Spec me a commuter bike

[Hamish]

Hi All,
Looking for a commuter bike for cycling in and out of London, 5 miles each way. Some sort of hybrid which can go nicely on the road but also handle the odd drop off a kerb or rough path.

Desirable features:

• Hydraulic discs (must have)
• road/hybrid tyres
• flat bars
• internally geared hub (Alfine/Rohloff)
• singlesided fork

budget ~1000 GBP

Bikes I have been looking at:

• Canondale BadBoy Solo
• Genesis Day One Alfine
• OnOne Dirty Disco
• Boardman Performance Hybrid Pro

any others to consider?

 

[Hamish]

When you say it "must have" hydraulic brakes, do you really mean it? Of the four bikes you've linked to, only the Canondale is available with hydraulic brakes - On-One don't appear to sell the Dirty Disco any more, and the other two have mechanical brakes.

If you're okay with mechanical brakes, then the On-One Pompetamine ticks most of your boxes. It has flat bars, takes 32mm tyres, Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes, and has an Alfine internally geared hub. I had a drop bar version of it, and found it to be a competent commuter.

Ah my bad. The Boardman also has hydraulics: Avid Elixir 5 hydraulic disc brake 160mm rotor.
Maybe I shouldn't be so dismissive of cable discs but I've always found them spongey and need asjusting all the time, although maybe because they were low end ones.

I know the Pompetamine is a great bike but the steel frame puts me off a bit as I think it might be too heavy, plus I find the look to be a bit hipsterish. I guess it's pretty similar to the Genesis though.

Leaning towards the Boardman at the moment: Alu frame, hydro discs, nice looks, flat bar, carbon fork, decent price.