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Barny’s look at 2011 bikes!

The roll out of next years bikes starts yesterday! Skinny tyres get fatter, top tubes get dimples, policemen get younger, and prices fluctuate. What’s occurring?

The roll out of next years bikes starts yesterday! Skinny tyres get fatter, top tubes get dimples, policemen get younger, and prices fluctuate. What’s occurring?

The Con-Dem’s have whacked 2.5% on VAT and the wiggle room for profit on a low margin product gets nasty. This will push prices up and component quality down (Thanks Dave!). The bike industry is again second guessing what this year’s tutti-fruity will be. Will the Germans buy disc brakes? Will Californians buy front racks? The British aren’t an important enough “segment” to worry them! Just be thankful they let their boats unload here on the way to the mainland! Racing bikes and single speeds are still the business flavour but what about my lovely customer and their quest for a decent ride? I’ll tell you what I’d buy as a London commuter….

Specialized
The Sirrus range now starts at £350 and it’s a great bike. To get one with anything like a top quality finish though spend twice that.
Why?  At £350 you can ride off with a perfectly adequate commuter bike. Wider tyres, fewer gears and £50 less than the 2010 Sirrus can be seen as a good thing. The £400 model hasn’t really changed from the base model of 2010.
It’s the middle range that’s a little disappointing. At £500 or £600 we would have expected a little better spec! One piece chainsets- where you can’t replace individual chain rings- have now crept up the range. At £700 the Sirrus goes from adequate to sweet. If I were looking at a bike around £400 or below, this is the range I’d buy. £700 and above? Try them all!

Trek
Trek hybrids where the ones to beat in 2010, according to their competitors. The 7.2 now £440 is still a super bike. The 7.3 is better spec’d in its price range then many. 7.5 at £700 -again that magic price- is awesome. The Allant now £450 with its retro look and quality cassette hub is still the one for many ladies and gentlemen bicyclists.

However below that it’s not a good package. Freewheels as a opposed to cassettes on the 7.0 and 7.1 models mean Treks start at £440 for a good commuter. There’s some competition to the Allant in the retro style with...

Globe
The forces of management tweek have decided that Specialized can have more than the usual number of personalities…meet Globe.

Now a separate entity but the same company (?). Err, what ever. Globe are GOOD. Trad has entered the main stream. Upright riding position. Mudguards, front or rear racks. Some with one gear, some with 3!  The usual 21 gears or more. Hurrah! Front racks are great! As innuendo or as a necessity. You’ve got a kid on the back and a changing bag/beers on the front. £400 and up.

Surly
I’m biased (I own one). Buy one! They don’t change much, but what they do change makes sense not just the normal bull. The” Troll” is a throwback to the mountain bike of yore; steel obviously, but with braze-on for v’s or discs. A good town or tour or off-road frame (about time!). The Crosscheck – my bike - is now getting front rack mounts. You see? Not change for the sake of it, just common sense.

Soma
Now here’s a new frame for us and I have to thank Janky for it. Sylwia, my fiancé, was looking for a traditional steel women’s frame. Janky pointed her Soma’s way. Besides the mixte frame we originally got in, they also make a whole range of road, fixey, 29er and other stuff that really seems to have taken off. An alternative to Surly, if a little pricier. Ah, the cost of looking good.

OK there are a whole lot of bike goodies I haven’t touched on. Cyclocross has been rediscovered and these bikes make for a great crossover. Originally the first off-road bikes, but with drop bars. They make great tourers and are equally good as commuters. Look at the Specialized Tricross and Surly’s Crosscheck.

Racing bikes are still a great battlefield for the manufacturers, everyone trying to outdo one another in hyperbole and carbon fibre. Again, steel Surly or Soma gets my vote but I’m terribly middle-aged.

What ever you decide, the best bike there is the one you’ve got. Or put another way: get a bike get over it.

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