Rim brakes, 28mm tyres, and mudguards? Frame recommendation?

P3t3 wrote:

Can you get the decathlon triban 500 frame-only? One of them has long drop brakes and would most likely take 28s +guards but I can't remember the exact model.  

I also managed to get 28s and guards to work on my CAAD8 with some coaxing and modding but it was a bit of a labour of love to keep it working well like that.  Its for sale if anybody wants a caad8 with 105.  

Good point - pretty sure the new 500 has the clearance, same frame as the 100 and that has 32mm knobblies fitted as standard with a ton of clearance.  Certainly an option - it has mudguard mounts and a carbon fork. I reckon I could get ~£150 back by selling the group, tyres, wheels, and bars from it so net cost would be around £200. Bit of a bargain really - the matt red finish looks excellent, it's mercifully short of the usual B'Twin graphics screaming "6061 Aluminium is soooo coool kids", and it even has pannier mounts front and rear. Not many carbon forks out there rated to carry 6kgs per side on low-rider mounts - you could probably ride round the world on it! Its not particularly light at 10.3kg but its sporting a square-taper triple with heavy wheels so it should be easy to get it way below 9kgs.

Whilst I've squeezed 28s into my Triban 3 clearances are super-tight, no way to fit mudguards unless you're running 23s.

kil0ran wrote:

P3t3 wrote:

Can you get the decathlon triban 500 frame-only? One of them has long drop brakes and would most likely take 28s +guards but I can't remember the exact model.  

I also managed to get 28s and guards to work on my CAAD8 with some coaxing and modding but it was a bit of a labour of love to keep it working well like that.  Its for sale if anybody wants a caad8 with 105.  

 

Good point - pretty sure the new 500 has the clearance, same frame as the 100 and that has 32mm knobblies fitted as standard with a ton of clearance.  Certainly an option - it has mudguard mounts and a carbon fork. I reckon I could get ~£150 back by selling the group, tyres, wheels, and bars from it so net cost would be around £200. Bit of a bargain really - the matt red finish looks excellent, it's mercifully short of the usual B'Twin graphics screaming "6061 Aluminium is soooo coool kids", and it even has pannier mounts front and rear. Not many carbon forks out there rated to carry 6kgs per side on low-rider mounts - you could probably ride round the world on it! Its not particularly light at 10.3kg but its sporting a square-taper triple with heavy wheels so it should be easy to get it way below 9kgs.

Whilst I've squeezed 28s into my Triban 3 clearances are super-tight, no way to fit mudguards unless you're running 23s.

So I spoke to Decathlon about the 500 - no go for 28s plus guards, unless they're skinny 28s. Issue is clearance on the chainstay bridge - they'd probably go in but you'd be running dangerously close.

So Kinesis, custom, or Condor it is.

Woldsman wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

Hmm plenty of options there, thanks.

Looks like the Kinesis 3T also fits the bill.

Tempted by the Condors, neighbour has a Fratello that I covet.

You've got plenty to play with on your budget, but just be aware that the 4S/4S Disk is a frameset and the T3 comes with no fork or headset gubbins.

If you don’t go with the Triban bike - and you’re certain you won’t eventually go with the disc option of the 4S - then the 4S frameset is the one I’d go for if I could. 

I'm torn - long-term admirer of Kinesis bikes (I'd love to be able to stretch to a GF-Ti) and they always look spot on in terms of fit and finish.

The flexibility of the 4S makes a lot of sense because longer-term I won't need the tourer as its primarily in the shed as a tagalong mule and for summer gravel commutes. Could easily end up being stripped and the wheels/calipers transferred to the 4S as an N=1 option.

4S is three times the price of the Triban though...

Hmm, time to look for a s/h one perhaps.

Joe Totale wrote:

I'm currently in a fairly similar situation to you as I want a new rim brake commuter/winter bike come Spring time. I'll let my current hack put up with this winter! 

I think this time I'm going to buy a complete bike, not a frameset. In your situation a Bowman Layhams sounds ideal although maybe a bit too pricey?

https://bowman-cycles.com/product/layhams-copy/

A cheaper option could be a Genesis Equalibrium frameset, not sure if it can fit 28s with guards mind.

I think I'm going to grab a Specialized Allez when they're back on the market as they can have mudguards with 25" tyres, I'll grab the Sora one as I'll have some spare 105 parts to upgrade it myself and also some better wheels to fit on it. 

If I had the budget that Layham's would be mine. Gorgeous thing....

kil0ran wrote:

Joe Totale wrote:

I'm currently in a fairly similar situation to you as I want a new rim brake commuter/winter bike come Spring time. I'll let my current hack put up with this winter! 

I think this time I'm going to buy a complete bike, not a frameset. In your situation a Bowman Layhams sounds ideal although maybe a bit too pricey?

https://bowman-cycles.com/product/layhams-copy/

A cheaper option could be a Genesis Equalibrium frameset, not sure if it can fit 28s with guards mind.

I think I'm going to grab a Specialized Allez when they're back on the market as they can have mudguards with 25" tyres, I'll grab the Sora one as I'll have some spare 105 parts to upgrade it myself and also some better wheels to fit on it. 

If I had the budget that Layham's would be mine. Gorgeous thing....

And now it is - found an unbuilt one on eBay! Now busy force-refreshing the DPD tracking website. Utter porn and should be buildable in to something around 8kgs.

The other option was a Fratello, or a Kinesis GF Ti v2 but they so rarely come up for sale.

Layhams completely fits the brief. I could have gone for a Rourke or Bob Jackson or Mercian, but winter would have been done by the time they were ready. Hopefully be out on the Layhams over half term now...

cyclisto wrote:

Cantis have reasons to be forgotten and calipers with such clearance will flex like spaghetti. The sensible option is disks, but if you are a vintage guy buy an outdated (and probably at a bargain price) cx frame with mini-brakes. But if you want to avoid disks, are you ready to build a bike that will be obsolete at its first ride?

My tourer is disk braked, they're a faff to set up and and I've got a perfectly good rim brake setup waiting for a frame with bigger clearance. It's going to be used for long country rides, I don't need to be able to stop on a sixpence, although I have no issues with the stopping power of rim brakes (5800s with stock Shimano pads).
To my eyes they're also bloody ugly and carry a weight penalty, and I want to make this build practical and lightweight, to different sufficiently from my heavy tourer