why pay more?
I have a full on BMC pro-machine which I can use in the winter, with the proviso that the carbon wheels will get swapped out for some easton alloy ones. When all the road shit and grime gets on the rims / brakes / drivetrain it wears it all out, and I don’t really fancy shelling out for replacing all those unnecessarily. Plus, with some of the ultralite race bikes, should they be crashed they’re as good as written off frame wise, and given the general conditions in winter make this more likely, I don’t fancy that (albeit my bike’s are insured for crash damage!)
So, I have a planet-x pro carbon thing, with ultegra and bontrager racelite wheels for winter, which I don’t really care if it gets trashed, as there’s nothing on there that’s not in the realms of easily replaceable for reasonable cash. It’s also a bit heavier which adds training benefits too.
For the winter I do exactly the same with my mountain bikes, with the full sussers only coming out on dry (ground) days, and a ti hardtail for everything else. Admittedly, the gears on it will get killed over the course of a winter, but that’s not too bad.
What I don’t understand is having a total ratbike to use over the winter, as if it’s not that nice to ride, then what’s the point?