I’m assuming the main downside is not a high enough gear on the road if I’m lucky enough to give it some whelly.

I think 32-11 is going to be very spinny on road, but if you can live with that.. A 42 might be better, I’m not fit but I could climb most stuff on 42-25 when I had a triple, the granny (30?) was very much for the end of long days.

32 * 11 would get my back up badly on road. I’m probably doing 34/50 as I have one knocking around. I emailed Kinesis and they say it will fit a 53/39 as well.
Contemplating the stock build but as the chainset and rear block are not terribly useful and the brakes are likewise a bit duff (tektros I think) I discounted this option. Though the wheels are probably OK. I’d use Stans Crest from my MTB : they’re 360grms which is lighter than an open pro anyhow so happy days. Though they do suffer with dings but that is an issue with tubeless more then tubed.
The HY/RD are about 40grms a wheel up on the spyres that’s all.
Hmm <ponders complete bike..>

32 * 11 would get my back up badly on road. I’m probably doing 34/50 as I have one knocking around. I emailed Kinesis and they say it will fit a 53/39 as well.
Contemplating the stock build but as the chainset and rear block are not terribly useful and the brakes are likewise a bit duff (tektros I think) I discounted this option. Though the wheels are probably OK. I’d use Stans Crest from my MTB : they’re 360grms which is lighter than an open pro anyhow so happy days. Though they do suffer with dings but that is an issue with tubeless more then tubed.
The HY/RD are about 40grms a wheel up on the spyres that’s all.
Hmm <ponders complete bike..>

Thanks for your comments.
I think because my emphasis is so much more gravel/xc than road, which will only be connecting bits to the next off road section I may be able to handle it.
I guess I can only try it and see.

On a separate note (slightly) whats the best option for a frame only sale at the moment. Do Merlin actually have stock? I need a 51cm

I’ve been reading this thread for such a long time and I have to say its really been good to see guys and gals helping each other out and generally being so informative. Surely, this is what forums should be like!

Well said! somafunk, gonetothehills and the_lecht_rocks have been particularly helpful so many thanks to them as well as others I’ve missed.

Mine will be a bit of a frankenbike when it’s built so may hold off posting pics until it’s had its tweaks but that’ll be some time next year. 😀

I’ve not really read this massive daisy chain love-in but I was in Ronde today and they have a 57cm Tripster F&F on sale for £1350…Dunno if that’s a bargain or not but it looked tremendous in the flesh…couldn’t manage to parlay a fund release however, the OH was hellbent on buying kids shoes “not bloody more bikes”

easyrider – they’re Ultegra 6700 – the nice carbon ones. No idea of the pull ratio though… but I do know they work a treat!

cinnamon_girl – you’re welcome. I hope your frame turns up soon. Then you can get it built, ridden and photographed! There’s a fair few (mine included) where the spec seems to change with the wind direction 🙂

MussEd – that’s what I paid for mine – nice 10% discount at my LBS a year ago. There have been some significantly lower prices quoted of late, but I’m happy that over a year of riding’s well worth the extra I paid. At the end of the day, £1350 for a beautiful ti frame, full carbon forks and a few other bits isn’t bad value full stop.

i think i’m needing new bars. 300km in so far this week, 40% off road and the stock FSA’s are too narrow and just not cutting it……..now having seen those cowbells, can understand their ergonomics……

gearing wise, unless you want to go mountain biking with it, i’d recommend compact 50/34 with an 11-28 0r 11-30t with a longer rear caged mech. i’d go 11-30t with a long mech personally.

this will get you up all tarmac and all fire-roads.

brakes, the standard fitlyra’s are great in all conditions – take quite a while to bed in though, mine are just getting good after about 1800km.

You don’t need a longer cage rear mech for 11-30 – I have an Ultegra with 12-30 and it is fine with the short cage 105 mech.

On another bike I have a cassette with 32 and it does need the medium cage mech – and also doesn’t seem to run as smooth as the 11-30.

So unless you need the 32 I would stick with 30 as the longer cage will be more vulnerable and run the chain a little closer to the ground/mud.

I run the same – Ultegra 12-32 on the standard 105 rear mech and it copes fine.
I`m still on the std FSA chainset too, but may go compact when the right deal comes up (ultegra or 105)

57cm Tripster on ebay if anyone’s interested http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kinesis-Tripster-ATR-Disc-57cm-/291235727059?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item43cf0086d3

Jesus Somafunk, can’t imagine how they’ll ride but those Jones bars look lovely on your Tripster!

