Hello,
Time to add a new bike to the collection.
Im looking for suggestions on road bikes (dont have to be lightweight!!) which come with seat stay mounts for a pannier rack - thus avoiding the need for p-clips etc.
Im planning a 2 week tour of france for this bike, but dont really want to go for a pure touring bike as ideally this bike will double up as a handy winter bike (minus pannier rack!)
Ive so far been looking at the ribble winter/audax and some retro peugeot carolite frames - so that gives you an idea of how wide my search is. Doesnt have to be glamorous, light, carbon or whatever - just something solid, relatively cheap and with the ability to mount a rear pannier.

Im open to any suggestion! Thanks

Take a look at the Condor Fratello. It ticks all the boxes, although it may be a little over budget.

PS I work for Condor, so am a little biased.

how about something like http://www.veloecosse.com/productdetail ... ctid=15380 its cheap as chips, with the mounts & you won't care about it for winter use.

Must be x3 less than the rebadged condor frame. Or get the OEM frame from deda & cut out the middle man.

& no I don't work for either.

Rebadged? Please explain.

Thanks for the suggestions - will have a look into them.
Also seems that a lot of lower end cyclocross frames (caadx etc) come with rack mounts, which is cool...always wanted a cross bike anyway

the cannondale caad8 comes with the lower mounts (inside the seatstays by the dropouts). you could go with one of those seat collars that incorporates rack stay mounts, or just run it with a center 3point mount at the caliper.

by deda & then condor labels stuck on - paying for the condor flaky paint livery.

the veloecosse frame isn't deda - which I think what you were getting at.

The Fratello is Deda SAT 14 tubing, true. But it is not bought off the shelf at all.

Planet X/On-One also have a few things that could be worth a look.

Not a weight weenie and not a road bike but the Surly Cross check is definitely worth a look too. Plenty of fun with road tyres and even works pretty well as a commuter hack/light tourer. Really is a great jack of all trades kind of bike.

Go with a dolan preffisio, its designed to be a winter bike, it has clearance for 25c tyres and mudguards and has rack mounts, I put an adjustable stem and a couple spacers on mine when I toured on it because the geo is quite racey, but it is a very comfortable bike which doesnt really possess the normal aluminium bone rattling feel, I was quite content on the rough roads of scotland!
Also its cheap, for a frameset with carbon forks itll set you back no more than $350-ish if you shop around!

cool, thanks all for the help - time to have a look around and consult the student loan

Geometry wise, Im leaning towards the caadx - purely because Ive owned a caad9 and its geometry is fairly similair.
What are peoples views on using a caadx as a winter road trainer and tourer - reasonably light I may add, nothing mroe than 2 weeks at a time.
Obviously when touring Im not going to be to worried about speed, and the cross gearing should help with spinning up hills when fully laden - would it be a suitable frame to carry 2 weeks worth of kit?

Then, on the road as a winter trainer, I can easily swap the tyres over, but may find myself undergeared?

Hope some of that makes sense - basically trying to get a bike that does a bit of everything, including some cross use this winter.

Kinesis bikes in the UK have a few frames that might work for you both road and cyclocross. Affordable, good to ride and reasonable weights and plenty of models with both rack and guard mounts.

Good luck...

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The Caadx would be great for a tourer due to the strength requirements a cross bike would need, also cross bikes make ideal winter bikes because of the massive clearances suitable for mudguards, also the geo tends to be a bit slacker, which would come in handy if your winters are anything like they are over here in the UK just so you can be a bit more stable/controlled in or just before slippery situations, you wont need bigger gears in the winter either, personally when im out riding in winter I usually spin quite a bit and leave all the strength training and stuff for the turbo trainer.

Great stuff