BIKE UPGRADE: Alternatives to TriCross/Secteur/CrossRip?

[uncleho]

My daughter is outgrowing her youth bike and I was going to give her my urban/city bike (Marin Point Reyes) that I have been using the past couple of years to commute to work/recreation (i.e. That's my lame excuse for wanting to buy another bike. ).

Although I like my city bike, I now have the bug and want to upgrade. I bought the Marin on sale for $500 in 2009 and was looking to get something under $1500 firm (i.e. $1500 is plenty for my level of riding.).

MY RIDING:
a) Work Commute = 11 miles through suburbia of Metro Detroit... mainly older suburbs (Warren & Pontiac) with broken roads and sidewalks. Cracks, rutts, etc. abound with each route (about ~40% of the ride) and even the sidewalks are uneven, cracked (sometimes I take the sidewalks as the road might be worse).
b) Recreation = Paved or crush limestone trails/roads. No rougher than that.

MY CRITERIA:
a) <$1500
b) Disc brakes
c) No suspension (I don't want that mass.), but I'd prefer a frame that is forgiving for my commuting. I'm not sure of all of the types of frames out there, but I presume different architectures = varying degrees of stiffness.
d) I don't need road racer tires. The ones that came with the Marin are plenty and I don't want any larger profile/size than that. My wife's BadBoy5 has some rather thin tires and they're punishing on some of the Pontiac roads.
d) My Marin uses a Deore groupset and my wife's BadBoy5 uses a combo of Alivio shifters and Deore XT... and I feel that is plenty adequate for my taste. I know the bikes I'm currently looking at uses one step lower in grade, but I'm not sure if I would even notice the quality/performance difference.

I don't know many brands, but have found these options. The Tricross and CrossRip seem to be equals, while the Secteur seems to be a roadbike made for comfort. Is that the case?

Are there more like these?

TREK CrossRip Elite (I would probably get the regular CrossRip.)


SPECIALIZED TriCross Elite Disc (But probably the lower Sport Disc is adequate.)


SPECIALIZED Secteur Sport Disc


BTW... can someone explain to me the meaning behind Specialized's choice of the words "Compact" and "Triple" in their TriCross naming convention? Compact as in short wheelbase? Triple what?

[Scott53]

The "compact" and "triple" designation refers to the types and number of chainrings on the cranks.
Triple means there are three gears attached to the cranks. On the Specialized the largest has 50 teeth, middle has 39 teeth, smallest has 30 teeth. The smaller the chainring the easier it is to climb hills, but the more you must spin.

Compact chainrings have two gears in the front with the large having 50 teeth and the smaller having 34 teeth. Compact (vs "regular" chainrings which have 53 teeth on the larger and 39 on the smaller) is simply the cycling industry's way of differentiating how large the double chainrings are on the cranks.

[BsickPassat]

The secteur was essentially an aluminum version of the carbon fiber Roubiax, so it is made for some comfort over long distances. THis year, it diverges even more with the addition of disc brakes.

Imo, the minimum I would go with is a Tiagra-4600. Plus it has been upgraded substancially, now with 10-speed cassette and near the performance of the old Shimano 105-5600.

I loathe the thumb shifters on the older Sora. The new Sora may have gotten rid of them.

in but terms of upgrades/maintenance, you have a lot of choices with 10-speed stuff, as 11-speed is slowly catching on.

for your riding, I would look at the Tricross or Crossrip style bikes.

Avid BB5 is a good entry level mechanical disc brake system. A tad PITA to work with (I know... I have BB5's on my mountain bike). Even better is the Avid BB7 brakes, which is highly regarded for being one of the best mechanical disc brakes out there.

[MrMook]

I'm looking into the Raleigh line of cross/commuter bikes right now for my commuter duties, and I really like the Roper/Furley. They're based on a pretty ingenious steel frame that can run gears or a single-speed setup (it has an adjustable "eccentric" bottom bracket to allow for SS chain tensioning). It also has discs, and can accommodate racks and fenders (which is important to me).

The Roper is the geared version, with mostly 105 level components, and hits the top end of your $1500 budget. They have a 3-speed flat-bar version called the Tripper for ~$1K. But personally, I'm going with the Furley (I only need a SS here in NYC), and it's only $800. I may upgrade it to a 1x9 setup in the future to pull a kid trailer, and this frame can grow and adapt to that sort of thing, which is awesome.

Here's a review by Bicycle Times for more info: http://www.bicycletimesmag.com/conte...-raleigh-roper

[A1an]

Check out the Jamis Nova Race...2013 is spec'd with BB7 brakes and Tiagra drivetrain which is pretty good at that price point you are looking. Much nicer specs than that Trek for a little bit more, but that Trek can supposedly swallow a 1.8 29er tire which could come in handy for options down the road. Also look into Civilian Vive Le Roi...really nice spec for the price and sliders to allow for some drivetrain options down the road. I ordered one and it should be here any day. Will post up a thread with my thoughts once I get some time on it.

[BsickPassat]

there are always bikesdirect.com cyclocross bikes