Dawes Discovery with Deore?

"Neil McLaughlin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I'm currently lookin at hybrids to buy for around £500 and checked out the Dawes Dicovery 601. It
seems like a nice enough bike but should I be concerned that it has a MTB groupset: XT rear, Deore
front. Most other manufacturers in this price range, Specialized, Ridgeback, Marin etc, go

for

Quoted message said:

road specific groupsets such as Shimano Tiagra and 105s.

Wouldn't bother me, with one check below.

The distinction between MTB and Road gear sets is somewhat artificial. Yes, it makes a difference
when you get to pure road gear ratios (close ratio rear blocks, small capacity gear changers and
twin front rings), but when dealing with wide-range touring/hybrid gears and triple chainrings there
is little to choose.

Only area I would check is the overall ratios; are the front rings large enough for general
road use. I find "compact" MTB rings result in the bulk of gear ratios concentrated a little
low for road use.

Nigel

Neil McLaughlin said:

I'm currently lookin at hybrids to buy for around £500 and checked out the Dawes Dicovery 601. It
seems like a nice enough bike but should I be concerned that it has a MTB groupset: XT rear, Deore
front. Most other manufacturers in this price range, Specialized, Ridgeback, Marin etc, go for road
specific groupsets such as Shimano Tiagra and 105s.

Don't worry about it, XT and Deore are at the quality end of the mtb groupsets and will give just as
good performance as the road stuff. Probably be a good bit tougher as well.
--
"We take these risks, not to escape from life, but to prevent life escaping from us." ***** replace
'spam' with 'ben' to reply *****

According to the Dawes website it's a non-compact 26,36,48 Deore chainset and the cassette is 11-32.
This gives a great range of gears for all sorts of riding.

I ride a Dawes Chilliwack with a 28,38,48 chainset and an 11-30 cassette and 48-11 is fine for
on-road, in fact it's a tad higher the 52-12 found on many road bikes (although some roadies do have
52-11 as the highest gear).

You'll also be able to do tracks and trails (as a hybrid should) and you won't come across anything
short of vertical walls that you can't get up in 26-32!! The Vredestien Spider tyres are great
on/off road tyres too.

The mountain bike groupsets will give the sort of durability and performance that you'd want
for a hybrid.

If you want a pure on-road bike the you might consider the Discovery 701 which has a road chainset,
carbon fork and and racing tyres (it's a bit above your £500 limit though) or perpaps one of the
Ridgeback Genesis bikes. Equally, if you want something a little more to the mountain bike side of
hybrid then the Ridgeback Switch series looks great.

Enjoy whatever you choose. Kind Regards, Paul.

On Sat, 09 Aug 2003 17:00:40 +0100, Neil McLaughlin did issue forth:

Quoted message said:

I'm currently lookin at hybrids to buy for around £500 and checked out the Dawes Dicovery 601. It
seems like a nice enough bike but should I be concerned that it has a MTB groupset: XT rear, Deore
front. Most other manufacturers in this price range, Specialized, Ridgeback, Marin etc, go for
road specific groupsets such as Shimano Tiagra and 105s.

If we're just talking about MTB derailleurs, then I don't see a problem here. If it's got an MTB
chainset and cassette, then your gearing is going to be lower than it would be with road components.
Whether or not this is a problem is, I guess, down to personal preference.

Huw

In my experience, the thing to really worry about is the rear hub.

DO NOT get a rear hub that's not a Shimano cassette (and made by Shimano). I've never got another
type of cassette hub that didn't give trouble, and Shimano ones seldom do.

"Paul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

According to the Dawes website it's a non-compact 26,36,48 Deore chainset and the cassette is
11-32. This gives a great range of gears for all sorts of riding.

I ride a Dawes Chilliwack with a 28,38,48 chainset and an 11-30 cassette

and

Quoted message said:

48-11 is fine for on-road, in fact it's a tad higher the 52-12 found on

many

Quoted message said:

road bikes (although some roadies do have 52-11 as the highest gear).

You'll also be able to do tracks and trails (as a hybrid should) and you won't come across
anything short of vertical walls that you can't get up

in

Quoted message said:

26-32!! The Vredestien Spider tyres are great on/off road tyres too.

The mountain bike groupsets will give the sort of durability and

performance

Quoted message said:

that you'd want for a hybrid.

If you want a pure on-road bike the you might consider the Discovery 701 which has a road
chainset, carbon fork and and racing tyres (it's a bit above your £500 limit though) or perpaps
one of the Ridgeback Genesis

bikes.

Quoted message said:

Equally, if you want something a little more to the mountain bike side of hybrid then the
Ridgeback Switch series looks great.

Enjoy whatever you choose. Kind Regards, Paul.

Thanks for that Paul, I'm not after anything too roadie, I've already excluded the Genesis and 701
which I think are more like flat bar racers. I was more inclined to the Specialized Sirrus Sport but
my choice is limited due to this being an insurance replacement and the company replacing my bike
don't have any Sirrus in stock until the '04s come out. So it looks like I'll probably go fot the
Discovery 601, they seem to have a reasonably good reputation.

Cheers Neil M.

Neil McLaughlin said:

I'm currently lookin at hybrids to buy for around £500 and checked out the Dawes Dicovery 601. It
seems like a nice enough bike but should I be concerned that it has a MTB groupset: XT rear,
Deore front.

I run XT on my tourer and my recumbent, no problem at all. Handles wide-range cassettes very well,
reliable, easy to maintain. Buy with confidence, I say.

Guy
===
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Improved!! Now with added extra Demon!

"Neil McLaughlin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm currently lookin at hybrids to buy for around £500 and checked out the Dawes Dicovery 601. It
seems like a nice enough bike but should I be concerned that it has a MTB groupset: XT rear, Deore
front. Most other manufacturers in this price range, Specialized, Ridgeback, Marin etc, go

for

Quoted message said:

road specific groupsets such as Shimano Tiagra and 105s.
--
Neil M

Do not buy a Hybrid ! You will regret it.

Graham

Neil McLaughlin said:

I'm currently lookin at hybrids to buy for around £500 and checked out the Dawes Dicovery 601. It
seems like a nice enough bike but should I be concerned that it has a MTB groupset: XT rear,
Deore front.

No, I reckon that's a positively good thing for that type of bike. Road bike gears are often too
high for many people. The cassette can always be changed if you want to roadify the gears a bit as
rear MTB mechs are compatible with all Shimano cassettes.

~PB