Anyone had both?

Ahhh… this is a classic. A bit like one of my many lonely posts. You come up with a pertinent question, carefully phrased and delicately titled. Consider that the STW massive will respond dutifully to this relevant exciting topic. And then, no one does.

Still, it’s only been 30mins, you may have some luck yet..

As it is, I do own a steel 456, which I am building up for a friend. It’s very long in the top tube though, which concerns me.

I’m just about to find out James – I’ve got a steel 456 and there’s a carbon one in a van on it’s way to me.

From what I’ve read, the answer is ‘yes’.

The Ti 456 I tried certainly was 🙂

I’m swapping an 853 Inbred for one too, but it’s not arrived yet. I’m hoping it just feels lighter and more direct more than anything else, and that it handles my 140mm Vanillas a bit better. 🙂

Order status = Manual hold 🙁

Are you OK no-eyed-dear? I’m worrying 🙂

PP- mine did that – they were waiting for a batch to come in from the painters I think.

It took about a week and then switched to ‘overnight despatch’ (a week ago) – got an email this mornign to say it’d be delivered between 11:30 and 12:30 so I’m peering out the window in anticipation, currently.

Edit: DPD van just pulled up 🙂

I was just about to take the ‘buy a steel 456’ step but the recent offer on carbon 456s has made me think again
Basically is it worth spending £ 240ish extra to lose about 2lbs frame weight?

Mine just arrived too. Opened it up and frame certainly feels light.

Not QUITE as ugly as I was expecting either – though I doubt it’s going to win any beauty contests.

Think I’m going to leave the decals off and keep it stealth, even though I went for black ones anyway.

Worth £240 extra? Depends if your children will starve but I’d say it was a pretty economical way of losing weight compared to buying XTR or carbon cranks.

it’s certainly lovely and shiney 🙂

Feels very light too. I’ve clearly owned too many steel frames in the past few years

I’m building it singlespeed with some Pace RC41’s to start with.

Main reason I ask is that I used to find my old 456 quite stiff for a steel frame

Yes, 456s and inbreds aren’t really stereotypical ‘springy steel’ rides (actually, many steel frames aren’t but that’s for another thread…)

Are you OK no-eyed-dear?

Lol..! Fine, just a touch of Monday-morning-itis. Woken up a bit now though. More normal. It’s ok, I’ll keep taking the pills.

What does compliant mean exactly?

Comfortable I guess?

Less harsh over sharp edged hits?

What, like having bouncier tyres, flexier seatpost and suspension? 🙂

hmmmm, I look at that massive down tube and that enormous BB junction and those fat stays, and the 1.5 compatable headtube…

compliant’s not the word that springs to mind

Done a full FEA on it have you? 😉

You’ll note that it has a pretty weedy top tube in comparison to the other tubes. Might that have some effect on compliance? Maybe more than heavily triangulated stays, for example?

I was thinking the frame material might have an effect on compliance

It will/might/can

I’ve a steel 456 as my winter/everyday bike but i had a demo carbon at Mountain Mayhem and did a practice lap on it. It was a revelation, like being gently spanked when you were expecting a good kicking and i’d have one tomorrow if i had the cash.
It’s not just the botty either i’m sure i pedaled better presumably because the chainstays dampen impacts before they reach the bottom bracket.

Gently spanked? My wife would love one!

I’ve had an 853 inbred and now a carbon 456 and the carbon is much better all round

It’s very comfy at all speeds but no twist or sloppiness

It’s like getting into bed with kylie after spending the night before with danni – easily worth the extra money (IMO!)

flippin ugly though!…ermm not your wife kind sir 😳

..and I reckon Danni would be a more compliant ride

I waited for a long while for a Carbon 456 in anything other than the original matt black. I’ve not seen one in the flesh but the huge downtube in black just looked massive. Then a black and red one came along in On One’s sale recently and I’m getting it as a Christmas present. I think the two tone colour breaks up the lines a bit. That down tube is mahoosive – it needed 100mm wide helicopter tape to cover just the lower faces.

I can’t help the OP as I’m not allowed to ride it until Christmas Day but I have built it up. I’ll report in when I’ve ridden it as I have a steel 456 to compare it to.

Love the red and black paint work on that. looks so right 😀

Yeah, reminds me of my mum’s Ford Fiesta from the ’80s (good).

Looks quite racey. What size bar, stem & fork have you got on there?

Oh nooooo….. … a Carbon 456!

Hope they ride well, just avoid passing shop fronts, because it’s really not pretty 😉

The stem’s a Truvativ all mountain 70mm and I bought Easton EC70 flat bars to try them out. If they don’t work on the 456, I’ll swap them with the risers on the Stumpjumper I have.

The bike’s set up more for XC than all mountain but it wouldn’t take much to beef it up a bit if I wanted to.

Think you’ve missed a trick there shedfull (IMO) but then I am a tart. Not sure if you realised but on-one did those special colours to match the SRAM anodised colours. You could have a matching red-win cassette, red X9 rear mech etc. (I’ve got the same style paintjob but in the green ;0)

More or less fully built now, (and still in the front room lol), just got to cut the outer gear cables and connect and set them up.

Mines built up with DT Swiss XMC 130 forks, (got a spare completely brand new set for sale if anyone’s interested ;0) Raceface carbon bars, FSA K Force carbon chainset, Thomson stem and seat post, XTR shifters, XT rear mech on Mavic 819 rims.

PS. Got any more photo’s Shedfull, I’d be interested in your cable routing choices !?

Yet1man – I really wanted red X-9 on that bike and hovered over the Buy It now on eBay and CRC so many times, but red X-9 is 2 x 10 only and I already had the SLX 9-speed cranks. It nearly ended up with a 3 x 10 SLX setup but SRAM rear mechs are so easy to set up so X-9 it was.

You got the green one? You know they’re one of a kind – the production ones will be gloss, not matt.

Here’s a cable routing pic:

I went:
rear mech – right top tube channel
front mech – centre top tube channel
rear brake – downtube channels

I really wish the most forward clamp for the rear brake hose was a couple of inches further down so that you can run the rear brake pipe behind the headtube rather than in front in a loop, if you want.

Also, the brake pipe clips are junk – I’m cable tieing mine.

No, shedfull’s bike doesn’t need shiny red bits.

Maybe just a nice set of black and red forks though. 2010 U-turn Rev Teams would be a superb choice.

Shedfull, just above the splat logo on the side of the headtube, is that a cable guide or just a rubber protector on the cable itself?

Like the red, BTW 🙂

Yeah, I know what you mean about the top rear brake hose holder, I came to exactly the same conclusion when offering up possible cable routing options yesterday, that’s what prompted me to ask tbh. Its just that inch or two too high to bring the cable round and through as would seem the natural path/the way it wants to lye without any excessively tight radius’s.

Agree with chakaping, I think a nice set of black (carbon) and red forks would go a treat on that – fancy some DT Swiss XMC 130’s ? ;0)

Also interested in what that (frame saver ?) is on your brake cable ?