Originally Posted by
big john
... consider a cyclocross bike. They can be had cheap, they'll take big tires, they're durable, and nobody will give you grief about the second set of brake levers.
There are also other road bikes that will accept wide tires and take a beating, and there's no reason you can't get the same position on a road or cross frame that you get on a hybrid. You'll just have the option of the drops.
Concur. An old road bike, such as my crummy old UO-8, makes a great cyclocrosser.
Originally Posted by
big john
... 36 spoke wheels are my friends.
Absolutely, positively! Paired-spoke and other low spoke count wheels are for racing. They cannot be trued, and they cannot limp home with a broken spoke. If you want practical, durable wheels with a superb strength-to-weight ratio, you need at least 32 spokes per wheel, not 32 spokes per bike.
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"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069