Spending, say, a grand, on a bike to ride, in order to have less bikes.

With this:

I'd go a nice new set of wheels, some Shimano 10spd and some dual calipers but keep the chainset
76b6e87a-83b3-498a-b105-d8f5391716e8-jpeg.525863
 
I have often thought a Dawes Synthesis with V brakes instead of cantis would make a really good do it all bike - particularly if it was the Reynolds 653 tubing version
CB947858-E736-434D-885F-C2B009547FDB.jpeg 8731A4EF-3EBE-43B8-AF16-71ABE2DB4020.jpeg

Well... the 501 frame is still lighter than the On One Bootzipper... I've not decided whether it's getting cantis or Vs yet... to be honest I'm craving wide profile chunky lever canti feel if anything - most of my rides have Vs for ease of setup.

Would definitely go for a 653 tubed one if it turned up, although interestingly there's a post on here where someone says it was the worst bike he ever owned, or something.
 
With this:

I'd go a nice new set of wheels, some Shimano 10spd and some dual calipers but keep the chainset
76b6e87a-83b3-498a-b105-d8f5391716e8-jpeg.525863

Currently thinking full Deore MT60, flat bars but keep the centre pulls and add some chunky lee-chi sort of early 80s ATB levers. Sort of a weird spec but it's making sense to me. Not sure about the wheels but definitely 27", not 700c.
 
next in the budget 'Retro aint dead' road bit is this slung together oddity

The frame was built for Mafac centre pulls and is of very high end 1970's Columbus tubing.

Theres 8spd STi with a 6spd Uniglide freewheel with 105 mech and Campagnolo wide flange Record hubs/ Mavic GL330 tubulars, Suntour Superbe Pro chainset, Cinelli bars/ stem, Campagnolo Record post etc blah de blah, you know

- a complete oddball of a build but under £200 - spaced oddity.jpg
 
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I wound up taking a few different approaches to most when i asked the same question. I pucked two bikes for all weather one to cover real offroad and one to cover everything else (but keeping the summer road bike) ive already covered the inbred choice. So I needed something for the commute, I wanted something I could hit the trails on but it was mainly for the road. so I spent a surprisingly small amount of money at the time (fairly sures its been 4 or 5 years) (£399) on something most people would snigger at. It had it's issues, mainly around the way it was put together, but a good service saw it work flawlessly for a prolonged period of time and with careful parts upgrades along the way it is still in service and has done 4 or 5 winters. it isn't the best bike in the world. it isn't the lightest bike in the world. does it do everything I want of it and more? yep. it's done a far few 100 mile rides, because the weather was crap and I didn't want to take the dry weather bike out in it, it's ridden in the peaks, lakes and welsh hills and it's gotten up everything I could manage.

Parts upgrade,
Hubs, because the quando hubs were shocking, they still work, but they are now sat on a shelf for when I want to build some training wheels. (changed the spoke nipples to brass while I was doing this)
bars, just because, there was nothing wrong with what was there.
rear derailleur, all the pivots died at 2k, turns out SORA isn't what is used to be :O
saddle, because.
brakes, because I wanted to try cable over hydraulic units, this meant changing the cables to compressionless.

everything else is service parts like tyres, bar tape and brake pads.

coyote.png

I wouldn't part with her for the world, she's been a great bike and whilst she may not have the soul of the inbred, she is her own lady who's done me proud. :)
 
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Just had re-read of your original post. In a way it's a big ask.

To re-cap, you like the Giant Cadex, but it's a bit racey, you prefer a flat bar, and presumably it needs to have rack mounts. You've done the drop-bar MTB thing, and are contemplating modern as a catch all?

- If you go retro, and get top-notch light weight steel or Ti, the chances of rack mounts and mud guard eyelets, get's very thin since
the high grade was destined for racing. A Ti Airborne Corsair from around 2000 would suit that brief, but it does have a long top-tube.
Wondering if something like a Rock Lobster also had rack mounts? On the steel side, someone will chime in about smaller British welders
who produced something. In a way, the clock needs to go futher backwards to fullfill that brief, to ATB kind-of-period.

- If you go modern, then for sure someone will be offering something. I don't have enough knowledge to help their I'm afraid. The above post
from Novacaine about the modern budget parts confirms my findings though. It doesn't get any better with time too......so there is still value in
older parts for longevity reasons.

- If you go a bit "in-between era's" so to speak, then what could be interesting is something older and unfashionable from the hybrid or CX
world that would take a flat bar. Harder to find, but there is some top-shelf canti / v-brake stuff out there that will accomadate a fat-ish tyre. I would like to suggest Surly because they have some good designs for niche do-it-alls, but in all honesty they cost a lot for what amounts to pretty crappy grade steel made in the far east.

- The cat among the pigeons......a retro mod 650B randonneur. Surprisingly, it may tick many boxes. What is really odd here, there are bucket loads available on this side of the channel in France - they are sitting at the back of the garage in all their 6 speed glory. No doubt there are some sitting in sheds in the UK. Like always, the USA is dusting off the design and benefits of this format and hitting the market with them.
 
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