Looking to upgrade from my old Schwinn mountain bike to something a bit faster. I have a 14 mile each way commute, with some hills and some gravel roads. I really like the Volpe and the Tricross. Any recommendations--pros-cons. Thanks.
Tim

I was entertaining the tricross for a while but wound up with a $200. '80s steel bike instead. any road bike will be faster than your MTB but if you have the money get a new bike. after seeing a picture of a carbon fork that split in half I'm not keen on carbon forks

This is the first time that I have posted since it is really the first time that I have had something to add.

I have a TriCross Sport with the triple up front. I love the bike. I have a 12.25 mile commute each way and it gets me there. There is enough room to run fenders, racks, lights, and it is very comfortable for me. I run the stock 700x32 wheels that came with the bike right now and they do fine for me. I cannot really compare it to anything since this the first "real" bike that I have had. My last bike (now my grocery getter) is a Fuji Crosstown 2.0.

I can also tell you that I just started commuting and I am a fair weather commuter so I cannot tell you how the bike performs in adverse conditions. I can say that on my commute, past some farm lands, having the drop handlebars really helps since there is a bit of wind that comes across the field.

Thanks for the info. I'm a fair weather commuter also. Too dangerous to ride out in the country when the shoulders are full of snow.

I commute on my Tricross and really it is a great bike. It’s my “do everything bike” and it is yet to let me down. Mine is the 09 sport triple. The bike itself is quite comfortable to me once I bought wider bars. I'd suggest tossing the cross top levers, the space they take up is better used for lights and other do-dads. The stock boroughs the bike comes with...suck. Big time. They make the bike feel very lethargic. Once my tires finally wore out I replaced them with 700x28 gatorskins and now it actually feels like a road bike again. So get it some new shoes right away, maybe you could negotiate something with your bike shop.

Also, the tricross is a pain in the butt to get a rear rack on unless you buy the Specialized rack designed specifically for the tricross. I know there are some others that will work, but depending on how you plan to carry your gear to work this may or may not be important to you.

People like both bikes. You won't go wrong with either of them.

If you want to be able to mount fenders, look to see which bike makes that easier to do (and allows for wider tires at the same time).

I had no problem with a Tubus rack on my Tricross.

I was planning on installing at ToPeak MTX rack on there tonight. I will let you know how it works out.

Not to hijack the thread but not having ridden a ton of bikes or good bikes at that I just do not get the tires thing. I guess that makes sense though. Is that one of those things where you just have to try it to believe it? I will have to try to new tires.

No problem mounting the ToPeak MTX OS U-Lock rack to my Tri-Cross. I like the rack because of the integrated holder for the lock. The rack clears the fenders too.

I've commuted with my Bianchi Volpe for close to 5 years. I have to say that as well as being pretty nimble and fun to ride, it is also pretty durable. Almost 10K miles later, I'm still riding the original wheels.

I have a San Jose, which is the single speed version of the Volpe, and think it is the perfect commute frame. It's comfortable, stable, but not slow. Also, bombproof and all the eyelets one could need. I think the real issue is fit, since the two bikes you are interested in have pretty different fit philosophies. The Volpe is very traditional, where Specialized has it's own thing.

I like the way the tri-cross top tube sits on my shoulder. Honestly if you've got it narrowed to those two and you don't have an immediate preference from the ride pick the one that looks better.

Test ride. I tried both & went with the Volpe.