off road.
 
The reason Hydros are so good is because they require virtually 0 maintenance.

This is why when I got my gf a bike it was one of the things I really wanted to have.
 
If you can get on with the Sram double-tap gearing, the Boardman CX Team is a good spec, especially when it was recently down to £800 before British Cycling membership discount. I test rode one on a turbo trainer in-store, but decided not to pull the trigger, for me the gearing was very imprecise (now whether this was the Sram or the setup I couldn't say, it was first time trying Sram).

If there had been an Evans closer to Southampton than Reading (apparently a store is opening in Havant area any time), I would have popped along to test ride a Pinnacle Arkose before now. I was tempted by the old fluro yellow model a few years back, then the khaki model and more recently the £900 Arkose X 2017. Great tyre clearance on the newer models of 45c.

But in the end, I decided to ditch the idea of an adventure bike for now with big tyre clearance; hydro brakes; Shimano gearing. Instead, I bought one of the last Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016 road bikes from Rutland for £900. Not unhappy with the decision, my Voodoo Wazoo is a fun all-terrain flat bar and the Cube is great for getting a comfortable speed fix.
 
True re: Hydros... Reviews seem to suggest the Spyres that most of the bikes I've looked at have aren't too bad though.

Looks like that Boardman is the same shifter setup as the Fuji I'd been looking at. Wasn't aware the shifters were any different to the Shimanos I've used before. I've read the description on the SRAM site and can't follow what the difference is - guess I'll have to go look in person! Prefer the Fuji with the internal routing though!

I'm only looking at bikes from Evans due to the discount I get through work. This is kinda annoying as the Bristol store is impossible to get hold of... :(
 
Sram double-tap is designed so the brake lever only activates the brake, the inner lever is used to move up and down the gears.

Swipe the lever a short distance to move into a smaller sprocket, or swipe the lever further inwards to move into a larger sprocket.

The problem I had during my test was trying to emulate coming up to an incline, where I wanted to shift to a larger 1/2/3 sprocket, more often than not I could not gauge how far to swipe to get the gear I wanted.
 
I've got a diverge, very comfortable, seems quite tough too I've hit some nasty potholes/ditches during winter and not had any issues. I often ride it over some terrible roads in industrial areas with loads of debris around using
specialized armadillo tyres I've not had a puncture for 500+ miles so far.

Also have the specialized v2 mudguards on it which work very well but are a pain to install if you do not know what you are doing properly.
 
UTmaniac said:
If you can get on with the Sram double-tap gearing, the Boardman CX Team is a good spec, especially when it was recently down to £800 before British Cycling membership discount. I test rode one on a turbo trainer in-store, but decided not to pull the trigger, for me the gearing was very imprecise (now whether this was the Sram or the setup I couldn't say, it was first time trying Sram).

If there had been an Evans closer to Southampton than Reading (apparently a store is opening in Havant area any time), I would have popped along to test ride a Pinnacle Arkose before now. I was tempted by the old fluro yellow model a few years back, then the khaki model and more recently the £900 Arkose X 2017. Great tyre clearance on the newer models of 45c.
x.
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I persuaded a friend to get the Boardman, he managed to get it for about £640 after BC Membership and buying vouchers through his work, seems like a really good bike, and he is certainly enjoying it.

Yep, slowly coming along, will probably be about 6 weeks or so I reckon, going to be very useful for those last minute requirements when they price match.
 
PinkFloyd said:
That's messing with my mind trying to figure out how that works. Sounds like it would try and jump up gears before it drops down! Odd. Going to have to see one of these in person I think :)
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That's exactly what it does. It upshifts with a short push and downshifts with a long push. I'm still getting to grips with it on my cross bike. The jury is out. I'll be riding the cross bike on the road for the next few days now that I've put some road tyres on it so that'll give me a better feel for what is going on, when I'm on more familiar turf!
 
Vonhelmet said:
That's exactly what it does. It upshifts with a short push and downshifts with a long push. I'm still getting to grips with it on my cross bike. The jury is out. I'll be riding the cross bike on the road for the next few days now that I've put some road tyres on it so that'll give me a better feel for what is going on, when I'm on more familiar turf!
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I had a play with an SRAM groupset on a bike in halfords and couldn't work it out. I liked the more solid feeling of the brake lever as it doesn't swing.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Solid brake levers do feel good, like you get on a single speed. It's only shimano who use swingy ones, thinking about it, as campag don't either.
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I think the SRAM levers look quite smart as well.

Campag groupsets are exceedingly pretty. Just a shame the price is exceedingly expensive as well!
 
I personally prefer the feel of Shimano gears and the hydros.

I'd get RS685 over RS505 as they look ugly as!

Here's sram shifting. Push it far and it goes to the easier gears,up to 3 at a time, and push it slightly it goes to harder gear one at a time.

 
Popped into Halfords and looked at the boardman with the double tap shifters. Not convinced right now, but I guess I'd get used to it. I remember finding the Shimano Sora shifters (old ones with the button shifts rather than dual lever) took some serious getting used to coming from a mountain bike.
At first I missread your post and was thinking you could change up 3 gears at a time, but only down 1. Glad I re-read it, I like being able to drop multiple gears at a time!
 
PinkFloyd said:
Ok now you're confusing me! I thought you said it can go to easier (lower) gears 3 at a time?

Looks like the Bristol Evans have the Fuji I like in stock so might go have a proper look tomorrow and try it out!
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Sorry! Yup, easier 3 gears at a time up the block, harder 1 at a time down the block.

Down the block is up a gear ratio so can get a bit confusing.
 
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