voldemort

Long distance commuting (60 miles RT) in Chicago area. Mix of trail, decent road, and crappy pothole road. I've talked myself into each of these bikes at one point or another. ie. buy steel-ruling out the Tricross, steel is heavier, Tricross back in. Raleigh-fenders and Brooks saddle included, Volpe-haven't read anything bad about them yet. And of course there's the new vs. used question, too. HELP ME!

BengeBoy 

Salsa Casserroll.

bhop

My friend has a clubman and likes it.. that's about all I can add..

gbcb

I rode a Volpe and found it fine, but kind of "meh." Got on a Jamis Nova (now rebadged, with some component changes, as the Aurora Elite) and I was grinning like an idiot after about two seconds. In other words: Find these bikes and ride them.

531phile 

They are very similar geometry wise. The Tricross will be a tad bit more aggressive than the rest. Have you test ridden all of these three model? If not, do it. Then make the decision based on how it feels.

I'd imagine the Raleigh and the Volpe will have the same riding characteristics since both are all steel while the specialized will feel a bit different since it has a bit more steeper headtube angle and it has an aluminum frame with carbon fork.

Also the Raleigh comes with dualpivot sidepull brakes. I bet the max tire width will be around 32c. The Specialized and the Volpe has cantilever brakes which will allow wider tires (35-40c). Of course, do not know the specs for certain, you should look into this. Especially if you want to run wide tires. Could be the deal breaker.

irclean

My LBS has a Clubman on display (drool). It is a sexy machine. My only concern would be the 28-spoke wheels since I'm a Clyde. It looks like Raleigh has addressed the problem for 2011 since the new model has 32-spoke wheels. Looks like they're changing the paint to green from brown as well. Here's a review of the 2009 model (which, ironically, was grey instead of brown or green): https://www.bicycletimesmag.com/content/raleigh-clubman.

TXBDan

I was really unimpressed when i test rode a Volpe as well. I rode it back to back with a CrossCheck and the CrossCheck had my giddy, the Volpe felt dead and boring and was quickly tossed out of contention. Its of course a personal thing, i have long legs so ended up with a Ridley, their geometry fits me like a glove.

voldemort

Okay, cross off the Volpe. Jamis Aurora Elite a bit too much $$. I've read the CrossCheck is kind of heavy (even vs. other steel rides), but may have to check it out.

BengeBoy, what about the Casseroll. Let's hear some salesmanship. Oh yeah, I'm trying to stay under $1000, but would buy used if I found THE bike.

Absenth

I rode an Aurora and the Surly Long Haul Trucker. Similar experience to TXDan with the Volpe and the CrossCheck. The Jamis was a nice bike, but the Surly feels really really solid.
as a commuter, are you really going to notice an extra even 10 pounds? I can't harldy tell the difference with my trucker naked, vs dual loaded rear panniers on my commute. I wouldn't cross any bike off the list just because of weight.

driveblind

I have my eye on a Clubman for next year (I love the new green), so I've been reading quite a bit about it lately. I believe that I saw that the max tire size is 32 without fenders and 28 with fenders. Have you ridden all of these bikes? Any way you go, it looks like you're going to end up with a nice new ride.

rumatt

I'm in a very similar situation and I'm quite close to ordering a Gunnar sport

gbcb

Yeah, the Aurora Elite isn't cheap (I think they raised the price from when I bought my Nova), but you might get a good deal if you can find an older model. FYI, 2007 was the last year of the Nova - the Aurora Elite was introduced in 2008.

I've heard great things here about the Casseroll.

BengeBoy 

Several things:

1. Both Salsa and Surly are from QBP. My impression is that the fit/finish of the Salsa line is better. I like that.
2. Good value for money.
3. I liked my test ride.
4. The several people I know who own them love them.
5. I like the color.
6. Good all round bike -- has rack mounts, long enough chainstays to fit medium sized panniers on a rack on the rear, plenty of clearance of good-sized tires w/fenders.

Although -- I think any of the 3 bikes you mentioned would work.

voldemort

Rode the Clubman today. Hard to get a feel for what it might be like comfort-wise, test-riding a non-broken in hard-as-a-rock Brooks saddle. And it comes with 25mm tires, which don't give me an idea of commute comfort when I would use 28s or 32s. How does one translate a hard, bumpy ride on the tires yu won't be riding on a saddle that will eventually be much more comfortable than it is on the test ride?

Will steel frame with 28s (if I need to keep the fenders on for commuting be significantly more comfortable than the 25s on my carbon road bike? Or do I really need to figure on riding 32 or larger?

voldemort

Okay, finally found a Salsa Casseroll to test ride. I test rode it on an old brick street, and I can't even imagine trying that on my road bike. And now a Volpe (I know, I had just ruled them out a week ago) just came up on CL, so hopefully taking a ride on that soon. The Casseroll soooo outrode the Raleigh Clubman (well, at least for me). Also tried the Surly Crosscheck. Really nice bike, but not the right ride for me. I guess I don't really want to go back to bar end shifters, but I didn't realize that until I rode the Surly.

gerv 

A number of year ago, I also test rode a Volpe and a CC. I bought the Volpe and still like it. Liked the CC, but the double ring... well...

Sometimes even something like not properly inflated tires or even crappy tires will negatively influence a test ride. Or the particularly size of the bike, Volpe a 55cm and the CC a 54.

karrar

i'm test riding a volpe tomorrow, ill let you know what i think