Whilst I wait patiently for Kaffenbacks to come back in stock or for one to come up for sale, I still ponder over whether it’s the right bike choice.
Anyone care to comment on the real world differences between a Kaffenback and, say, an inbred 29er with drop bars with slim cx tyres? eg:
(yeah, I know that doesn’t have slim tyres)
I currently have a this:
Which is perfect for commuting and buzzing around town on cycle paths – so easy to hop up and down curbs, swerve onto the grass to avoid dawdling pedestrians, etc. It’s a bit of a grind with small wheels though, I’d like to go to large wheels and consider sticking some gears on for longer rides and the occasional bit of touring with panniers or carrying a child seat. I have a road bike but rarely ride it as I’m always scared my spine is going to shatter whenever I hit a bit of uneven tarmac.
Kaffenback with discs seems like the sensible option, but I’m just wondering how well a 29er inbred would serve similar duties and what the downsides would be?
So, building a cross type bike around kaff frame vs inbred 29 frame. Pros? Cons?
OT but I would say try some more road-oriented rubber before ditching that. for unloaded use I like conti sport contacts 26×1.3″. loaded, vittoria rubino pro slick 26×1.5″. the vittorias especially ate tough as old boots and are folding:-).
what you lose over larger wheels is right at the top of the speed range. for a similarly stout tyre, a 26″ will always spin up faster. and both tyres I mentioned do a very good job of smoothing rough tarmac. over my 33 mile daily commute, I am as fast on 26″ as my road bike purely because of the energy losses on my (known to be) overly stiff road bike, even with 25mm tyres and lots of playing with pressures.
Kaff is a good rough stuff bike but not really a CX bike. 32mm knobblies don’t leave a huge amount of room for the wet grass/mud mix that you tend to get at CX race. I would guess you don’t want to CX it though so they are generally fine. Can’t get a 38mm tyre in, in my experience. Anyway you’ll know if that’s what you want.
The big difference is that MTB’s generally have a longer top tube as well as different angles and clearances. That would stop me straight away as the reach will be longer. Too long?
Buy a very short one and the seat pin will have to be very long and maybe too high for the bars.
Contemplate looking for a rough stuff frame with bigger clearances. Even my Cotic X will take about 45mm tyres ok.
The taxonomy is irrelevant, I don’t really care what it’s called. I’m not about to go riding cyclocross courses with it. I intend to ride it on the road, but have clearance for something more than a 23c tyre and not be quite as head-down as my road bike. Pannier mounts are essential too, as are discs. And I’d like to be able to go up/down the occasional kerb and be able to ride a gravel canal path in reasonable comfort.
Thanks for all the useful comparisons between the two. I think top tube length is possibly the main issue to consider. On my 26″ inbred I’ve had to fit a short stem and a few height spacers to get it comfortable with drops (but it does ride great as a result). 32mm cx tyres would probably be more than enough, I’d have thought. It’s not going to be ridden in mud. I may not even bother with those, and go for some touring/city type tyres.
If I had a grand spare, I’d go out and buy a nice touring bike. So, in that sense, the Kaffenback seem like the sensible choice. I just can’t seem to ignore the versatility of a big inbred though, being able to stick some proper fat tyres on occasionally and have a bit of a laugh up the woods. I could even swap it over to flat bars in about 30 minutes…
I have owned both a Kaff and 29er inbred for my commute, which is a mixture of 50/50 on/off road
I sold the Kaff and ended up using cx tires on my 29er, which I know is a compromise but the combo is right for me and my commute.
If I had a choice between a Kaff and a Pomp though, I loved my Pomp to commute on, probably the best out of the three, the pomp is so much fun to ride ss or fixed little to go wrong and made boring off road stuff fun
+1 stick bigger wheels on your current frame. At least try it! There’s room for a 29er and big tyres at the front- I know because I’m currently running mine as a 69er. In fact if you did this it would raise your front too, thereby solving another problem you have!
I’m experimenting, but currently on 36:15 which is easy enough to ride slowly and up hills, but still gets me to over 20mph which is more than enough for what it gets used for.
Debating the merits of a 1×9 setup with a bar end shifter in my head at the moment too. We’ll see.
Posted 10 years ago
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