I think I want a Kaffenback…

Can someone let me know if I actually do want a Kaffenback?

I have an RT-58 at the moment which is ace and I love riding it, but I have a few long distance rides planned this summer which will call for a bit of luggage etc, I also fancy mixing road rides up with the odd bridleway/gravel road and would require wider rubber for this.

I can’t have both, let me make that absolutely clear. This bike would have to be used for Sunday road rides and long distance light touring/off road frolicking, achieved using 2 sets of wheels.

Any words of wisdom from experience?

They’re not light, I really wanted one untill I picked one up, but then the build was probably relatively cheap too it still weighed more than I thought it would.

If you need luggage have you considdered a frame bag, saddle bag, bar harness etc rather than panniers? I’ve got both and the more modern luggage is much nicer to ride with than panniers, although I do have almost 80l of capacity in the panniers and moved house with them! Frame bags centeralise the weight, so it just feels like fiding a really heavy bike, whereas panniers feel like they’re trying to kill you on high speed decents!

I’m umming and ahhing over a Genesis Fugio, more £££, but the frame+fork is lighter than the kaffenback frame, still 1.5lb more than an rt58 (assuming it’s the carbon one?).

I am aware of the added weight and if the 58 had guard mounts and room for wider tyres It would be a no brainer.

I have a plan to ride from my home in Leicestershire to Porthmadog in Sept to join a family holiday and I’m just concerned of the practicality of my current ride for the job.

Surely you want a London Road?

I’ve got a Kaffenback. If I didn’t have one and was looking for something now I’d get a London Road.

What size do you need – i have a 54 frame and some surly cross check forks if you want to give it a go.
i bought it from someone on here with a view to building a do it all rough tourer, but have since done nothing with them and have changed direction.

Original ad should be here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-planet-x-kaffenback-frame-54cm-2

Cheers

Jim

I have a Kaff and have a bit of a love/hate relationship with it.

First up, it is very, very versatile. I’ve used it as a cross bike, touring and it is currently my winter road bike and commuter. It takes 28mm tyres with guards and larger without. It’s comfortable and the position by default is quite upright (though mine is no longer, a 130mm slammed stem and high saddle mean it now has the same position as my summer roadie). Mine has been a properly tough workhorse, has done thousands of miles, crashed through hundreds of potholes and got through to with no drama or fuss.

However, all is not good. It’s heavy. You can help this a lot buy putting new wheels on it as the stock ones are not very good but it is still a heavy frame and fork. It also feels a tad dull to ride, no zip to it at all, a lot of which is down to the weight I suspect. It is highly functional but in no way exciting, I rarely look forward to riding it like I do my other bikes, I use it because it’s the best tool for the job.

It’s the bike I’ve done the most mileage on in the last 2 years, it covers the most bases of use and it does all of them well. I, albeit very briefly, debating having it as my only bike and decided against as I wanted bike I love to ride rather than ones that do a job.

i’d echo some of what lunge is saying…

i bought a frame and forks, and then built it up myself into a commuting/shopping/nippingouttogetapint bike. its got an alfine 8 hub and drop bars (with a straight bar shifter botched on the centre of the bars).

it’s perfect for commuting, load hauling etc., but as Lunge says slightly dull to ride and heavy (the alfine doesn’t help as it puts lots of weight at the back)… but it does what I need it to do, without needing lots of maintenance attention.

if you’re going to do it in one day, a 160mile ride in september would be perfect for the RT-58

or – book yourself in at Clun Mill youth hostel and buy an alpkit possum to hold food and a toothbrush, do it over two days ?

Thanks for the input guys,

Jim, I would be interested in that as I’m about 5’9-10 so assume that would be the size to go for.

Email in profile if you want to get in touch regarding price mate, should give me the option to build as cheap as possible as I could hopefully swap bits from the 58 to that.

Cheers again fellas

OP, have you considered a Shand Stoater? Its a serious (though ever so slightly tongue in cheek) question. I’m in the market for a new bike, along similar lines to yourself. I started wanted a Stoater, still do, but due to cost am looking elsewhere. I’ve ended up with the Kaffenback, and London road, high up on my list. Also high up on the list (but other end of the do it all bike spectrum) are the CAADX range, more road orientated than the on-ones. If I’m honest, my list is very very long!

