If your best bike is looking worse for wear after a winter ridden on salted and grime encrusted roads, perhaps you’re already wishing you’d invested in a cheaper steed solely for winter use.
Here are two options to consider for next winter, or even for the inevitable heavy weather still to come before decent weather finally arrives (August, in our experience).
The Raleigh Clubman is a sturdy, winter-ready option equipped with 25c tyres and mudguards as standard, while the Kinesis T5 cross bike is a hardy beast for use on road and off. Both dip beneath the £1,000 barrier making them suitable for purchase under the Cycle To Work scheme.
Raleigh’s 125th anniversary is perhaps a cause for celebration among those of a certain age (your correspondent included) whose first two-wheeler bore the famed heron head badge seen on the Clubman. Made from butted Reynolds 520 chromoly tubing and equipped with a Shimano Tiagra drive train, it’s a nice package for £950.
The chromoly fork (not Reynolds 520) seems a bit of an anachronism (would carbon have spoiled the retro styling?) but we’ll let you know how it rides. Perhaps the budget was balanced in favour of the Brooks saddle, a feature not often included on sub-£1000 bikes, and a nice touch for a machine whose retro styling is immaculate. An elegant dark blue finish with silver and white detailing certainly does full justice to the brand’s history. Weinmann TR18 rims are laced to Tiagra hubs, and roll on Vittoria Zaffiro tyres, supplied in a durable, winter-friendly 25mm. The cockpit is unbranded aluminium, as is the microswitch seatpost.
The Five T is part of Kinesis UK’s Crosslight range, and has at its heart a double butted, 7005 series aluminium frame available in six sizes from 48cm to 61cm. Equipped with a 10-speed Shimano Tiagra drivetrain and shifters, it’s a machine spec-ed with components that won’t cost the earth to replace if worn by the harsh conditions of winter. Two fork options are available, both Kinesis’ own, with the PureCX carbon fork shown here adding £60 to the overall price over the alloy Crosslight 3.
An additional set of Freedom Ryder 700c tyres, supplied as part of a sales promotion, give the option to ride off-road as well as on, and a set of Tektro CR-520 cantilever brakes is supplied for additional off-road stopping power. A further incentive to riding off-road comes in the form of a 46-tooth BBB chainring, available as an extra. An FSA cockpit, Kinesis’ own alloy seat post, and a Selle San Marco ‘Ponza Power Lux’ saddle make up the finishing kit.
Check back soon for reviews of both.
