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RX4 definitely on the future purchase list. I’ve got a Caad12 so needs to be flat mount rear / post mount front.
You can get addapters that go both ways now, although flat fork to post caliper is seriously ugly, and the post fork to flat caliper has limited compatibility because the caliper has to has to sit between the posts at an angle.
Might be worth looking into as it would allow you to use a pair of flat mount calipers which may be more future proof.
Or ask Hope if they'll do something like an X2 caliper with mineral oil seals.
Hello Daffy, great looking build. May I ask what color your have choosen? Looks really nice!
Anybody else gone down the Carbonda route from the UK? I'm thinking I might give them a go and would be interested in hearing how you got on. Any issues?
Daffy - how's your bike fairing after 5 months?
Ooh - and some pics of them please.
@bonni - sorry I missed this.
Update: Well, I've now done around 2000+kms on the Carbonda and all is well, nothing untoward to report.
I've changed the drivetrain from 1* on a SRAM Force Chainset and XTR rear mech and cassette to 2* GRX crankset on 815F/R mechs and an Ultegra 11-34 cassette to make better use of the gears.
I've done a few 125-205km rides on it and it's generally fast and comfortable, even with full guards/rack averaging between 28 and 31kph for bigger rides.
The only thing that's a bit of a pain is the internal cable routing. As this has a full BB shell installed, getting cables and junction boxes around the BB can be a right pain with only two very small access ports. I've just installed some sound proofing to stop it sounding like a coin in a milk bottle.
Its now mostly silent, but when I get to the Christmas non-commute period, I think I'll strip and redo it.
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I’ve done a few 125-205km rides on it and it’s generally fast and comfortable, even with full guards/rack averaging between 28 and 31kph for bigger rides.
Bloody hell, I'd be happy with those numbers on my full on fast summer road bike 🙁
Mint looking bike! what's the paint code? I'm going to order a 696 myself
averaging between 28 and 31kph for bigger rides.
Bloody hell, I’d be happy with those numbers on my full on fast summer road bike
+1
Daffy must be putting out some impressive wattage.
I'm happy if I can get a bit over 25kph on flat-ish road rides, albeit solo.
@sillytorque - I think it's Pantone 3145
@chakaping - I seriously doubt it. Strava estimates the average power as between 140-180W between 28 and 30kph and about 230-250w for 32-37kh. over 50-200km.
28kph for 200km (or 100km for that matter...) is damn impressive in my book.
Anyway - nice bike. I have about 6500 miles on my cheapo Chinese road frame now and it's never missed a beat either.
This looks lovely Daffy!
So glad to hear you are enjoying it and are happy with the choice you made.
How tall are you out of interest?
Did you just order it direct from them?
Did they have the frame in stock and was shipping quick?
Thanks in advance.
Sorry I didn't see your post. I’m just over 5’11” and its a 56cm. I ordered direct and it took about 8-10 weeks, but this was at the height of the covid crisis in China and air freight was severely limited and as the frame needed painted, there was also a delay due to Chinese holidays.
Strava estimates
Thats where it falls down... 😀
No worries.I still love that colour on yours it looks so good and such a great spec on the build! Kudos on that
Think I will order one myself, will probably go carbon finish.
I want to use it as more of a winter road bike. How do you find it when using as a 'road bike' do you think it loses much to an actual road bike?
Ta
That is a very nice build, tidy lines and great detail, hats off
How do you find it when using as a ‘road bike’ do you think it loses much to an actual road bike?
That's how I predominantly use it - commuter and crap weather road bike. It's fast enough, comfortable enough and quiet enough that I don't feel myself reaching for the roadbike if there's the slightest chance of a bit of dry tarmac. My average round-trip commute is around 56km, in the dark, usually wet and windy and I'm still averaging 30kph. Most 100+km rides are also above 30kph. It zips along nicely.
I have just put some more winter orientated wheels on it:
initially I tried my 650b wheels, but the 45mm guards were overwhelmed:
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My daughter liked it as it was now clean and had pink hubs:
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In the end I settled on using 700*40s:
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@daffy so sorry read your comments and insight I appreciate it, thanks for sharing. It seems like we wanted a bike for similar reasons. I have ordered one up in 56 UD Matte, now to find the bits to build it with,,, I have some wheels so far.
Liking the look of the free ranger. Looks like, according to planet X, I am between the large and the medium. I am 6ft with 32 inside leg.
Anyone able to offer any advice on fit?
Looks lovely. I am ticking off the days until my Free Ranger arrives. I went for the black and red as I thought the yolk of the brown and orange or purple, red and yellow wouldn't pass the log term amusement test.
Did you go for 1x drivetrain or the two chainring up front?
I'm just about to pay for my CFR696 frame. Did you guys use PayPal or via Alibaba?
Hopefully it won't take tooo long to arrive!
I'm in exactly the same boat as some on here!
@piesoup how much is the CFR696 direct from Carbonda? Are you getting custom paint?
@markieg I'm also around 6ft (maybe half an inch or so under) and unsure on size. Looking around other forums it seems about half the people would say definitely medium, half definitely large so I've no idea either. I'm tempted to go large to guard against toe overlap, and because I don't think it'll be too stretched with a slightly higher bar (and the slacker head angle) than my road bike. I quite like small and nimble off-road generally, but a bit longer and stable is probably no bad thing here. Also, I don't think Planet X are offering it with a 2x at the moment are they? Frame only is not great value compared with complete bikes so whilst I'd prefer GRX800 and probably 2x, I'll more likely go for Force 1x since it's so much cheaper.
