After a road bike and decided pretty much on a roadrat. Want a bike for non racing group rides, touring and maybe some light off road tracks. Im 5"8 average build, think i might be a meduim and will get a drop bar.
After some inspiration for my build or might go full bike and swap bits as I go along, show me yours please! 🙂
I had a long with shorter stem, put on some wider flat bars. Took up the Alfine and Disc option. Also put Schwalbe touring tyres on it, inline seatpost on old saddle. And Lock-ones. And mud guards. And 2 sided SPD pedal things.
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Although I don't have any pics, I'm 5'8" and have the medium-short drop bar Road Rat which fits perfectly...
I got the pre-built singlespeed disc version through the Bike-to-Work scheme, and have since put 1x10 Campag on it. And, despite what some folks on the net say, you can quite easily set the Tektro discs up to run with normal Ergo levers.
Have been using it to commute and am loving the bike...
:o)
This is my Large/Long with CXP22s on XT disc hubs, Hope Mini Monos, Dura Ace mechs, carbon cranks, bars stem, post etc... Bit of an overkill but I built it with spares that I had lying around and a few classified purchases.
I did a twenty last night on it (I built it for commuting and winter road training where it feels safer than an arse-in-the-air roadbike) and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy riding it. Obviously, it's not as quick as the carbon road bike, but so much comfier. I have 32mm Bonty Race Lite tyres on it.
[Edit] I'm a shade over 6'...
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Here's my Rat fresh from a day of touring up and down the coast:
[url= http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5032448561_6b965dbee4.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/egg_n_bacon/5032448561/ ]Roadrat[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/egg_n_bacon/ ]jwrfooo[/url], on Flickr
Behind the panniers there's an 8-speed Alfine drivetrain.
-j
Medium-long, standard flar-bar geared build that Cotic offer. Factory Hope headset upgrade and I added old discs from an MTB. Tyres replaced with 700x35c Schwalbe CX's. Seatpost was at maximum extension so now sporting a longer Thomson layback. I find the reach fine despite being a fraction over 6'.
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Large rat in singlespeed commuter guise.
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MM
Bit of a thread highjack - how different is the geo of the long roadrat to old kona's? I like the idea of the roadrat but a bit put off by the dropouts as I'd want gears and discs. So I thought about getting an old steel kona, sticking disc tabs on and chucking in some 700c wheels. Has anyone tried this?
I use gears and discs on mine with no problems. The dropouts work very well - a fraction more fiddly than a standard dropout but no major problems at all.
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medium short with a 100mm stem suits all 5'9 of me.
Cheers all. Think yours is more of the build I was thinking of theboatman
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The Roadrat is quite different to old MTB frames with 700c wheels. The BB on an old MTB frame will be around 30mm higher, the head angle will be 1-2deg slacker which will feel a little floppy with the road wheels.
Cheers. Cant wait to get mine now and load it up. Might get a alfine and a singlespeed rear wheel for the front and swap over when I want to singlespeed, would that work? Think I saw pics of a surly with something similar.
Ahhh, cheers kelvin 🙂