I have a Cube Kathmandu on which I've completed >4000 miles. Overall, I'm very happy with almost everything about it - apart from the fly-by-night company who sold it to me. However the bike paths in my area have, in the last year, become almost intolerable to ride most of the time. I'm sure I don't have to enlarge too much on this. I have reasonably close access to the South Downs Way and I'd like to use it.
As a pensioner, when I bought the Cube it was a big expenditure for me and I expected it to last many years. That was before Covid brought the multitudes out to clog up the paths. The prospect of losing half the cost of the bike when selling it privately is a bit sickening and cannot be justified given the acquisition cost of a more off-road capable bike. I'm thinking about one possible solution.
Is there any good reason not to invest about £400 (?) in a set of fully made up off-road wheels - ie with cassette, discs, tires fitted so that I can simply swap out the wheels when I want to go off road? I recognise the limitations but my needs are relatively modest. Could someone suggest what the optimal wheel and tire configuration might be, assuming that there's not some obvious show-stopper I haven't noticed. I'm not interested in pretending to be a MotoX rider having ridden trail motorbikes for years in the Tasmanian bush. Bin there dun that - too old and with bones too brittle to repeat the experience.
Roy
As a pensioner, when I bought the Cube it was a big expenditure for me and I expected it to last many years. That was before Covid brought the multitudes out to clog up the paths. The prospect of losing half the cost of the bike when selling it privately is a bit sickening and cannot be justified given the acquisition cost of a more off-road capable bike. I'm thinking about one possible solution.
Is there any good reason not to invest about £400 (?) in a set of fully made up off-road wheels - ie with cassette, discs, tires fitted so that I can simply swap out the wheels when I want to go off road? I recognise the limitations but my needs are relatively modest. Could someone suggest what the optimal wheel and tire configuration might be, assuming that there's not some obvious show-stopper I haven't noticed. I'm not interested in pretending to be a MotoX rider having ridden trail motorbikes for years in the Tasmanian bush. Bin there dun that - too old and with bones too brittle to repeat the experience.
Roy
