Than a Kinesis R2 for £500?
I'd like a Fairlight, but it's way over budget.
I'd like a CAAD13, but also over budget and mudguard clearance might be more marginal.
There's nothing wrong with the R2, it even comes in nice colors. I just don't look at it and immediately want it. The trouble is anything more desirable is ~£1000.
Is this frame only?
I think you'll struggle for much less than £1,000.
I think you’ll struggle for much less than £1,000.
Yea, it's odd, "cheap" frames seem to have crept up to that price, and 'nice' ones seem to have got stuck there (Caad13, Emonda ALR). I guess it's the confluence of prices going up and bigger brands with economies of scale / overstock at the moment.
I like my R1. Hits a really nice performance/price point, right at the start of diminishing returns in my book. Would maybe benefit from nicer wheels, but even there as far as I can tell, they've hit a great product/price; I'd have to spend at least half the cost of the whole bike again to get anything that begins to improve on them. (Although I did put GP5ks on the day I got it!)
I've just last week built myself a Kinesis RTD for that purpose. I've only had one 1hr shake down spin on it thus far, but I really like it a lot.
I'm going to buy some fatter rubber for it, probably 32mm GP5000
Yea, the RTD was my preferred option, but the original plan was to try and build something 'nice' for under a grand using a mix of Ltwoo or empire groupset, some 2nd hand wheels and spare finishing kit.
And if I abandon the budget then the Trek Emonda starts to look nice (albeit would need p-clips or 3d printed bodgery to make guards work and tyre clearance would get tight).
The other issue with kinesis is their odd sizing / my odd proportions. I'm 6ft, but with more normal-ish length legs.
In an ideal world I need a 73.5deg seat angle and 57cm top tube (i.e. what most brands would call a 58cm frame) but I've short legs, so on a traditional 56 cm frame (same 73.5 deg angles) I end up with what looks like an oddly small amount of seatpost showing. If I was going for a custom build I'd ask for a 55x57 frame and fit a tall headset top cap.
A 4 season road bike is surely a gravel bike?
Didnt Bowman bikes stop trading? I have a feeling that there were lots of problems with failures in a catastrophic sense?
@breninbeener I did wonder (and do recall from LFGSS) about Bowman when I posted the link, but thought they might have done some sort of phoenix-from-the-ashes thing. Dunno though!
They had a frame called Palace which im sure was the subject of lots of problems. There were lots of shill allegations about reviewers when it all went wrong.
Then now seem to be akin to Sick Bikes selling t shirts.....
Didnt Bowman bikes stop trading? I have a feeling that there were lots of problems with failures in a catastrophic sense?
They did - but somebody bought the name and has started up production again - this time the frames appear to be a bit better built, rather than made of cheese.
Having said that the 'new' Bowman frames have absolutly no pedigree, so even though they look pretty nice i'd put my money elsewhere, at least until they've built up a reputation.
Have you looked at Tifosi?
https://www.tifosicycles.co.uk/shop/bikes/
My LBS sells their frames and reckons although they're pretty much jazzed up catalogue frames they're spot on for the money. The Rostra looks like it might work for you - £500 from here...
https://www.chickencyclekit.co.uk/shop/search/rostra-disc-alloy-frameset/
rOcKeTdOg
Full Member
A 4 season road bike is surely a gravel bike?
Yea, option B was just sling some road wheels and guards on the CAADX. The gearing's a bit low though and it'd leave me without a gravel bike unless I go through the faff of swapping wheels and guards every weekend.
By 4 season so you mean actually ride it in all 4 seasons or do you mean a winter bike?
On the kinesis theme, I'd love a GTD, though you might not think of that as 'exciting'. And blows the budget by a mile. I currently ride a Kinesis Grandfondo V2 (or is it V3 - whatever the last one was) which is basically the same bike but with rim brakes. As a non racer these days it does everything I could imagine a road bike doing.
Would a secondhand Synapse (full bike or frame) do the job?
Brother cycles Stroma?
By 4 season so you mean actually ride it in all 4 seasons or do you mean a winter bike?
A wintery bike, that's nice/exciting/not so heavy enough to ride all year round on brisk club runs.
So 28mm tyres, preferably some nod to performance, and mudguard mounts (that fit over 28mm tyres).
Does anyone have have a Trek Emonda ALR? How generous is the stated 28mm clearance? Would it fit 28's with mudguards if I 3D printed some mounts?
Would a secondhand Synapse (full bike or frame) do the job?
I had considered that, there've been a couple of unridden base models for sale local-ish within budget and it does tick the boxes better than anything else I think.
I had considered that, there’ve been a couple of unridden base models for sale local-ish within budget and it does tick the boxes better than anything else I think.
The current one? Looks really well sorted and I assume Cannondale are still making top-notch alu frames.
Brother cycles Stroma
That is nice, apart from the pink color
I like the pink colour more than the dark blue. Nearly bought one but gone for a Kinesis gx race (purple) instead
I end up with what looks like an oddly small amount of seatpost showing.
Mine is a 63cm. It doesn't have much seatpost showing, considerably less that my Tarmac does - that's the other end of the spectrum to this and looks a bit weird having loads of post showing. But the Kinesis is nearly horizontal top tube with a good amount of stack (which I wanted), so, that means lot less post on show.
My list of requirements were pretty similar to yours. This will have full guards (when I can be arsed). But wanted an all season roadie, that wasn't too heavy, could put proper guards on in winter, and not too expensive. I don't race anymore, I ride becasue I love to ride.
I'm riding my Camino at the moment with 32mm road tyres and full SKS guards, but like you pointed out, that means I can't go for a gravel ride when I feel like it, without a lot of faff changing stuff over. But, gravel bikes do make pretty good road bikes if your're just riding for the joy of it, and using a lot of rural backs roads where tarmac is...well, not great.
I like the pink colour more than the dark blue. Nearly bought one but gone for a Kinesis gx race (purple) instead
Maybe it's better in the flesh, in the photos it looks like zinc primer? It does fit the brief though of being a Strael for half the budget, and the fit's a lot better than the kinesis for me.
Reminds me I'd forgotten about the Ribble 725 and Equilibrium 725 as well. Although the Ribble is very expensive for the frame compared to the Brother and Genesis.
Mine is a 63cm. It doesn’t have much seatpost showing, considerably less that my Tarmac does – that’s the other end of the spectrum to this and looks a bit weird having loads of post showing. But the Kinesis is nearly horizontal top tube with a good amount of stack (which I wanted), so, that means lot less post on show.
My bikes all end up looking the same, in the rack they look like a kids got their older brothers hand-me down and waiting to grow into it. Then out riding I look like a gorilla on a BMX 😂
I've just bought one of these, and I'm very pleased with it (base model):
https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-endurance-725-disc/
I actually bought it secondhand but completely unused and for a bargain price, so I didn't actually pay £1500 for a Tiagra equipped, cable disc bike - but having ridden it for a good 5-6 hours now, I can say I am very impressed with it - it's a bit heavy because it's steel and the spec is't high end, but the ride is sublime and plenty of tyre clearance - on the crappy roads around here, it's really good