new frame & forks for commuting

le_boss

hiya

ive decided to get a new frame & forks for commuting to work and for use in the winter.

im on a pretty strict budget so want to keep it under £150 if i can, although could stretch to £200 at a push.

i have a tiagra groupset on my current commuting bike which i will switch over. only looking for new frame because i find the position on this one too aggressive which is causing back ache.

have been looking for something like the specialized allez but really struggling to find just a frame.

i have seen ribble winters frames and also their sportive frames which are a good price. how good are these? which would be the most comfortable for a commute?
any other recommendations?

thanks

Garry H

If you're after relaxed geometry, the Ribble winter frame won't be for you. Relatively long TT and short HT. It's more or less has racing geo with clearance for mudguards and a slightly longer wheelbase.

CarlosDSanchez

If you are interested I have a specialized sirrus frame which I had been using as a winter comuter. I bought it November 2008, so I think it's the 2009 model, it has a carbon fork and carbon seat stays so it's pretty comfortable (especialy compared to the Dolan Preffiso that replaced it) I had converted it to drops and you can use long drop brake calipers - see photo below for how I had it set up. If you are interested I can let you have the frame, fork, BR450 (long drop brakes) mudguards and rack. I think it's the large size, I have a 34" inside leg and I'm a shade under 6ft.

amaferanga

Planet X Kaffenback.

That Sirrus above is seriously weird looking.....

CarlosDSanchez

That's because it has the world's longest head tube.... I had to get a college at work to turn down the top spacer on the headset from 40 to 20mm and it was still to upright for me. The flats of my Dolan must be a good 60mm lower than the flats on that Sirrus. If you want something "upright" your not going to get more upright than that! Will stick the frame in the classifieds at some point.

ynyswen24

amaferanga wrote:

Planet X Kaffenback.

+1
bought a kaffenback frameset as it was just about the cheapest I could find at the time. It's far exceeded my expectations.