The plan at the moment is to split over 2 days, stopping ad Llangollen hostel on the way, that makes it 100 miles day 1 and 60 on day 2 (a fairly hilly day 2 using lots of back roads round the back of Bala and over to Trawsfynydd.

Shand is lovely, but I would be living in the shed with it if the Mrs found out 😆

I had a Kaffenback, did about 6000km on it. I liked the geometry on the Kaff, but the frameset was oppressively heavy (over 12.5Kg, without guards) and flexed a lot when loaded, which made the handling nervy. I hear the Kaff2 is better in both regards, though.

Switched to a Cotic Escapade last year and 1500km later I’m very happy with it. I transferred the parts from the Kaff to the Escapade and it weighed ~11Kg. I’ve had it fully loaded with a rack on the back and guards, and it felt significantly stiffer, it didn’t flex under load like the Kaff did. Has massive clearance for big tires. The head tube is taller, but I fixed that with a long inverted stem. I like the compact geometry too, makes sense for commuting and off-roading.

Scandal42 – but you’d be living in a shed with a Stoater? So not all bad…..

I’ve got a medium Kaffenback2 with mary bars, cross tyres guards and a rack and am in NW Leicestershire as well if you want to see just how heavy they are 🙂 email in profile

Maybe off topic but I have a genesis Croix de fer and I have the same problem as Lunge – the bike does exactly what it’s supposed to do – gets me to work on and off road without any fuss, however, it’s dull dull dull to ride. Make sure if you’re buying a new bike that it’s something that makes you smile when you get it out of the shed. If you can’t afford it then wait until you can or you’ll regret it

I went from a Kaffenback to a Charge Plug 4. I liked the Kaff but it was a bit wooden, and the geometry was a bit old school for me. Plug is a much nicer ride – bit lighter, plenty of tyre clearance, longer in the headtube so a better riding position (for me) and generally nicer made. Recommend taking a look at one – Triton have some larges in at £699, that is a bargain IMO.

I’d be very much looking at the Planet X London Road.

I felt my Kaff was heavy, dead feeling and noodly/flexy.

All the alu. On One and PX frames I’ve had have been superb!

I agree with all the comments about buying a bike that inspires you to ride. I bought a Day One Alfine off ebay about 2years ago. I thought it was the bike for me….until I rode it. It’s just completely uninspiring. Thought I would grow to like it, but after a good few thousand miles I sill hate it, just because I don’t enjoy riding it.

Hence looking at the Stoater! And lesson learned, I’d never buy without riding again.

PS. Escapade added to the list!

I have a Kaff 2 as my daily commuter – it is a functional but slightly dull and heavy workhorse. I ride it every day and it has done the job I bought it for well. But I don’t love it.

I did a 300 mile 1 day ride last year. The logical choice to ride from my collection was the kaff, it’s comfortable, forgiving and deals with crap roads well. Did I choose it though? Hell no, I chose my stiff, unforgiving, head down/arse up summer bike as I love riding it and I knew at 4am when tiredness kicks in I was more likely to want to get back on that than the Kaff.

Still, the Kaff is very, very functional…

Tripster. Them’s the rules.

No one “wants” a Kaffenback but it’s the bike quite a few end up buying because they can’t afford the one they do want

It’s interesting how little love there is for the Kaff in here – I have a Pompetamine, which I’ve always assumed to be basically the same as a Kaff but SS. I genuinely do love it – it gets used all the time and variously copes with panniers, childseat, heavy loads and sometimes none of the above. It’s ace as well, and really nice to ride…

Never got all the lack of love for the Kaff either, have had a Mk1 for must be over 6 years now, has never let me down. Not the lightest of bikes, but not particularity heavy with racks and fenders either (mine came from PX stock with a carbon fork, maybe this makes the difference?) Have only used mine on rides upto 100km, but if needed would be happy taking it much further.