Alpkit bikes

Hey, it’s even worse than that! I have a gravel bike! (Always hated the term, mind you!)

What does the tripster do that the Camino doesn’t, objectively that is?
Saying something is expensive because you could catch a lucky deal on ebay or similar is comparing apples and oranges. What else comparable could I have delivered complete to my door for similar/less money?

Pickenflick is about the closest that I’d been considering but that’s marketed as an out and out cyclocross bike.

Hmm, do you mind me asking where? Might be worth me keeping an eye out for that price.

It came from Upgrade Bikes outlet. It had been returned because there were some tiny scratches in the carbon forks which you could barely see…

Theres a ex demo frame on there now in 54cm but needs forks for £799
http://outlet.upgradebikes.co.uk/Outlet/Frames/Kinesis/Tripster/Kinesis-Tripster-ATR-Ti

They may move on the price or do a deal on some forks for it..

There’s a surprising number of folk out there that just don’t want rack mounts. Argue all you want about the logic, it remains true

There’s a surprising number of folk out there that just don’t want rack mounts.

They can be made to be hardly noticeable.

So, for those that don’t want them, they’re hardly there, but for those that do, they are.

It doesn’t matter how inconspicuous they are. You’re trying to apply logic again.

I know, I know.

Silly me! 🙂

Bikepacking sounds soooo much cooler than touring, though.

Yes it does

Was quite interested until I saw who designed them.

When I bought My tourer it had to have mounts but as has been said some don’t want them. Can’t please everyone all the time. Does seem a bit silly on a bike like this tho 😉

Should have been called entouro. That would sound even cooler. I mean, imagine the shame of telling your mates you were going touring. Horrible, eh?

Telling them you were going bikepacking would make you sound so much cooler.

But then, if you were rocking a fresh entouro rig and some sweet entouro specific threads you could drop a sick edit of your entouroing. Psikk, braw!

If you really must have rack mounts, additional bottle cage mounts, a different seatstay etc, just ask Brant to do one for you. Of course there will be a (small) premium but at least you’ll have it exactly how you want it.

Why would rack mounts put you off a bike designed for loaded long distance rides?
Is it a fashion thing?

The website is very, very careful not to use the word ‘touring’.

It’s for ‘long distance travelling’, which is obviously completely different.
Probably done by really cool people with beards.

Not weird, old fashioned, touristy type beards, I don’t think.
‘Multi day stage open road’ beards, I would imagine.
🙂

I’m sure it’ll be really fun to ride and popular amongst those to who consider practicality a bit naff.
😀

Yes.

Luckily, there are other manufacturers doing a whole range of bikes and frames so we’re not being forced into giving up features we want.

Entourobeard.

Randonnerds?

I do like Alpkit BTW.
But if they start making solid, well designed practical kit like the Gourdon or Filo ‘inspirational and aspirational’ I’ll be well pissed off.

Randuro?

No, that is whole lot of wrong…

I’m terrible I have mudguards rack mounts carradice bags frame mounted pump oh the shame 😉

Longflap?

No a super c audax I forgot I’ve modded a Barbag mount to fit too 😉

You’re supposed to say ‘No, I’ve just not got much standover’.
🙄

We’ve just donated our ancient Karrimor gear to the God Daughter. She’s gone full hipster; Surly, tattoos, knit your own karma etc.
We’re very, very proud – it’s annoyed her parents no end.
🙂

I’ve been Ortliebed for a while now, but I think I prefer the Carradice stuff, tbh.
Just down the road too, good place to visit.

vdubber67 – Member

Was quite interested until I saw who designed them.

Do you mean the company or a specific frame/ bike designer mate?

Sorry if I skim read and missed it.

Ah I see rusty lol

They do some lovely stuff

Why are folks getting all angsty about whether it’s got rack mounts on or not?

It’s clearly designed without them, it’s designed to compliment their soft luggage range which it does very well.

If it’s not the bike for you because you want guards/racks on it, you have plenty of choice out there. Why get all uppity expecting every feature you want on one single bike, then moan because every design you’ve seen in the last 154 years doesn’t feature every single feature on it you want?

It’s a good looking bike, set up for carrying soft luggage on trips overnight or P2P with some off-road jaunts along the way. It fulfils all of that criteria bang on. There are a lot of folk out there just itching to do those kinda trips, minimal hassle,,minimal carrying crap, just a few neat essentials and off they go. Well done them for exploring an opportunity that clearly some of their clients have expressed an interest in.

I do wonder sometimes if some on here would argue the toss over what colour the sky is, and whether someone with a big crayon should go “touch it up a bit”

These look really nice. I’ve already got a Salsa ElMar and a Vaya so I guess they should be right up my street.

There’s a bit of a balance to be struck with providing fittings for mudguards and luggage. The Salsa bikes go all out and yes it is very flexible but in reality most folk don’t use half of them and it does spoil the aesthetics a bit. These look like great value, and the custom option means you could add whatever you want and it would still be a fraction of the price of an equivalent Salsa in Ti.

Feels like I’ve stumbled into a rambling club meeting. I’ll get my coat

+1 to what bikebuoy says. Look at Alpkit’s range and you won’t see any panniers or pannier bags (or any in the coming soon section) so why why would they fix rack fittings?

Alpkit are firmly in the off-road touring/bikepacking camp so it makes perfect sense for them to offer frames/bikes aimed at that market. They aren’t aiming to produce a one bike fits all type bike.

These bikes look interesting. Without getting into ^ all that the thing I’d really like to see is bosses for top tube bags. I’ve got a couple of the excellent alpkit bags and this would be a massive improvement. Most bags use gravity to centre them but top tube bags would hugely benefit from a solid mount.

Can we call it Rando-gnar?

Why are folks getting all angsty about whether it’s got rack mounts on or not?

Because a small bike manufacturer designing a bike how they think fits their brand and their market is clearly a stupid idea. All bikes should be made to a generic formula best fitting the average build of the relevant Touring or Audux design types.

Mind you, somebody would still complain.

Personally, that Broken Road frameset is making my wallet sweat.

tripster Ti….

It looks like someone just stuck a slacker head angle and some tire clearance on a 90s road bike.

It’s clearly designed without them, it’s designed to compliment their soft luggage range which it does very well.

On that basis so is just about ever other mtb, cross and road bike out there.

Sometimes I worry for the future of humanity.

😆

It’s clearly designed without them, it’s designed to compliment their soft luggage range which it does very well.

I did wonder about the bolt-on cable guides inside the main triangle on the Transmitter. Sharp edges rubbing on the bag and cables being rubbed against paint by bag contents? My salsa bikepacking frames had cables under the downtube.

Are there any weight figures for the Camino Ti frame and fork (separately)?

Properly designed for heavy traditional luggage would have meant a longer rear end made from chunkier tubing, plus maybe a beefed up fork. So I can kind of see why they’ve designed like it is (dedicated for lightweight frame mount luggage). Plenty of traditional tourers if that is what you really want (also in heavy duty Ti from Spa cycles).

STATO, I don’t think the Transmitter is really designed for bikepacking is it? Not when it has a dropper fitted.

I agree – the transmitter seems a do it all bike, not nichecore.

tripster Ti….

It looks like someone just stuck a slacker head angle and some tire clearance on a 90s road bike.

Yeah that’s what I like about it troll_rat. 😉