We sell this bike at work. Good bike, comfy, but heavy. If you want to do long distance touring, maybe this would be a good option with the wide tyre clearance (ability to go off road), but there are better, lighter bikes better suited to bikepacking.
The one saving grace I would say is the value for money. You won’t find a road/gravel bike with a comparable group set (including hydro brakes) for under £1400.
Always test ride the bike first. Go to a shop and ride this with other similar options to get a feel before you pull the trigger.
cherrymxorange on
In my opinion I don’t see any reason to buy a hybrid bike assuming it’ll be used soley for bikepacking.
The stock chainring provides a granny gear that’s decent but leaves a bit to be desired. The forks don’t have eyelets for a rack or fork packs/extra bottles, likewise there’s no eyelets on the top tube or the underside of the down tube. No routing for a dropper post in the future, handlebars are fairly narrow by MTB/ATB standards, tyres aren’t tubeless ready.
Can all of these problems be solved? Yes absolutely, there’s solutions to everything I mentioned available.
However I can’t in good conscience recommend you buy this bike soley for bikepacking when bikes like the Kona Unit X and Posideon Redwood exist.
You could 100% also buy something used that’s better suited to bikepacking and spend the money saved on upgrades.
NorthmanTheDoorman on
mmmmh with that type of money you can buy an entry level gravel or an actually decent hardtail, both would have way better transmissions than this bike
3 Comments
We sell this bike at work. Good bike, comfy, but heavy. If you want to do long distance touring, maybe this would be a good option with the wide tyre clearance (ability to go off road), but there are better, lighter bikes better suited to bikepacking.
The one saving grace I would say is the value for money. You won’t find a road/gravel bike with a comparable group set (including hydro brakes) for under £1400.
Always test ride the bike first. Go to a shop and ride this with other similar options to get a feel before you pull the trigger.
In my opinion I don’t see any reason to buy a hybrid bike assuming it’ll be used soley for bikepacking.
The stock chainring provides a granny gear that’s decent but leaves a bit to be desired. The forks don’t have eyelets for a rack or fork packs/extra bottles, likewise there’s no eyelets on the top tube or the underside of the down tube. No routing for a dropper post in the future, handlebars are fairly narrow by MTB/ATB standards, tyres aren’t tubeless ready.
Can all of these problems be solved? Yes absolutely, there’s solutions to everything I mentioned available.
However I can’t in good conscience recommend you buy this bike soley for bikepacking when bikes like the Kona Unit X and Posideon Redwood exist.
You could 100% also buy something used that’s better suited to bikepacking and spend the money saved on upgrades.
mmmmh with that type of money you can buy an entry level gravel or an actually decent hardtail, both would have way better transmissions than this bike