Ultimate escape bike!

wakou wrote:

...My feeling is that the wheels should be more robust than road wheels..

Well, in an ideal world, they should and it's certainly true that you wouldn't *choose* a radial-spoke wheel off a Langster - which is tasty road fixie - for cyclo-cross duties.

However, wheels are weird and that's no mistake. Some people could ride a strongly-built-for-the purpose 'cross wheel and destroy it by the third ride. Others can nimbly float over the worst terrain and preserve their wheels with far-too-few-spokes for years; maybe you're one of the latter? Well done, top skills. Don't worry about it. It obviously would have crumpled by now but if it does you can replace it with something more ideal to match the rear and it sounds like that dealer knows what they're doing when the time comes.

wakou wrote:

I have a 'do anything' bike as well (Specialized Tricross Sport) Can someone explain please what are the differences between this and a 'road' bike? Mine has a triple front chainset, and has a Deore LX at the back instead of (?) Tiagra.... and canti brakes, but is the frame geometry significantly different? Are the wheels more robust?

Compared to a full-on race bike your Tricross has a slightly longer (+25mm) wheelbase due to a combination of longer chainstays for fatter tyres and clearance for mud or mudguards at the bottom bracket and a longer-rake fork with a slacker head angle for stability on rough trails. But it's not as 'long' (+50mm) and 'slack' as a full-on expedition tourer like the Surly Long Haul Trucker or Dawes Galaxy. The idea is to strike a compromise between the outright sportiness of a racer and the load-luggingness of a proper tourer and, as such, won't do as perfect a job as either. BUT, come the Zombie Apocalypse, you'll neither want to be loaded down with tons of luggage nor tripped up by the namby-pamby prissiness of racing tyres if you have to dodge through a rocky stream (Zombies hate water) so for that reason it is an ideal 'do-it-all' machine.

You could definitely wizz it up with some narrower, smoother tyres or even a second set of lighter wheels. Lots of cyclists get tons of free pleasure kicking the arses/asses of riders on full-on racers using just such do-it-all bikes if you only want to own one. But if you're like most of the people writing and reading road.cc you'll be seduced eventually by owning second and third bikes to suit the ride you're planning for the day. It's one of the more blameless indulgences you can be seduced into..