I notice they had £200 off in the autumn... does anyone have any clue if they're likely to do similar in January...? £1800 is not bad, but at £1600 I'd hit buy now!
Notice you put the g-ones on the bike for winter, I ended up putting the same on your old niner 😁 what’s the impact on your average speed?
Yes, custom paint, but no graphics. Spare mech hangers, axles, headset. And the slow boat for delivery. $700.
Email them. Wing replies straight away and is very helpful. He breaks down the costs for you. Just asked what the lead time is. Fingers crossed!
@gray - I’m of the same dimensions and bought a large Carbonda which is what you see in the pics. Anything smaller would be too small.
@Tiboy on shorter rides, not much, maybe 1kph as I think I just pedal harder, but on longer ones maybe 2-3kph. Still not much. But combined with the guards I’m losing maybe 4-5kph on longer rides over my fair weather bike. Maybe around 28kph average rather than 33-34kph.
For whoever asked - I paid by PayPal and took just the frame, hanger and custom paint for around $570 shipped.
Thanks Daffy - very useful info. I love the colour of yours by the way, would be very tempted to copy it!
@piesoup - I've emailed them and Wing has replied. $480 for frame, fork, seat post and clamp. Headset $12, F&R axle for $26, spare mech hanger for $5. Single colour paint is $70 extra, shipping options are WXY air for $160 (25-45 days) or DHL for $230... so a decent chunk more than $570 or even $700. Maybe the seatpost is the difference? I saw a couple that had cracked on the ridinggravel.com forum, so I'm not desperately keen to pay much for one. I'll ask. By the time I've paid VAT and import tax on top, and bought the other bits it does make the Free Ranger look a much more cost effective option (I don't have many useful bits lying around so I'd need a full groupset and most of the finishing kit).
The shipping is the difference. Mine was $570 including shipping and the frame was a similar price. The import fees were low as they marked the value as $100. This wasn’t at my request and I didn’t know about it until it was delivered by PF, after I’d paid the fees.
I'm trying to find the posts about the posts, but am struggling...
Your colours look nice - glitter as well!
Thanks! Going with a much lighter gray, as I have a silver crankset. No way am I having a dark frame with a silver crankset!
Carbonda didn't have any of the 15mm forks without mounting bosses, so had no choice but to choose those ones. I'll remove the bolts and figure a way to block the holes.
I've just ordered a Free Ranger (large). Decided it was too much hassle and potentially time to go direct. Can always steadily upgrade the finishing kit and wheels as the fancy takes me. I've not tried Sram shifters before, but I dare say I'll get used to them!
Hmm, spare mech hangers are $5 from Carbonda, or £25 from Planet X. Vitus branded ones are £15 from Wiggle. Does anyone want any extras? If not I'll just buy a Wiggle one, but if any of you guys could do with a spare then I'll email Carbonda and ask if they'd be willing to sell me some on their own.
(Oh and I don't think I mentioned, Wing said that buying the frame without seatpost would be $30 less. I couldn't find where I'd seen pictures of cracked posts, so could easily have been a different version and so I wouldn't worry. Certainly if the post is only $30!)
My frame is still somewhere in China, was meant to ship at the end of Nov by WXY train,then there were problems so went with WXY air two weeks later it still is in China.
Still trying to get parts together for it
Full build kit quite good value here if it happens to be stuff that you like:
@gray that is a cracking deal. Annoying as I have wheels already and was really looking for electronic gears, now having a think
Yeah, if I'd seen that earlier I might have gone for a frame only instead. Almost worth buying and splitting!
I've found prices have skyrocketed. I need everything bar wheels, crank and bars.
Going for a Shimano 11x2 105 set up.
I was hoping for all the dentists getting DI2 for Christmas and then selling on their 105 or Ultegra, but that didn't seem to have happened!
@Daffy - what mudguards do you have? I've got a build date of 4th January so I'm getting excited now. Have ordered some MTB SPD shoes since I moved to flats off road a good 15 years ago and my old SPD shoes got chewed by mice!
@gray
I did order the kit in the end as was showing in stock etc.
However bad luck for me Saddleback have just cancelled the order and refunded, so back to the drawing board on groupset. Thought I had nabbed a bargain, or at least something to get the bike built up with.
Boo
@bobodaclown ah crap, sorry to hear that, what a pain.
My Free Ranger arrived today! Have assembled it, but now I've no idea when I'll be allowed to ride it properly! Bah. I'm going to order some spare hangers directly From Carbonda by the way, so if anyone wants some then let me know and I'll order some extra.
@gray I appreciated you mentioning it, just bad luck the order being cancelled.
Oh nice, let us know any thoughts on it.
My frame even though I paid for air has somehow ended up being trucked by road from China to the UK, bit annoying as paid more for air.
Hi all, thanks to you lot, I'm about to order a Carbonda 696 from Adam. It's coming in UD Matte as I can't decide on colours...
Has anyone used Shimano 12mm thru axles with the QR type lever? Very handy for me getting it in and out of the car etc.? Sizes that you used if possible.
I may spray the matte with a 2K satin coat, but not sure yet.
Ordered 2x extra hangers as well.
Looking to go Di2 Hydro with a 2x front, I don't ride anything really gnarly so not bothered about GRX, as I also do a fair bit of country lane riding. Maybe Hope RX4 calipers.
I'm just under 5' 10" with not very long legs so going for a 54. My current bike is Kinesis CX1 54 with 110mm stem which I built up. Hope it is sized OK!
Any tips or truly great suggestions most welcome!