Tripster ATR finally built up – lush!

Anyone near Reading , Berks got a 57cm or a 60cm size I could have a look at please? 😀

^^^
Charge him £5 a sit…

DrP

😀

I’ve just realised i’ve been telling folk that the rack on the back of my tripster in this thread is a Tubus Fly Ti, but i’ve been wrong…wrong…wrong…. Doh!.

It’s a Tubus Airy Ti

Freeborn have sold 4 this week appaently ! no wonder at that wonderful price !

One of them was to me:-)))

Dom you are probably the best person to answer my question! 5 ft 10, 32 inch inseam… Going by what I have read, I am swinging towards a 54. Size guide puts me on 57 but advice from the guys here swings me to the 54. Hmmmmm will be used mainly for longer rides and commuting (with a bit of off road if I fancy on route).

Been looking at cx bikes on and off for the last year – this is the first bike I have seen that I actually want so badly. Just don’t want to make a mistake with the sizing and won’t get chance to have a sit on any.

This is getting cultish now 😛

Not cult, zeitgeist. 😉

If anyone wants to come over and lick my tripster, I wouldn’t mind…

DrP

Dom – love the idea of the t shirt!
TLR – delighted yours is nearly ready. Looking forward to seeing it built and ridden. I’ll put a small wager on it being used at the weekend too… I went through the same thought process, then sold the carbon road bike 🙂
Doncorleoni – if you’re up in the northwest, you’d be most welcome to try my 54cm if it’ll help?
Happy days. Looking forward to Saturday morning’s hilly road ride on the Tripster , but I’ve got to give the mountain bike a run out tomorrow night as it’s sulking enough as it is.

Gone to the hills…. Thanks for the kind offer. I am down south unfortunately. Everything is swinging me to the 54…the top tube is around 55 which is perfect for me going by road bike geo. Not sure what size stem the stock 54 comes with (assume 100mm but not sure). Almost certain it will be fine but I do like my bikes on the larger size.

lick my tripster

are you a real doctor?

Please take what follows with a pinch of salt: as the Americans say YMMV.

With regard to the sizing question for those who are around 5′ 10″/5′ 11″, and are trying to decide between 57cm and 54cm, I think it may be a case not of one size being wrong and the other being right, but rather that it depends.

The key factor in the choice is probably the effective top tube, and how that compares with what you currently ride/would like/think is best for you.

That said, I think you might prefer the 57cm if you like having bars fairly high, possibly even level with – or no more than maybe around 50mm below – the saddle height; in other words more of a relaxed traditional touring style position. This might particularly suit those who have less flexibility. Indeed I think it would make a superb flat barred touring bike.

Conversely, all other things being equal (e.g. height of spacers used), I think 54cm will allow a much more aggressive position and style of riding, including off road, which might appeal if you want to closely replicate your position on a road race bike, especially if you prefer lower bar height. This will probably also put more weight on the front wheel, which I think will improve handling, especially off road.

One thing I am not sure about is toe clip clearance/overlap when mudguards are fitted to the 54cm, depending upon the tyre size and guard-tyre gap. Overlap is not normally an issue on the road, but a strike might be more likely when making a low speed manoeuvre off road. I don’t think this will be a problem with the 57cm. I think Somafunk has a 54cm to which he has fittted guards, so he should be better able to comment on this.

For what it’s worth, I think a lot of the changes over the years in road bar height has been driven by fashion, rather than what is best for performance. I recall reading that the top tube of Pantani’s Bianchi on which he won the Tour and Giro sloped upwards from the seat tube, rather than down from the head tube, so that the bars could be positioned relatively high with few or no spacers, which meant he could comfortably use the drops in his distinctive attacking style in the mountains.

rewski – Member
Hey Dom, can you work on a LTD edition #ClubSYNC T shirt too
I’m kidding, more than happy with my mug

I’d be up for a #ClubSYNC T shirt. Oh yeh, and what’s this about mugs?

The toe overlap was not a problem with my bike as i have ickle size 8 feet and my cleat position, along with a snug fit of my sks mudguards to the wheel radius meant overlap was not an issue i encountered, that’s not to say it will not be a problem on other bikes.