Took my compact off today and went back to 1 x 10, 40 tooth Surly ring and 11-36 at the back. Absolute relief and though I don’t understand why faster over the same loops. Supposing it’s because of better cadence, not losing momentum on shifting etc,? Certainly notice that I don’t tend to shift as much as I did with a front mech.

Think it’s time this thread had it’s own website!

I wish I hadn’t clicked on that eBay link now…

Luckily its too big for me

Not found this yet on the thread, what size disc are people using?

I reckon with a bit of compromise on the groupset and a rebuild on some old hubs I can make this happen …

EDIT: Just had a thought – DT240 hubs, would they likely take 11 speed (there’s a tempting offer on Merlin)? Or stick with 10? Or is that a cog too far and I should just go but the Kinesis CX wheelset from somewhere?

Answered my own question it appears not – specific freehub for 11 speed, so not backward compatible with 10. Might stick with 10 now, don’t think I gain much from 11 anyway apart from it being one louder 🙂

160 discs, the rear is a post mount 160 so you cant go smaller.

@TLR:

Thomson post here. I had dreadful slippage as it’s a clear mis-match in size. Rather than torquing up the clamp so that it pinches the post only at one point, I used a beer can shim and it fits like a glove. Minimum torque required on the seatpost clamp to keep it nice and secure (even greased up), with minimum stress on teh seat tube.

I used a beer can shim

which beer ?

some more beer can tips here :

http://velonews.competitor.com/2002/12/bikes-and-tech/making-it-work-have-a-beer-fix-your-bike_3288

That’s a very good question Turnerguy. I started off with a 440ml can of Becks which worked fine, but on further reflection I decided I wanted a “full sleeve”. i.e I wanted all of the insterted post to be fitting nice and snug with the frame along its full length so that there wasn’t any undue waggling or stresses. I therefore upgraded to a pint can of Stella which had the height for the job.

It’s a wee bit tricky to get the top of the can level with the top of the seat-tube (or a mm above it, which is hidden by the collar), especially when the parts are greased and you’ve had a few tinnies, but once it’s done it’s done.

what sort of weight do these come in at in off-road sort of mode ie with chunky tyres?

Not found this yet on the thread, what size disc are people using?

I’m using 160mm front/rear.

what sort of weight do these come in at in off-road sort of mode ie with chunky tyres?

Mine is/was 9.1Kg with my 40mm clement tyres, you’d be hard pushed to get the weight much lower but to be honest the weight of it is immaterial compared to how well it rides/glides on and off road.

Just off the phone to middleburn regarding the suitability of fitting the RS8 cranks to my Tripster and they are about to release a super compact double road/cx version 30 tooth inner/40+tooth outer which will be ideal for touring and ideal for my Tripster, so it’s now a waiting game till they are released and i can get my bike built back up……I’m not very good at waiting though……..

that seems pretty light – is that with pedals out of interest?

will those clement tyres work tubeless?

cheers

Yeah, pedals included (xtr spds), why would you weigh your bike without them?. I didn’t think it was particularly light – is 20lb considered light?.

The clement tyres may work tubeless with a slightly larger rim dia than the Kinesis CX disc V3 rim which i believe is made by WTB to a Kinesis design, the Clement tyres are too baggy/loose on the Kinesis rim.

is 20lb considered light?

i think so – my salsa vaya (steel frame and fork) is 28. 😯

The fat bugger will be going on a diet though.

28lbs!, are you sure?, my mtb with a dropper post weighs less than 24lbs, at the moment with a carbon fork it weighs 21lbs…………your vaya must be built for comfort rather than speed 😉

I think mine got under 18lbs with Ultegra 6700, Spyres, Ritchey WCS carbon contact points, the latest CX Discs, 25c Conti folding tyres, no guards… Back in the real world now with 37mm tyres and SKS Bluemels on, I’m confident it’s still a bit under 20lbs with pedals and all the other stuff on it (mirror, bottle cages, garmin mount, pump, seatpack bracket…)

Talking of which – does anyone want a set of SKS Chromoplastic P35 mudguards in black? They’re suitable for up to 28mm tyres and have been cut to fit a 54cm Tripster so would just need a couple of short extending brackets for the rear stays. I’ve put the Bluemels on now and am happy sticking with the wider tyres so don’t need these narrow ones. It could save someone hours of pain and suffering with the measure/fit fun and games you get for free with every pair of SKS guards if they’ll be of use. 🙂

Mine was 19lbs dead with the standard kinesis build kit and shimano DH spds……. 8)
It’s now got 28c four seasons, and one Spyre SLC on the rear.
Soon to have 50mm wide bluemels and tubus airy Ti rack to cover all eventualities

Another road sportive for it on Sunday, 110km Tour de Broads will be the furthest I’ve taken it so far.

I just got the Airy Ti rack

DSC03265 by South Downs MTB Skills, on Flickr

Looks good !!
Are they small block eights too ?
What are they like on it ?
They seem like a sensible allround choice

So that’s three of us on here with the Tubus Airy Ti rack 😀 , the Ortlieb front roller panniers work especially well with the Airy rack btw.

You can use a single rack stay to the threaded mount underneath the top wishbone seat stay if you put a bend in one of the stays and fit it central behind the Tubus name plaque on the rack.

My build kit consisted of the following,

Lynskey Ti seat post, Fzik Kium Aliante saddle.
Kinesis V3 CX wheel set with either Clement X’plor MSO 40mm gravel tyres or Clement Strada LGG 28mm slicks & continental tubes & Pauls 25th yr Anniversary wheel skewers.
Ultegra CX 70 crankset & BB, Ultegra short cage rear mech, Ultegra front mech, Ultegra 11-28 cassette, Sram chain, Ultegra shifters/sti units. XTR spds
Thomson X4 stem, Salsa Woodchipper bars, Lizard skins dsp bar tape.
TRP Carbon Spyre brakes, XT 160mm rotors with alloy spider, Yokozuna reaction brake/gear cable set.
All bolts that possibly could be were replaced for Ti on the bike.

That’s all a mute point now after trashing my entire drivetrain, it’s currently lying on the chair behind me stripped back to bare frame waiting on middleburn to release their new crankset of which will be included in a new XTR build with the Jones loop bars as previous page, it should be a better set-up for possible touring duties and if i don’t like it then it’ll do for my Soulcraft build instead.

That Tubus rack does look very neat indeed.

Seeing your build list, somafunk, and not that you need them, but have you spotted on grit.cx the news (and pics) of the Pauls calipers….? 😈

away for a look now…….

…..I’m back

God damn!…..I’ve just this week bought a set of Spyres to fit an Alloy Tripster that i got for my brother at the weekend, I could have fitted my Spyres and saved myself £130…ho-hum.

Those Paul callipers look pretty nice, and seeing as i plan to fit Paul Love Levers to my Jones bars it would make mechanical sense to use them…( common sense mode engaged ) but i don’t need them really?….do i?….

To take my mind off the Pauls brakes…….

…….Here’s a gratuitous shot of my bro’s new bike that we collected last Sunday, needless to say i stripped it back to a bare frame, polish and waxed then rebuilt it with a new chain, cassette, hope jockey wheels, my old Ultegra crankset & BB from my Tripster, unused Xona front mech from original Tripster build kit, TRP Spyres/xt rotors and Yokozuma brake/gear cable set and new bar tape/bottle and cage..so i’ve now got a box full of old spares that may get thrown at a hack frame for winter abuse back and forward to work.

Should do him through the winter, he’s never had a road/do it all bike before so he’s pretty chuffed with it,

Yes… Sorry about that 🙂 I just felt duty bound, knowing you’d got the levers and QRs… It’s only bits of metal…

Anyway – the alloy Tripster looks good. I had one in the blue and liked it a lot. It did me proud and paved the way for the ti one. It’s a different geometry to the ATR of course, but still works very well.

Gonetothehills, I’d be interested in the mudguards,I’m having a 54cm built up atm & will be running 28mm tyres to get me started.How much do you want for them?

Phew!….. I had a closer look on Pauls Facebook page and i see the calliper has one moving piston and one fixed so i can rule them out 🙁 .

I meant to add i’ve also managed to buy a set of the full metal city fenders from PDW, from a rough offer-up fit with wheels in the frame it seems they will clear the 40mm MSO tyres so i’m happy with that purchase, and they do look pretty damn good, or at least as good as mudguards can ever look.

Did i just say Mudguards look good?…..should i start to browse the sunday supplements for slippers and bogof deals on grey elastic waisted slacks?.

Overthehill50 – great stuff! Not much at all. Drop me a line – I’m sure we can sort something.
Somafunk – that’s crazy (the calipers, not the pipe and slippers). The BB5 is so flawed in that sense so to use that as a model seems strange. The Spyres are the business. I really like the look of the carbon guards that the guys at Swarf were showing and the matte ano finish on those PDW ones looks grand too. How long to wait for your cranks before the rebuild…?

gonetothehills – I’ve sent an email to your gmail so hopefully you get it & then let me know details for paying for the mudguards. Just need the bike to fit them to now !