Currently reduced... Thinking of it to replace a Ribble Carbon Evo road bike. Will be used mostly for weekend club rides with the odd sportive and perhaps a bit of greenway/Lane work. Anybody have one and thoughts/opinions on it?
My opinion is its a bit of a commuter all round bike or winter bike.
PX do much better bikes for not a lot more that are more suited to a club run especially if you are coming from the carbon ribble bike.
Mine is ace.
Used to commute on it (up to 125km round trip).
Used it to tow the kids trailer.
Used a lot of Sundays for the road club spin.
Used for things like the wicklow200 (similar to the Fred whitton).
Used to pop to the pub.
Used to go camping.
Raced A4 on it.
Massive clearances for mud guards and loads of eyelets in the right place for things. I run 28c but I did have 40 in there with no bother.
Rival22 hydro works really well (very positive feel), only bad bit being the life of the gxp BB, replaced with xt/road jobbie on a 105 crank. Novatech freehub died after 3 years and I couldn't work out which was the correct replacement so bought a hope 20five rs wheel to replace.
I'm close to going for one of these too. The one thing holding me back are the Avid brakes.
I had the frameset built up with half-decent parts. I found the ride poor and the power transfer also poor. It's very versatile in terms of tyres and accessory compatibility. Fine (ish) for sitting and spinning. As soon as I tried to put meaningful torque through the crank it seemed like the pedalling efficiency went through the floor. My current cube attain disc (also pretty low budget) kicks it in the pants. Much faster and livelier. Rewards effort way more. Rides crap roads much smoother despite being more limited on tyre size. Feels less harsh on rubino 25s than the LR on voyager hyper 35s.
Yeah hydros would be nice but had BB7s (probably a step up from BB5s) on an Arkose a few years ago and they were fine. Not sure it's much of an improvement on the Ribble though and guessing a bit heavier. Decent price at £545 delivered.
I've had one for a few years. Primarily bought for commuting, but it's done Pyrenean cols, the tour of Wessex, a few triathlons and many, many miles in the Yorkshire Dales.
It's now back to commuting duty along canal tow path and bridleways. It's a very comfortable and versatile bike but it's not the lightest a proper road bike is faster.
Joking aside regards the QC on a batch of the seat tubes a few years ago, as much as ~£525 looks a tempting price, I wouldn't go near a cable operated disc brake road bike with a barge pole. I'd sooner spend ~£675 on the Pro Carbon Evo Shimano 7000 rim brake, but I'd much rather look at full hydraulic disc bargains like the Pro Carbon Evo Disc Rival22 or the London Road SL Force1 for £1k.
Unless I wanted a dedicated turbo bike, but then it might be cheaper to buy a frame and minimum parts.
One of our ride captains has one as his winter bike. Heavy, comfy, bombproof, big tyres and guards, he loves it
Mine was one of the 'seat tube' batch and has been fine. Saying that I've got a Thompson seat post in and a really strong clamp that is done up really tight, I did nearly buy a carbon post for it once until I remembered about the seat tube issue....
Also I've always ran mine with cable disc brakes which have been great, but I've recently got hydro on another road bike and have been blown away by them. They are so look much better. If you do get cable discs, make sure you set them up well.
Got 2. Comfy, not too heavy, big clearance, BSA BB. Both bought as £150 frame sets. Done everything from commute to Ride London to TNR. Built up with Shimano Hydro. Been faultless over the years.
Quite fancy one as a cheap roadie / gravel thing for occasional use.
Question on sizing, at 5ft9 medium or large? I have short legs long torso. I am worried that the large seat-tube length and tall headtube could cause problems but prefer the length over the medium.
I'm normal proportion 5'10.5 on large.
My mate about the same size swapped his large for XL. So, Large I reckon.
Reach jumps a fair bit from 379 to 394mm M to L.
Stack jumps from 554mm to 573mm M to L.
It comes with a 100mm; 7 degree stem.
I'd probably go L at 178cm tall and approx 82cm cycling inseam and a weak lower back. Someone healthier could make the M work, perhaps with longer stem.
I love mine, But it was a bargain (one of 'those' frames several years ago with the shonkey seat tubes), and for goodness sake don't buy a bike with mechanical discs these days, yes they work, but are frankly gash compared to proper hydraulic stoppers...
If it's useful for reference:
I'm 5'10" (~33" inseam IIRC) riding a Size L, with a 70mm stem and 170mm cranks.
Sorry for the slight thread hijax.
I've a spare set of 650b wheels i want to play around with on the London Road. Whats the highest volume tyres people have on theirs? If at all.
Would they take a 1.95 - 2.2 mtb tyre???
thanks in advance.
Sticking with the Ribble and plan to build it a new set of wheels and like the look of those Ritchie ERGOMAX bars. Have other bikes for off road duties.
I'm 5'9" just.... and ride a medium. 31" inside leg. Large would be too big for me.
6ft with a long inside leg on an xl with a 70mm stem and 175's.
The large needed a stupid amount of seatpost to make it fit, then my big feet made toe overlap an issue.
Was this the bike/frame with the famous Wizards Sleeve (TM) seat tube?
It was yeah. Should have been a 31.6 but was reemed to 31.8. I assume newer ones have been fixed....