As per sizing i feel i should prob add that a 51cm prob would have been a bike-shop-fit choice rather than the 54cm that i chose for my current 5ft 5″ height, i bought the larger 54cm size as i used to be taller but due to an accident my spine is now at least 3″ shorter (two vertebrae) and as such i figured that if i bought the 51cm then i would need to have a large amount of seat post showing to accommodate my 31″ inside leg and as the 51cm has a 13.5cm head tube this would necessitate a stack of approximately 50mm of headset spacers to bring the handlebar height up to where i could feel comfortable due to my dodgy spine, the 54cm has a 16cm head tube which meant i could get away with 20mm of headset spacers and i also shortened the stem to a 85mmx10dg thomson stem along with buying an inline seat post so the larger 54cm is actually a better fit than the 51cm would have been, intact after living with the 20mm of spacers i feel i could drop another 5mm or 10mm from the stack height without experiencing problems.

Top tube length is not a single issue as to whether or not a bike will be suitable, there are other fit issues that it is wise to take into account.

The pic below gives a good idea of my bar height compared to seating position.

Conversely, having a 31″ inside leg, but a less knackered spine, I imagine a 5’7/8-ish person would go for the 51cm.

Although, I think it’s easy to get caught up in getting an exact fit, when most people probably could make 2 diff sizes work.

I’m about the same height but with shorter legs, and I am leaning towards the 51 but seeing those pics now I’m not so sure ?
My cube road bike was a 53
My langster is a 52

Cube Road bikes measure smaller than their “size” would suggest – i.e. a Cube 53 is more like a 51.

yep – my cube carbon road is a 58, my tricross 56 and my tripster 57 🙂

Some help please?

I’m an enthusiastic, if not terribly competent, mountain biker who is looking for his first-ever ‘road bike’ and wonder if the ATR should be my next bike? I appreciate tyre choice will determine how the bike feels on and off road, but for those of you that have dedicated road bikes, how does the ATR compare on the road when set up with a decent 25 or 28 mm tire? I’m not looking for an out and out race machine, this is to be used for fitness training and fun but don’t want to compromise too much on on-road efficiency.

I appreciate the obvious answer is simply to take a demo, which obviously I will do, but having never ridden or owned a road bike I have very little to compare it against, so would appreciate your thoughts.

Thank you in advance.

It seems that STW has almost singlehandedly depleted all stocks of the ATR – chalk another one up 🙂

A couple of chats with the very helpful chaps at Freeborn helped me settle on a size and I’m not a fair chunk of change lighter but grinning from ear to ear. Can’t wait to get lost in the lanes of the South Downs in a week!

My bank manager has kindly asked for this post to die please …..

my pro 6 would like the from to quietly disappear too, it’s doing a lovely job that it enjoys and would like that situation to remain.

It seems that STW has almost singlehandedly depleted all stocks of the ATR

phew!

It seems that STW has almost singlehandedly depleted all stocks of the ATR – chalk another one up

Please don’t let that be the case 🙁

I`ve held off on ordering from Freeborn, waiting for my LBS to quote….
Should have just gone straight to them

You could always try http://www.rule5bikes.co.uk or upgrade direct.

Ordered from Freeborn 😀

LBS did do me a discount but couldn’t get near that price and I`m stretching to get it at the freeborn price anyway…..

would have liked to have brought locally but cant quite stretch that far….

Roll on next week !!

Can’t wait to get lost in the lanes of the South Downs in a week!

Where abouts do you live??
I’ve plotted out and ridden several ‘perfect tripster trails’ since getting mine – would be happy to show a fellow rider about..
Or..join us on the 2nd August for the brighton-London-Brighton ride!

DrP

What is the warranty on the Tripster?

it’s here 🙂 🙂

incredibly well packaged by Freeborn – took me longer to unwrap it than it did to fit the bars and seat and pedals !!!

tomorrow it will hit the asphalt, gravel and fireroads – Cannae wait !!!!!

Jamie – 5 years…

DrP

I thought titanium bikes had lifetime warranties?

….as in 10yrs-ish.

It’s not like the song is it…
“I’m bullet proof, nothing to lose, I am titanium..”

The shop I got mine rang upgrade and confirmed “It’s almost a Rolf” (5 years)

DrP

21.00 lbs dead :

[/url]IMAG0605 by the_lecht_rocks[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Let’s make that a bit bigger…

Nice !!

another :

[/url]IMAG0603 by the_lecht_rocks[/url], on Flickr[/img]

some tarmac, gravel and forest shots tomorrow 🙂

This is doing me nut. I had £1500 put aside for a new CX bike, and despite £1800 being a steal, it’s just too far over budget.

Bum.

Jamie – you’ll sell (almost) all your other bikes once you’ve got a Tripster. Believe me, I speak from experience! Just do it. Push the button… 🙂