New Frame Needed! Short Head Tube a Must...

holiver

Hi Guys,

As a result of the below thread, I am in need of a new frame, as I was outside of Merlin's warranty period of 2 years...

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12808030

I have the following under consideration:

On-One Scandal 18" - 105mm HT
Sunn Travis 500mm (19.5") - 125mm HT
Kona Caldera 19" - 140mm HT, but runs an integrated headset...
Merlin Malt 2 19" - 130mm HT

What makes this difficult is that the frame which broke (2007 Merlin Malt 1) has only a 110mm head tube with only a couple of spacers. I think it's only ~140mm from fork crown to stem and will confirm later.

I don't want to have to buy new forks, as they are quite nice (air sprung Recon Races) and would be expensive to replace along with the frame.

Basically I am unfamiliar with headsets at the moment and was wondering whether any frames other than the Scandal would allow me to keep my current forks? Could any of them or an alternative frame ideas accept a headset that will add minimally to the height of the head tube?

All ideas gratefully received!

Thanks.

supersonic

What is the length of your steerer tube? Remember integrated and zerostack headsets have lower stack heights than conventional headsets.

Brighty

According to the link below all merlin malts and rocklobsters have the same headtube height so surely your malt 1 is 130mm isn't it?

http://www.marchini.co.uk/Rock%20Lobster%20and%20Merlin%20frame%20Geometry.pdf

holiver

Brighty wrote:

According to the link below all merlin malts and rocklobsters have the same headtube height so surely your malt 1 is 130mm isn't it?

Nah, mine's an older model. I will take off the stem and measure the steerer tube tonight, but the point is, is that it's pretty damned short, as I forgot to ask my LBS to keep some steerer length when I had the new fork fitted. Silly me!

The Rookie

Easy enough to measure your steerer length without even removing the forks, you can also look at running a slimmer stem.

If it's short as seems likely you'll almost certainly need something running a semi-integrated headset.

Simon

styxd

How big are the spacers? I would have thought a 110mm head tube with a couple of 5mm spacers wouldnt limit you too much on frame choice.

Other frames to check would be Cotic, Dialled, Sanderson, Ragley. They all have headtube in the 110mm range.

holiver

The Beginner wrote:

Easy enough to measure your steerer length without even removing the forks, you can also look at running a slimmer stem.

If it's short as seems likely you'll almost certainly need something running a semi-integrated headset.

Simon

I believe the current headset is semi integrated? Anyway, I will take a photo tonight and show measurements.

Yeah, I think there's a couple of 5mm spacers. Thanks for the further suggestions. Forks are 100mm though.

Ideally I don't want to go over £250... Anyone know why the Scandal is out of stock at the moment?

styxd

The headset is external looking at the Merlin website.

Just had a look on the sanderson website and the 18inch breath frame has a 105mm head tube and is about £245.

supersonic

The headset is external indeed. I am sure your fork will fit plenty of frames.

Brighty

Malt 3 is only £160

holiver

OK, just home and looked into things. The headset is a Cane Creek C2. There is 1, 5mm spacer between it and the stem, which is a Specialized adjustable one. This one in fact:

http://www.specialized.com/gb/gb/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=61637

The steerer length is 180mm, which apparently is 12mm short of what I'd need for the Kona according to JE James (140mm HT, 12mm stack height for headset and 40mm for stem). Anyway, here are some photos:





Any further ideas? Thanks for your help so far!

supersonic

Plenty of steerer!

holiver

Cool! Can you suggest a headset and frame combo? Would a semi integrated headset (I am assuming my current one is external) allow a greater head tube height?

Brighty wrote:

Malt 3 is only £160

Not too keen on a white frame on account of the white fork...

styxd

Cool! Can you suggest a headset and frame combo? Would a semi integrated headset (I am assuming my current one is external) allow a greater head tube height?

I dont understand what you mean by this really. You need a frame to fit a 180mm steerer, regardless of weather its an integrated headset or not.

The frame I suggested earlier would work (sanderson and also the scandal)

holiver

Thanks! I just took the fork off the bike to measure exactly and it is more like 173mm, which may narrow things further...

The Scandal looks like a good call, especially as there is one in the classifieds!