Flat Bar Roadies, which one?

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I am in the process of deciding, which bike to buy. I am currently commuting on an old MTB with road tyres. I am looking to upgrade to a flat bar road bike and will be fitting a rack for panniers. The bike will be used for commuting 2 to 3 days a week for a round trip of 35km. I am 185cm tall and about 115kg so I want a bike that will cope with my size. My budget is $700 to $800 and I am currently looking at the Trek 7.3FX, Giant CRX 3 and the Avanti Blade Sport. Does anybody have any experience with these bikes or can you provide any advice. Thanks in advance.

The priority at 115kg would probably be on strong wheels. The frame will most likely be able to cope, but you won't want the wheels to give you problems with broken spokes ie. Forget those fancy wheels, get one with conventional high spoke number wheels.

I agree with sogood. As a commute bike, reliability comes first before bling.

See if the shop will allow you to swap the orginal wheelset with a sturdy custom wheelset (32 spoked or more). Or if you are interested, consider building your own. Wont be any cheaper, but at least it will give you confidence over your wheelset.

And get some good tyres to go with your new bike, something that has some form of puncture resistance (eg kevlar belt, etc). Wont stop a nail, but at least will give you some protection over the gunk on the side of roads.

I thorougly enjoyed commuting to work, but I now live too close to bother to ride to work.

I had an Avanti Blade here for a few days (I fitted an 8 speed 11-24 casette), it was entry level, with 135mm rear drop out, 36 spoke 700c rims on MTB hubs! ;) Tyres were Conti 23mm Ultra Gator Skins!

However they (Avanti Blade) are long in the top tube compared with Felt SR101 and Giant CRX3.

I am in the process of deciding, which bike to buy. I am currently commuting on an old MTB with road tyres. I am looking to upgrade to a flat bar road bike and will be fitting a rack for panniers. The bike will be used for commuting 2 to 3 days a week for a round trip of 35km. I am 185cm tall and about 115kg so I want a bike that will cope with my size. My budget is $700 to $800 .... There's a good chance that you can fit 700c wheels on your frame ... I did. I got a set of long-reach TEKTRO brake calipers, but, "regular" brakes may have fit, particularly since I changed the fork to a 700c ROAD fork. I needed to enlarge the "fender" mounting hole on the bridge on the seat stays to accept the recessed bolt of the brake, but the road brakes fit fine, with up-down adjustment of the pads to spare.

Also, I put a 52/39 road crank on my "old" aluminum hardtail ... same ISIS 118mm spindle which is normally used for a MTB crank worked to help the 52t chainring clear the seatstay.

If you have V-brakes, you'll need new brake levers; but, if you have cantilever brakes, you can use the same brake levers with the road brakes.

A nice set of hand-built wheels (e.g., 36h Open Pro rims on Shimano 700c hubs) will probably cost about $300AU + tires. Crank will cost whatever you want to spend ... allow $100AU. Misc. parts (brake calipers and/or levers == $100AU, or less).

It's an off-beat option to consider if you were just looking to upgrade to 700c. You can probably get a set of "hybrid" wheels (622-17 or wider rims) which have been taken off another bike from a shop/vendor for about $150AU, or less.

Heck, just change to a ROAD crank, first ... that may satisfy your needs without changing the wheels, etc.

These 700c Mavics fit MTBs with Disc Brakes: http://www.mavic.com/ewb_pages/p/produit_roue_speedcity.php?onglet=2&gamme=asphalte

On Special from: http://www.velo.net.au/content/specials.html#wheels

Thanks for the help guys.
I ended up buying the Trek 7.3FX after riding all three back to back. It just felt more comfortable than the others. I liked the Giant CRX3 but the wheel base was a bit short and the bike felt a little too twitchy for my liking. I will let you know how I like it after riding it for a few months.