Steel Framed bike suggestion

Kona do some nice ones. The Honky Tonk would probably suit as an all-rounder but Wiggle have the very lovely Kapu reduced to £1144 (53cm only though). If you're very lucky you might find a 2009 Kona Haole reduced to around 1k and that's about as good a bargain as you'll ever find. My wife has one and it's very, very nice.

I have been looking at the Honky Tonk as an all-rounder. Like the idea of the downtube shifters (room for a bar bag) and the vaguely retro - and very un-team replica - colours and styling. UK range is listed at http://www.konabikes.co.uk, though they don't have the 2010 model specs up yet.

Genesis have the Croix de Fer and Equilibrium, both a quid under a grand.

Surly and Charge do steel-framed road bikes, there's the Salsa Casseroll, though it might be a bit over your budget. I'm sure there are more.

Look out for a review of the Haole on road.cc real soon! hopefully we'll be getting an Equilibrium in soon too

I think the new Genesis graphics on the downtube aren't as nice as last year's - they look 'cheaper'.

Croix de Fer: 2009 v 2010.

How long have you got to wait?...... you could push the money frame wise and go for a hand built, say, Mercian*, and upgrade components as and when you can.

This way you get made to measure to your spec.............. but it takes a while.

si

* other makers out there!

@Simon E - The 2010 Honky Tonk has Sora levers. Full spec of zero-ten bikes here http://www.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=honkytonk.

cheers guys - thanks for the advice.

Hanging out for a review of the Genesis bike.

Have a look at the 853 framed Thorn Audax MK3. £1300 for the Deore/Tiagra 27 Speed. Keep your alu road for events and do everything else on your Thorn (Club runs, Audax, Light Tour, Commute).

http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/reviews.html

How about the Cotic Roadrat? A great versatile bike plus someone is selling one one in the classified section: http://road.cc/content/forum/1589-sale-cotic-road-rat-large-immaculate-c...

Chuffy, I've been looking at the 2009 bike (still in stock in a few places) with the Dura-Ace DT shifters. The 2010 one is red with STIs, as you have pointed out.

Just read the Haole review. Lovely!

Hi - would Surly or Charge be worth looking at?

Both do (IMHO) lovely steel frames with all sorts of applications

http://chargebikes.com/home/
http://www.surlybikes.com/

I'm a fan of the Steel framemyself - good luck!

Matthew

we should have an equilibrium coming in soon. in the meantime the charge juicer review is worth a read...