What bike? What tyres?

teacherchris

I am on the verge of buying a flat bar hybrid and need a bit of advice on equipment.

I have been looking at the Specialized Sirrus http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=5383


Trek 7300fx http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=5223


and have just stumbled across the Carrera Gryphon (although there seems to be a lot of prejudice with Halfords) http://www.halfords.com/opd_product...4&type=0&cat=92


I have a 20 mile daily commute and have panniers which last Friday totalled 13kg (30lbs) in weight. This isn't an average weight but I need a bike that can cope with the occasional heavy load and be used to 8kgs (split between two panniers on a rack).

The Sirrus is the bike I have been taken with but I am not sure that the 700 x 28c can cope with the weight. I am worried about getting constant snakebites. If I have a disaster with the bike how easy is it to get thicker tyres? Would I have to buy new rims?

Am I worrying over nothing or should I be looking at the thicker tyres of the 7300fx? The Gryphon is there because it has Tiagra gearing, is the cheapest of the three and currently comes with £100 free bike equipment.


Am also a bit confused over the ranking of Shimano gearing systems. I thought Sora was for road bikes and Tiagra and Deore were for mountain bikes but the Sirrus Sport is upgraded from Sora to Tiagra, hence my look at the Gryphon.



Would appreciate all the advice going as I seem to be going around in circles and am desperate to make a decision and get my new bike.

Cheers, Chris

wrench

I have a 7300. The one with suspension seatpost and fork. I love it. The suspension does come in handy. Any way the FX is the same sans suspension. I highly recomend it, however don't get the Trek rear rack, it's too short. I can't use panniers without rubbing my heel. I thought it was because of a short chain stay, but the Trek spec page lists the chainstay at 17.5 inches, which is really a long chainstay, so am looking for a new rack.
I checked out the sirrus at another LBS and it's nice. It doesn't have as low of gearing as the 7300 but it should handle your load well. From what I can tell, 700X28's are considered relatively large. I wouldn't let tires stop you, I'm sure if you wanted, your LBS would swap the 28s for a set of 32s or whatever size you want. You won't need new rims to get fatter tires. While your at it, get thorn resistant tubes. Even if you choose to stay with the 28s, getrid of the oem tubes because I found stock tubes attract holes. They're like magnets. I started using thorn resistant tubes on both of my rides and haven't had a flat in over two years. I know nothing of the other ride you listed, but I'm sure it would do well. I do want to put one more kick in for the 7300 suspension model. The suspension really is nice and I've covered a lot of miles. I like to explore and I'll take off on a single track and the suspension really smooths thing out, especially over washboard surfaces. I've swapped out the 700X38's for700X32's. Works just as good.