Need a new bike

Just got a call from David at Cheeky who's been working on my bike. The spokes on both wheels were very loose, and the wheels were pretty badly out. The first spoke he touched broke off at the nipple, so it's gonna need a complete rebuild.

This brings up the point that the bike is a hand-me-down and there's a few things that need doing. The drive train is well on the way out, and it's gonna need replacing within a few months at best. It's too warn to swap out individual components so it's gonna be new crankset, rear cluster and chain. Expensive. I bet the rims on the wheels probably aren't in great nick either, as this bike has seen some big distances.

So I think I may be better off buying a shiny new bike. Much as I like the idea, I've been quite enjoying the ride this frame provides. The shape means the bike just wants to zip along. Thing is, it's pretty old and heavy, so I really probably should buy a new one.

I've been fantasizing about my ultimate commuting bike for some time now. It would have a hub dynamo driving LED lights front and rear, hub gears and a chain cover. Now's the time to see if such a beastie is viable.

Any such bike will also need to be workable as a touring bike, so it can't weigh a ton, needs to perform well in a range of gear ranges and have strong

This big problem is, with such a specialised bike it'll probably take a bit to work out what to get. In the meantime, what am I gonna ride?

Any suggestions on bikes and components? I'm not one of these bike nerds who can rattle off Shimano's latest catalogue. That's something I've always left to good mechanics.

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