Viewing 11 posts - 41 through 51 (of 51 total)
  • Road frame that can be run fixed or geared?
  • nicko74
    Full Member

    Cotic Roadrat. They specifically have track ends plus disc mounts. But it’s more a flat-bar road frame in terms of geometry.

    mugsys_m8
    Full Member

    I’ve got an Uncle John that I’d be looking to convert to fixed using the white ind. eccentric hub. Surely that has a high BB as it’s a cyclo-cross?

    dovebiker
    Full Member

    Because of the way the eccentric hub works, in most positions there is a ‘high’ and ‘low’ position – I generally have mine set low behind the drop-out as you can adjust the chain tension by pressing down on the saddle. Shorter cranks also help to spin as well as reduce crank strike

    FWIW you can’t use a lockring on the ENO disc hub as it’s only designed for a freewheel, so make sure it’s on tight and rely on the brakes rather than pedal pressure to slow you down.

    Had an original Pompino for a while, it was dead, heavy lump….

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    Gotama
    Free Member

    Cotic Roadrat

    Yep, saw that, a bit frustrating they don’t put the same dropouts on the escapade. That said I haven’t ruled out a Roadrat with Jones loops. A bit alternative but I never use the drops anyway.

    Bez
    Full Member

    When I had a Cotic frame on my shortlist for a drop-bar road/cross/tour/etc bike, it was the Roadrat, not the Escapade. The biggest Escapade was too short for me (I’m only half an inch taller than you by the way, and I was accounting for a 13cm stem) and the biggest Roadrat was the same geometry but a bit longer, so it was effectively the next-size-up Escapade. Plus, like I say, IMO if you’re going SS/fixie then reach is good. So don’t discount it…

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    dovebiker – Member
    …Had an original Pompino for a while, it was dead, heavy lump….

    Decent seat and post and a carbon fork, and you’re still quids in.

    Bez
    Full Member

    They’re still way too small (IME, IMO, etc) for anyone 6’4″ though. The Straggler comes 4cm longer and 2.5cm taller.

    kerley
    Free Member

    Had an original Pompino for a while, it was dead, heavy lump

    I had one many years ago and felt the same, horrible frameset. Whereas for the last year have been riding a 531c track frame that is light and lively feeling and the nicest track frame I have ridden on (and off) road. Cost of frame, fork and headset – £120 (accept you have to be into older looks, quill etc,.)

    finbar
    Free Member

    I bet All City make something nice that fits the bill.

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    kerley – Member
    Had an original Pompino for a while, it was dead, heavy lump
    I had one many years ago and felt the same, horrible frameset. Whereas for the last year have been riding a 531c track frame that is light and lively feeling and the nicest track frame I have ridden on (and off) road. Cost of frame, fork and headset – £120 (accept you have to be into older looks, quill etc,.)

    It is pretty hard to beat 531c. That of course was a very expensive frame once.

    The currently fashionable 4130 hipster fixies won’t come close. A Fuji Track will though.

    slowster
    Free Member

    It is pretty hard to beat 531c. That of course was a very expensive frame once.

    The currently fashionable 4130 hipster fixies won’t come close. A Fuji Track will though.

    I think that the difference between the alloys is less of a factor than the use of larger diameter tubes (and I suspect in the case of the Pompino and others like it, thicker gauge tubes).

    Bez commented above about how older steel frames were too flexy in his size, and the other side of that coin is that the skinny tubes (not just 531) probably gave an optimal balance of flex, compliance and stiffness in the most common frame sizes for the majority of riders. For cyclecampers and for top racers, the frames that could be built with such tubes were probably often not stiff enough for their liking, but the frames were ideal for the rest of us.

    Since the 1990s when road racers started to switch to oversized, very stiff and very light aluminium frames, and subsequently carbon, the tubing manufacturers have been focusing on developing steel tubes which could compete with aluminium and carbon in terms of weight and stiffness, leading to tubesets like oversized 953.

    At the same time the use of tubing like oversized 4130, possibly in conjunction with EN testing, has resulted in heavier, less ‘nice’ to ride general mass produced frames compared with the skinny tubes of old, although it has resulted in better frames for the heavy load carrying cyclecampers and for taller people like Bez.

Viewing 11 posts - 41 through 51 (of 51 total)

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