Anyone with Adventure Road Bike experiences?

PinkFloyd

PinkFloyd

PinkFloyd

Soldato
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Posts
14,898
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.
 
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!
 
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... :(
 
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!
 
Well, I've pulled the trigger on the Fuji Jari. Spoke to a guy on webchat about having a few concerns that I might not like it, he said to call the store so mentioned I couldn't get through to them (Bristol) - his reply was "oh yeh, we're having real problems with those guys right now"... Just got told to order online and collect in store, if I don't like it I can just return and go for something else.
Fingers crossed I get along with it though, on paper it's ideal - even if it isn't as pretty as the Diverge!
 
Roady said:
Hope you've made the right decision PinkFloyd and are enjoying the bike, nothing wrong with Fuji's anyway! ;)
Click to expand...
Frustratingly I'm still waiting to get it. :mad:

Evans are really not impressing me with their ability to provide anything resembling customer service.
It's impossible to get hold of the Bristol store over the phone and they are unable to manage their own stock properly. So whilst I ordered when they allegedly had it in store ready for collection, it turns out the one they had was a returned broken one that they'd not done anything with. They've ordered a new one in, which arrived yesterday afternoon according to the mail I've had. That mail advised that I'd shortly get a phonecall to arrange a time to collect, which surprise surprise I've not had, as no-one in the Bristol store knows how to use a damn telephone. If they try and pull a fast one one me saying that I can no longer trade in my old bike (£100 trade in deal that ended today) I'll go ballistic!

Needless to say if I didn't have the discount through work I'd have cancelled the order and gone elsewhere by now.
 
Probably not worth trying to change at this point, now that they've actually got the bike in Bristol. Fingers crossed things get smoother here... Still not been contacted by Bristol, can't get through on the phone so back to waiting on the web chat...
 
Bike collected this evening after work. Looks great in the flesh. Put it in the car, drive home, go to take it out the car and put the front wheel back on.... Bike falls over and hits deraileur into the tarmac snapping the hanger. FML. So damn angry with myself :mad:, I hadn't even had the bike for 30 minutes and I've made it unridable for the meantime...
Even more annoyingly, I can't seem to find a replacement hanger anywhere online. Evans don't have it nor do the 2 dedicated mech hanger sites I've looked through. So I've mailed Fuji in the hope they can point me in the right direction. Likewise I'll try and get hold of Evans tomorrow.

So much for getting some riding in this weekend. I've not even ridden it yet!:(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom