Suggestions for road frame with mudguard and 28c clearnace

FransJacques

Hi there - want to get a do-it-all Roubaix/audax/commuting/all day epic road frame with the following characteristics:
- must accept mudguards
- must accept 28c tyres at the same time
- prefer regular or 63mm calipers but not cantis or v-brakes
- must feel snappy when accelerating and right tight - basically a stiff road triangle with longer chainstays and fork blades.
- CX frames are just too radical - too high BB, long CS, heavy, don't want cantis, etc so not an option.
- Ti would be perfect since it can be rode hard and put away wet
- Carbon is fine but apart from a Cervelo RS I don't see this formula applied to carbon

Willing to look at *any* price point now, will filter later. Van Nicholas make some frames along these lines. Are there any carbon options? All Alu would be fine as well but might all day comfort might suffer.

Thanks in advance for your help.

calvjones

Van Nicholas Amazon/Yukon is not going to be snappy & racy. But will be lovely.

I have an Airborne Carpe Diem that I run Campag Mini-Vs on avoiding the dreaded Canti squeal, but IIRC the Amazon will run long reach calipers. Some flex when climbing out of the saddle but I can live with that.

keef66

My Racelight TK takes 25s and full mudguards. Don't think it would cope with 28s though. Long drop calipers, pretty racy geometry. Despite my fears, pretty comfy on a long ride if I don't have the tyres rock hard.

Planet X Ti sportive? Not sure about tyre clearances on current batch; it wasn't very good on the last lot, but at least they said so on the website.

Pearson do a carbon audax for a couple of grand

Hewitt alpine carbon?

keef66

Just had a look on their website; the new logo PX frame now claims clearance for up to 28s

TimoH

keef66 wrote:

Just had a look on their website; the new logo PX frame now claims clearance for up to 28s

Yup. Some day I'm going to hit the "Buy" button on this one:

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/FRP ... --new-logo

huuregeil

This is a clear brief for a custom steel frame, surely?!

FransJacques

thanks so far - some of the inspiration was Andy Hampsten's current Ti Moots which looks pretty practical altough his tyres are waaay fatter than anything I'd need for my intended application:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pho ... pion/17022
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pho ... pion/17018
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pho ... pion/17046
Impressive but slightly overkill for anything I'd ever see, I didn't even know they made rubber like this: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pho ... pion/17035

I should have paid more attention to the Ribble winter bike thread cuz that threw up the really nice looking Dolan Dual but there again they say 25mm or fenders but maybe not both at the same time depending on brand of tyre

Steel is a great suggestion but I'm concerned about the snappiness and racey feel I'm looking for. I have an 853 Lemond Zurich already which might be resurrected for this project. My nirvana would be a R3SL main triangle but with a long rear and long reach forks like the Roubaix bikes. But the RS doesn't do mudguards justice unless anyone can vouch otherwise?

huuregeil

That moots looks lovely!

About snappiness and steel - I think it really depends how it's built, very much like Ti (e.g. I don't think you'd get snap with a VN!). I'd be very surprised if a good builder couldn't tune the ride characteristics to something that would suit. I guess the same goes for custom Ti, but the UK is rather more endowed with good steel builders.

For reference, my stable currently consists of 4 bikes, two steel, one alu/carbon, and a alu fixed gear (and one carbon recently departed, which I'm looking to replace). One of these is a fast tourer built by Roberts (similar to what you're looking for - racey front triangle with deep drop calipers and clearances to match). While a little heavier than the others - it's designed for loaded riding - it certainly doesn't lack stiffness and, above all, it's an absolute joy to ride, both in terms of mile eating comfort and it's handling characteristics.

My first port of call would be someone like Roberts or Dave Yates, who could take a your set of requirements (you seem to know exactly what you want and how you want it to ride) and come up with a truly individual solution.

Actually, in a similar vein (and inspired by the Moots), custom Ti works as well - you could order a Kent Eriksen (founder of Moots) custom. I saw one of these in the flesh and it looked stunning!