Most of my cycling friends live in a perpetual state of want, and if you're like them, you always want a new bike, or at least think about owning a new bike, no matter how wonderful your bike may be. You might even find yourself staring at other people's bikes.
How many bikes can you realistically own? Apparently the correct number is n+1, as Velominati notes, with an important caveat: "While the minimum number of bikes one should own is three, the correct number is n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned. This equation may also be re-written as s-1, where s is the number of bikes owned that would result in separation from your partner."
But if you could really own just one bike, which would it be? I'd want a bike that could do just about everything and not be crazy expensive. It wouldn't have to be perfect at anything, except at doing everything well. I like riding on all terrains, often in the same week and sometimes on the same ride, so it would need to be an all-seasons commuter, fast enough for weekend group rides, and something I could confidently take off-road when the trails call. It'd also have to be fun and good-looking.
For me, the Raleigh Roker Comp would probably be that bike. I just rode it for a month, and this is what it's all about:
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This Roker Comp came to me brand new, via a local bike shop, assembled with Shimano 105 components, disc brakes, 700c wheels, and 40mm tires. In size 58cm it weighs 20.4 pounds (claimed, without pedals) and sells for $3,300.
The Nottingham, England-based Raleigh Bicycle Co. is one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world and has built its reputation on steel bikes, but the Roker Comp's frame and fork are made of carbon fiber, the super-stiff and extremely light material used in the vast majority of higher-end performance bikes today. And as is the case with a lot of big bike companies now, Raleigh's bicycles are made in Asia — its carbon and aluminum bikes in China and its steel bikes in Taiwan.
As I rode it home the first day, the bike felt remarkably comfortable, plush even — in contrast to my aluminum cyclocross bike turned commuter — but also immediately responsive when I sprinted.
In all, about half the riding I did was commuting to work, between Brooklyn and Manhattan, a 10-mile ride that brings me down (unavoidable) bone-rattling streets with potholes, uneven surfaces, and sunken manhole covers. None of it was a bother on the Roker Comp, which with its wide tires and relaxed frame geometry smoothed out the bumps.
On weekends I hit dirt trails, gravel and fire roads, and singletrack wherever I could find it, usually in nearby Long Island. While not intended for hardcore mountain biking, on not-too-technical singletrack and fast-and-flowy trails the Roker Comp rose to the occasion. All I wanted to do was bunny-hop and jump stuff and, most of all, keep riding. On one local twisty descent, where you reach 30 mph in a few seconds, the thing was perfectly predictable each time.
I appreciated what it lacked too. It didn't have the harsh rigidity of a road or even cyclocross bike, but it didn't have the heaviness of a sluggish mountain bike either. And that's what made it so fun to ride for hours: the pleasing snappiness of the carbon frame, the tall wheels, the excellent tires, the stability, good for on the road and off. It's a serious bike, and it's a fun bike.
What kind of bike is the Roker Comp exactly? I asked Dave Pearson, the product manager at Raleigh. "It's all road, any road, a go-anywhere, do-anything bike," Pearson told Business Insider. "I like to call it an adventure bike."
So what are those? In short, and as the name implies, they're bikes you can ride almost anywhere. Adventure bikes typically have frames that resemble those of cyclocross bikes, drop handlebars, disc brakes, and extra tire clearance for mud.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider