Dear all – firstly thank you for this wonderful thread. After several weeks of reading I bit the bullet and ordered a built up Tripster from Freeborn (who were excellent). The bike is way too nice to stick with some of the cheap finishing kit provided so I’ve got a few questions for you if you wouldn’t mind:

1. What seat posts are you running? I have read the previous posts about sizing / shims etc and am undecided to go for a titanium post or save the cash for other bits.

2. My bike came with the new shimano 105 11 speed gearing. Compared to my previous road bikes (one with 105, one with tiagra) there doesn’t seem to be much of a definite ‘click’ when you change gear. It’s more of a soft nudge. Has anyone else experienced this?

3. Will regular skewers fit the wheels or do the discs mean you need to run mtb skewers? I’ve got my eye on the salsa ti ones.

4. I use a topeak dx tourer rack. Anyone on here use the same rack and if so what mudguards are you using?

Any help appreciated!

Am I missing anything other than making the bike more about me and my riding than about general aesthetics?

Clearly we will have to hunt you down 🙂

If you already have wheels you might have a freehub compatibility issue with XT 11 speed, it’s not the same as road 11 I think.

Tom,

1. I have a Ragley carbon, it was cheap at CRC. Hasn’t slipped once with the stock clamp, but is ugly as sin. If I could strip the decals it’d be more in keeping.

2. Sounds about right. I cam from 9 speed Tiagra which hadn’t had any love for about 8 years as it just kept working, so new 105 is like a religious experience.

3. MTB spacing AFAIK (100 front, 135 rear?) – Personally I wouldn’t use Ti skewers though, had some stretch a bit and get loose over time. The stock Kinesis CX ones seem fine to me.

4. Not got a rack yet, but hoping for a Tubus Ti one day…

mister grizzly’s bike

Very nice!.

That’s lush. I’d have gone Campag if I could have afforded too, just because.

Lovely build.. price?

tomwoodbury : I now use the DT Swiss skewers as you can do them up really secure, not that i ever had an issue with using normal skewers. 100mm front, 135mm rear.

As for seat post it’s a Lynskey Ti post and Thomson clamp with carbon grip paste in the seat tube – the seat tube was ever so slightly oversized although i’ve never had any slippage but i’m only 65kg.

Lynskey Ti seatpost with enve clamp

Tubus Ti rack on mine and Portland Design Works mudguards with the extra long rear stays – brilliant mudguards and very easy to fit.

cloudnine : mistergrizzly listed the build + cost on the previous page.

Thanks for the replies gents. Somafunk – from the photo it looks as though the easton seat clamp sits a little bit proud of the frame at the rear. Is there a gap underneath? I’m considering an Easton elite post with this clamp.

Also first ride today with the wtb cross wolf tyres. I am not a fan! Any recommendations on a more sleek tyre that can still handle bridleways?

Nice!

Thanks Soma, much appreciated!

And for anyone who’s interested, as indicated above, my pride and joy is actually for sale, full details are on the previous page – 48 (thanks again Soma!).

Some lovely builds on this thread, especially that Campy one above!

How are the brakes mixing Chorus levers and TRP calipers?

Somafunk.. are they Ti or steel skewers?
Everytime i look at bling bit on your bike i want it.

Another one joins the flock.

I was already riding a Rose Cross bike. I turned 40 last year and the wife wanted to buy me a steel custom. I don’t really have any real love for Steel, but I liked her thinking, thought about possibilities, read this rather lovely post and thought…hmm Tripster ticks the boxes.

Had a few little adventures getting to this point, built it up from most of the parts on my Rose. Had a spare seat tube when I put a dropper on my Scott, but I think I’d like to upgrade that…purely for tart reasons, plus those Skewers above are quite lovely.

Only problem I had with the build was the mounts for the brakes needed milling as they weren’t square…cost me an arm and a leg in the LBS, but this is Switzerland and my LBS chap is a bloody perfectionist.

First ride on my commute, mixed road, track and forest (it’s a tough life).

Man, what a bike, so, so comfy, it’s like a big car, you don’t feel like you are going fast and you aren’t hammering it, but it just seems to float.

Kind of bike you could ride all day and not feel beaten up. My Rose was quick on the tracks, but you felt every pebble, the Tripster…pure joy.

Also, LBS talked me into a Colnago chain at nearly twice the price of a Shimano. I ride and commute all weathers so took his advice of having something a bit more long living….I never thought I’d find a chain pretty….but it really is subtle and lovely 🙂

After last night’s late night build

And in it’s natural surrounding on the way to work.

Hi guys

I keep looking at all the wonderful variations…..

My Campy Chorus one is (unfortunately) now on eBay should anyone wish to acquire her 🙁

If you’re interested, you’ll get a very warm welcome and a wonderful, genuine bike. Feel free to contact me and thanks everyone (especially somafunk!) for all the inspiration.

Grizzly.. Id break it to sell. Will be much easier to sell the parts individually and you’d probably get more of your money back. Id maybe be interested in the pedals..

Made a bit of an error and bought 2 x Clement X’Plor USH Tyre 120 TPI a few months ago with the intention of running them tubeless. Put one on the rim the other night and they arent suitable for tubeless.

One tyre is brand new in the packaging.
One tyre has been seated onto a kinesis CX rim.. and basically didnt even to attempt to inflate it..

Bought them too long ago to return.. paid £72 for the pair.
These are the 120tpi ones not the cheaper 60tpi.
Would like £60. Just thought someone here might be after some nice all round use tyres. If they’d gone up tubeless they’d have been perfect..

Just ordered some 40c WTB nano race instead..

somafunk – Member
Nae worries, I shoulda responded to your earlier post, dya recommend the nanos for tubeless?

(Moved this here)

The nanos were a bit of a pain to get inflated but havent ridden them yet.
Had to make a ghetto inflator from a pop bottle to get them up and they didnt really make a loud ping onto the rim. One seems to be holding air perfectly and the other seems to be going flat after a few hours. Might have to re-do it.
Ive read several people on stw using them tubeless so hopefully should be ok.

They look perfect size for the Tripster (come up a small 40c – probably more like 38c), nice centre to them to speed up any tarmac riding but also enough tread to use them on any surface. Ive have started planning some all day rides on trails / bridle paths / beaches – so hopefully put the tripster to good use…

Noisy front spyres anyone?

The nanos were a bit of a pain to get inflated but havent ridden them yet.

went up easy on stans iron cross and held air, althought the back not so good now after a puncture that sealed itself, and/or the valve core is knackered.

Really like them, seem perfect for the tripster.

If anyone is looking to move on a large Tripster, I’d be interested.

Cheers for that post cloudnine

I’m 6’1 and went for the 54 as I prefer a more compact frame size Daffy if it helps? 🙂

Anyhow, if I can keep my saddle, bottle cage and pedals… It can be someone’s for 2.6k, which can’t be bad for a new Tripster, available right now with full Chorus and Ritchey Carbon? 🙂

And cheers for your thoughts on splitting, cloudnine, but the Campy stuff governs the wheelset too and it’s quite a niche setup having Chorus with discs so I don’t think it’d work out really as separates if you see what I mean – needs to remain a complete bike really beyond what’s mentioned above 🙂

Must admit though, I’m not going to enjoy the goodbye moment!

Well my Campy Tripster now has a new owner to appreciate her, he was a great guy to meet and here’s to wishing him many happy years ahead with a wonderful machine!

