Well, i probably should have asked for some advice on the forum before placing the order but impatience got the better of me so a combination of intense research and advice from the LBS led to the following order being placed: 😀

Croix de Fer Burnt Bronze frameset
105 5800 with hydraulic brakes
Mavic aksium one disc wheelset
Brooks C15 saddle
genetic bars/stem/seatpost
conti cyclocross tyres

The LBS is building it for free (saves me creating a monster!) so looking at a week or two before shes ready to roll!!
Im looking at doing some long n dusty rides long term (gravel tracks etc) but initially it will a mix of road and gravel tracks locally to get some miles under my belt.

I really wanted steel for the comfort and spent the past few weeks agonising between a croix, a charge plug 5 and All city macho man. Turned out the macho man was in short supply in my framesize and in the end i felt there was more value in getting a bike built right in the first place instead of spending on upgrades down the line and i kept coming back to this bronzed beauty. New to all this so hopefully not made a balls up.

Any advice on what kind of pedals i may be best going for?
unsure whether to get some kind of hybrids as not used SPD before and likely to be doing the odd ride in trainers when away in the campervan.

I’ll post some pics when i pick her up.

Thanks in advance

Lovely stuff. I was looking at one of these myslf. Ended up getting an arkose. Can’t wait to see your pics.

Read the reviews on the arkose as well, seemed highly rated. I did look at one in Evans I just had steel colored spectacles on

Nice, I love my CdF 20.

I use XT (race) spds. It’s simple enough to swap pedals if you’re going away and I can’t really imagine a bike like this with flats on permanently.

I have the croix de fer 30 but got a huge discount on stock build so went for that.

I run m530 spds on mine. Great pedals, have a platform so if you miss clip you can still pedal away from junctions / lights etc (needed for commuting). If I was not commuting I would stick with 520s

One thing I would say us the cyclocross speed conti tyres (for me and where I ride) were useless and punctured at the sight of a pointy object. Had two punctures on my first ride. Took these off within a week of owning. Does depend where and what you ride mind you.

Other thing I would definitely suggest is upgrading the front qr skewer. I initially had an issue with the qr moving in dropout on braking. Seemed to be a lot of paint/powder coat around dropout area of the carbon forks and the wheel would move down in dropout due to torque reaction from front brake. The DT Swiss RWS skewer solved this as no matter how tight I did up the shimano qr (tried a few) wheel would still move.

Interesting, I’ve been very impressed with the Cx Speed tyres on mine. No punctures in ~700 miles and they seem to be a great balance of being zippy on road but still very capable off.

As I said just depends where and what you ride I guess. They do get good reviews but for me they were useless. The marathon supremes I currently run have been faultless…. Not a single issue (or puncture) in 1500 miles since Jan…….That’s gone and done it! Punctures now all week for me 🙂

As don says, the tyres are very dependant on where you ride. I have done thousands of miles on mine between current CDF 30 and previous model with only I puncture. I love ’em 😀 very fast rolling on road and pretty good off.

Don – do you have a link to the right DT Swiss skewer ? Might pop one on mine for a bit of exta security. Thanks

Hi Iain sure this one:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/dt-swiss-rws-thru-bolt-alloy/rp-prod81162?gs=1&gclid=CMvCrqChj8YCFSPItAodc3wAgQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Just ordered another for the rear.

Feel so much better to tighten than standard cam qrs.

Thanks don, do the standard Formula hubs have spacers in them (Hope style) to convert to bolt through ?

Thanks for the tyre info, to be honest they weren’t really my ideal choice, I was going towards either Sammy slicks or 4seasons but my lbs had them lying around so chucked them in for free therefore becoming my preferred choice! Might will look into those peddles, will it not cause wear on the thread keep changing peddles?

Iain sorry this is what you want…. 5mm skewer….. Standard quick release….
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/dt-swiss-rws-mtb-steel/rp-prod81161?gs=1&gclid=CLeBmKjtj8YCFW3LtAodpUoAvA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thanks don, where did you find a rear one online ?

Save yourself £30 and get these skewers instead. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-QR-Wheel-Skewers-Pair-BRAND-NEW-Mountain-Bike-Hybrid-BLACK-/360903306790?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5407836e26

Agree that the conti cx tyres have very poor puncture resistance. Apart from that they are a good versatile tyre.
I run crank bros egg beater pedals and mtb shoes on my Croix de Fer. Works perfectly for daily commute, road miles, days out with the kids and general hooning. They are great bikes. I’m sure you will love it. Mines a 2014 frame in black with steel forks. The new frames look lovely.

Any old excuse to post a pic 😀[url=https://flic.kr/p/qH4Lnr]SAM_0842[/url] by philip dixon, on Flickr

David – tried them. They are nothing compared to the DT Swiss skewers.

When I built my kinesis crosslight up I was after some reasonably priced qr skewers, ended up with some of these
a2z qr skewers very impressed.

I must confess I’m somewhat confused with this skewer malarkey!?
Is my build likely to come with mavic skewers due to the wheels or shimano due to the group set?
Apologies for my apparent naivety, still getting my head around the finer things. Got some a530 pedals for just shy of 30 quid from ribble to give me some flexibility until I get settled in and put some cash aside for spd shoes.

Might have to consult my lbs on the old skewer situation and see what the score is. Thanks for the pic houndlegs, nice work, made my impatience go up a notch

And there she is! Just put some 28c Gatorskins on to give some puncture resistance and better rolling resistance (than the cyclocross tyres) ready for Bristol to London (114miles) in a couple of weeks time. Really pleased with how she rides.

Stop it. I’ve got a real itch for a bike like this. Looks like really nice OP.

Go on tomd, scratch it 😀

photo wasn’t working for me…

Lovely, love that colour 🙂

Thanks Rich, couldn’t for the life of me work out how to get the photo onto the post properly 😳

It was the colour that got me at ‘Hello’ too, great bikes. In sportive mode at the moment, then a change of tyres for some gravel races next year!

obviously not as light and quick as those Trek and Giant types that keep whizzing past me but then neither am i 😆