Need to know

With less-predictable weather nowadays, it’s sensible to have a bike, like this month’s trio, that can shrug off a downpour with ease, while still performing well all year round. What should you look for?

Our weather’s getting more extreme and the seasons are blurring, so factoring in bikes that can cope with heavy showers and changing conditions overhead and under tyre is sensible. So what should you look for if you want a speedy, one-bikedoes-it-all that doesn’t break the bank?

Mudguard compatibility, wider tyres and decent brakes should be on your tick list. A lot of the bikes we test at Cycling Plus aren’t exactly made for mudguards – though you could fit Ass Savers or various aftermarket clip-on options, but they don’t offer the sort of protection from spray that full-length mudguards provide. The three bikes on test are all built to take mudguards, but these aren’t utilitarian old-school winter training bikes – each of these is a ‘proper’ performance bike in its own right, with year-round riding ambitions.

All three bikes here have disc brakes and there’s no question that they’re better overall for bad-weather riding. Discs typically go hand-in-hand with larger tyre clearances, they offer consistent performance whatever the weather, and they’re easy to operate safely even with cold hands. Disc brakes don’t chew through rims either: traditional rim brakes wear rims out rapidly when you throw abrasive filth into the mix.

If there’s a downside to discs (aside from extra weight), it’s that they can be noisy and irritating at times, and also liable to suffer pad contamination: they can pick up oily substances from the road surface, rendering them far less effective. Nevertheless, if you’re starting from scratch, discs are the preferred option for winter riding, and hydraulic discs are ideal because, unlike their mechanical counterparts, they don’t need frequent adjustment to account for pad wear.

You can ride any wheelset in the winter, but some will take the abuse better than others. With rim brakes, accelerated rim wear is an issue in the winter and so you may not want to be riding your expensive Sunday best wheels.

There are other reasons not to use more performance-oriented wheels. Racy wheelsets often save weight by using hubs with small, minimally sealed bearings. These will wear out quickly if water and grit find their way inside, and then you’ll need to buy new bearings and potentially pay someone to fit them. Lightweight wheels also frequently feature aluminium spoke nipples, which are more susceptible to corrosion. Given the option, brass nipples are better for winter.

With more debris on the roads, punctures are more of a problem in the winter, and no one wants to be wrestling with tyres when they have stiff, cold hands. If your wheels are suitable, consider road tubeless for winter riding because the risk of punctures is reduced by the sealant, and you can run lower pressures for added grip on greasy roads.

Read on to find out more about each bike’s selling points and see whether one might be the bike to answer your needs…