Urgent Advice Please!

Or use HY/RD with a 50g weight penalty - but mighty stopping power and the easy life  of self adjusting calipers.

The Dale is great but the discs aren't that good. Serviceable yes.

Swap them out for some Juin Tech R1 from Edgesports.

I've had exactly that Synapse for a year now as a winter bike.

It's only weakness is the promax brakes but they are easily swapped for TRP later on.

The bike will take 28mm Conti 4 seasons tyres with SKS Mudguards - Just !

If you are commuting make sure you get mudguards.   A lot of club riders ride the Ribble Audax winter bike.  The main thing is get something you love.  Makes it so much easier to go out on something you like.

Hold your horses I would say. 

After christmas or new year you will get better deals. 

But if I have to choose from your list I will defnitly go for the Canonndale and I wouldn't even look at the other two. 

Personally I would suggest you to stretch your budget futher than you can imagin. If you are prepared to pay £600 then stretch it to £1000. 

For £1,000 you can get a lot for your money. 

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes/cyclo-cross/product/rev...

And I will also look at Giant Defy as well. 

There are so many to choose at that level and something that I will be happy with. 

I went from £200 to £1200, to £2200 and now £3700 for my road bike.  

Imagin the money I could have saved if I just bought the £3700 first. 

I hope you did buy the cannondale, because the others are crap!! ( groupsetwise) . with the canonndale, the only crap is the brakes, but you can get a set of HY/RDs and have the best brakes possible!!

As far as I'm aware the synapse will take 28mm tyres at best and maybe not mudguards with that. And it doesn't have dedicated pannier mounting points. I ruled it out as a new commuter bike for those reasons. I'm getting a marin that can take 35mm tyres and guards and panniers with drop bars.

You don't tell us anything about your commute - how far, what are the road surfaces like, what the climate's like where you are, will you need to carry much kit, etc. Difficult to say the best tool for the task if we aren't sure what the task is.

Cannondale's a good bike - but is it the right bike?

LOL at buying a Viking......actually that was me once as well. 

I'd buy that Cannondale, Tiagra and discs, easy win. 

Picking from the list, the cannondale is definitely the choice based on brand and performance. However, all the other caveats are in place. If you're going to hang on to this for a few years, the bike's suitability to what you want to do is far more important than a few quid saved. There'll be another big sale around the corner....

I agree with club smed - something with slightly wider tyres than an out and out roadbike is better for commuting on in bad weather and poor roads.

This is on a black friday sale still - hydraulic disc brakes, mudguard and pannier compatible for £700:

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXLDNAPEX1HOT/planet-x-london-road-sram-a...

Yeah, I'd be inclined to hold my horses, too - you've already rushed into one bike purchase. If you have the option of a cycle to work scheme via your employer, you could save as much/more as these deals and pay it off monthly. There'll still be deals on 2016 stock early next year and even bigger savings if you can fit them into c2w.

Do you really need it ASAP?

That said, if you need it now, and you're confident enough with the sizing, the Cannondale's cracking value at £600.

Definitely the Cannondale, but have a good look at the geometry (in particular the reach numbers) to check you're getting the right size. This isn't specifically for Cannondale bikes, just needs to be done whenever you buy a bike online

One further thing - if you've only got room in your budget/life for one bike then definitely go with a road bike. Same if your commute is over 10 miles one-way as your hands will appreciate the extra positions offered by drop bars. However, for a dedicated commuter a flat-bar road bike will be cheaper and just as fast. You'll end up with a better spec for the same money as a drop bar bike, primarily because flat-bar shifters are cheaper than drop bar shifters.

Cannondale Synapse Disc - you'll appreciate the stopping power of the disc brakes the first time someone pops out of a T-junction in front of you #voiceofexperience. Looks like it will also take mudguards.

Well, I'd go for one of the two with Tiagra (i.e. not the Intrinsic)  and I think I would opt for the Cannondale - a well-known and respected brand.  Think the Tiagra on the Cannondale is a more recent one as well, judging from the hidden cables.  Good luck