Cheers all, and happy new bike day Joe 🙂

After some great advice from Freeborn, and reading this feed, I decided to also get a Tripster….in part as an 18th birthday present I was very much involved with choosing! So excited, the only problem being I have to sit and stare at the box for the just under a month until my birthday (when I’m allowed to open it) which I’m pretty sure is going to kill me – I’m just having to sit and gaze at the fantastic pictures you guys have posted until then…..! Even on a 10 minute test ride I thought wow! I can’t wait to get on it – I have a 180 – mile (round trip) commute every week and a 7000 mile tour of Europe lined up – goodbye trains! Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions of pannier racks for it – obviously one that is worthy enough to match this bike as I am rather struggling knowing very little about racks, but need a good one as that is a lot of miles.

Tubus make some nice Ti racks (might be cheaper from germany).
Sounds like an awesome trip you have planned

DSC03265 by Jim Barrow, on Flickr

It’s gotta be the Tubus Airy Ti Cloudnine

That rack really looks as if it should be part of the bike – thanks for the recommendations guys! I’ll have a look – I might be able to pick up one in Germany on our way through ;). Yeah, really looking forward to it – the advantages of the gap year! 🙂

Sooooo want a tubus airy but just don’t think it will fit my 29×2.1 on my monstercross

Shame! The only thing I wonder is if it is as sturdy as some of the other racks by Tubus, I would want to carry quite a bit of weight quite regularly…

Isn’t the airy rated to 30kg.?

Yikes! It is – I must’ve missed it?! That’s the one I now want then! Thanks for pointing that out.

The Tubus Airy is expensive but it’s impressively sturdy and light. I got mine from Rose in Germany which was far cheaper than I could find it in the UK. You won’t fit much on the top though as it’s very narrow. And although the ortleib back roller panniers aren’t supposed to fit, they do

Fantastic – thanks bitasuite that was my next question and thanks for the tip about Rose! But just to check – you have enough clearance on the Tripster with this rack and back rollers (worth checking before buying the expensive rack I feel).

Sorry I don’t ride a Tripster but I’m almost certain that it’ll be fine

You know that Rose don’t have any tubus titanium racks in stock till about 5 months time……

Took the Tripster away with me to Northumberland instead of the race bike. I did intend to do a bit of offroading as well as some road rides, but apparently it was a family holiday, so I only got out twice – once in a hail storm. 🙄

This was on a 120k ride at the top of the 100 Climbs No. 156 – High Knowes. Sadly no KOM, as it was straight into the teeth of a stiff headwind. 👿

She’s a great bike for a long day in the saddle.

.. I’ve just ordered a set of Archetypes on Novatec hubs from Spokesman in ‘none more black’ configuration. Really interested to see how the tripster works out as a ‘pure’ road bike as it’s ticked everything else off admirably.

Nice photo matts.

My first post to this epic thread – my new frame arrived Friday 🙂 It is the most beautiful thing I have ever owned – just wiating for a couple of parts to arrive and hopefully will get to ride it at the weekend.

Really interested to see how the tripster works out as a ‘pure’ road bike as it’s ticked everything else off admirably.

Well, [disc brakes not withstanding] I’m not sure i’d ride it in a crit. 😉 However, the low BB and slack head angle make it super stable at speed, so descending on some steep and badly surfaced descents was really confidence inspiring. The discs are a real boon in that department as well (though I did have one startling moment when I grabbed a bit too much rear brake and ended up a bit sideways 😯 ). I was running with Open Pave 25s, which on Pacenti SL25 rims come up at a measured 27mm.

It’s reasonably light as well. My race bike is about 7.3kg, and while the Tripster is over 8.5 as pictured above, it never felt heavy. I reckon I could’ve had the KOM on High Knowes without the headwind, it nearly blew me to a stop at one point. 😆

Nice photo matts.

Thanks. 🙂

I’m a recent member of the Tripster club too, and I can vouch for it being utterly brilliant.

One major disappointment is the brakes, however. Has anyone else found the TRP Spyres spongy, noisy, and ineffective? They’ve been tweaked in the shop twice, but they’re still awful. I’m considering upgrading. Am I alone in this?