Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

Really nice that. What model Co-Motion is it? I can't make it out despite a quick ogle at their website. I can only imagine they set you back a few bob...

Really nice that. What model Co-Motion is it? I can't make it out despite a quick ogle at their website. I can only imagine they set you back a few bob...

Looks to me that it's a track model that's been converted for use with a gear hub hence the track ends and electrical tape cable guides yet S&S, lowrider bosses and mugguard eyes seem to confuse the issue, seems like a pretty weird set up if you ask me. Why do microshift feel the need to design quite possibly the ugliest looking shifters under the sun?

Ahearn Longtail:

This is great, most functional bike yet I think. Not ugly either.

Please can I have forum recommendations for the best geared bike for under a grand that you can fit full guards, a rack, can fit 28's or 32's and is available through Evans.

Charge do a few cross bikes that look quite nice, the Jamis I posted above looks to be in the right direction, is there anything else? I think Evans can order Surly, nothing on their website so i'll have to check that. My wife has never owned a bike with drops before, so hybrids are still a posibility, but further down the pecking order. It's just for commuting, with maybe the occasional longer weekend ride, but nothing major. She's 'out grown' in cycling terms her Pinacle hybrid and wants more of a 'proper bike'. Thanks in advance - I keep just going in circles.

she is probably never going to touch the drops. get something with flat bars
and hydraulic discs instead. much better for city riding.

Evans can order Surly but have to be special order, their distrubitor are ISON Distribution.

The Jamis is well received, especially for the money, their standard Aurora IMHO would be more suitable.

A sportier bike would be the Jamis Satellite, longer headtube than your average budget road bike, enough clearance for bigger tyres and mudguard, come with rack mount and decent range of gear, an audax bike to put it simply.

Downside? Sora, but that's about it.

The Charge Filter Mid looks pretty good for the money but probably quite heavy

Will the genisis equilibrium take 28s, a carrier and guards? They have deep drop brakes so look promising.

I think the Charge would be heavier and less fun than her hybrid. And probably no better for CX!

my wife is looking for a bike and has the same requirements. we went on a bike shop tour around london on saturday to check a few of these options out (by coincidence, i hadn't seen this thread but had come up with a similar short list).

The charge filter mid is pretty aggressive and heavy for someone who's used to MTBs or hybrids. It is a lovely looking bike though.

The jamis satellite sport female version looks great for the money. Kona do a nice mixte frame that would be ideal but she doesn't like the colour (Kona brown). The Civia Bryant looks great, or the Prospect (got my eyes on one of these myself). Dawes do a couple of ok spec'd light tourers at that end of the market too.

i'm going to get something comparable so i can ride on tow paths etc with her and not slide around on my track bike or road bike.

currently shortlisted the civia prospect, jamis aurora elite, surly LHT and salsa vaya 3. anyone have experience / thoughts on the relative benefits? i like the civia, there's something 'right' about it (in pics at least) and i hear the frames are nicely built. i'd thought about a genesis day 01 too but regardless of the quality, i just don't want a white bike with brown grips, like a bloody saudi porsche cayenne, or to have to get it immediately resprayed / buy new bar tape etc.

Will the genisis equilibrium take 28s, a carrier and guards? They have deep drop brakes so look promising.

Unsure if it can take 28c and a guard, but it defintely can take 25c and guard, or 32c without guard.

The Equilibrium might not be a good solution as the sizing isn't great for women.

don't know if anyone saw the one pager in this month's cycling plus on kit for women. it was embarrassing. there is such a big and relatively untapped market for women's cycling products (from bikes to kit etc) that should be driven by geo and sport / general good aesthetics, not by 'cute' or what men think women want. specialized, trek and giant seem to be working this out with their road race bikes but it needs to filter down. i love what Jamis have done with their women's bikes, from an admittedly male perspective, i think they look like proper bikes driven by equality and taste, not old fashioned assumptions.

^thanks very much for the replies, very helpful.

http://velospace.org/node/42235

there is a perfectly good path next to the tracks ?

Met with a bad end, thus not functional;

Derailed today and the rail guide out front caught a rail tie solidly resulting in an instant stop at around 16 MPH. Result? Me over the bars but OK. Bike? Bent frame at the top tube behind the steer tube and in front of the seat tube, down tube bent at the steer tube and in front of the bottom bracket. The front tire now rests beside the water bottle. There doesn’t seem to be any other damage though.

stay tuned for No. 2

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Shame really, look pretty cool to explore area that's normally isn't that accessible.

Ha! didn't read the comments... looks like it would have been painful http://s1159.photobucket.com/albums/p621/lwqqq1/?action=view&current=38194c59.jpg

Whenever I see a practicle bike like that without guards. I'm super surpeised.

Then I realise I'm probably not living in the best cycling climate.

One thing I've found with utility bikes. Is that a big chunk of the expense is in the extras. So if you kill the bike. You usually have a lot of bits left to transfer to a new build.

Still a shame though.

Yep I agree re the guards SF.

Please can I have forum recommendations for the best geared bike for under a grand that you can fit full guards, a rack, can fit 28's or 32's and is available through Evans.

Charge do a few cross bikes that look quite nice, the Jamis I posted above looks to be in the right direction, is there anything else? I think Evans can order Surly, nothing on their website so i'll have to check that. My wife has never owned a bike with drops before, so hybrids are still a posibility, but further down the pecking order. It's just for commuting, with maybe the occasional longer weekend ride, but nothing major. She's 'out grown' in cycling terms her Pinacle hybrid and wants more of a 'proper bike'. Thanks in advance - I keep just going in circles.

Coda Elite is a lot of bike for the money if you didn't want to go down the drop bar route (BB7's, Reynolds 520 frame, bags of tyre clearance, carbon legged fork, mudguard and rack mounts f&r, decent range with the 48/36/26T chainset, etc)

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/jamis/coda-elite-2012-hybrid-bike-ec031793

That looks really good actually.

You could easily put drops and bar ends on that.

Did one last fitting on the Genesis, saddle set a tad forward, an extra 10mm on the stem and suddenly a perfectly normal well fitted bike, with MTB derailleur and a mixture of road/MTB cassette (12-32t).

You could easily put drops and bar ends on that.

I reckon by swapping the shifter with a bar-end one installed on a Velo Orange thumbie (cheapest one I can think of) making it more useful in future if she like to have drop bar.

my ratty and very functional post bike.