Long head tube winter frame ideas?

Gary Marshall

Looking to replace current Ribble as the head tube is just too short for me and it's five years old so that's all the excuse for a new frame right?!

Was thinking of going Rourke steel but waiting list too long for this winter's use so is there anything out there that's likely to be readily available, prob aluminium /carbon fork would do the job.

Ideally c.20cm headtube, 55-58cm top tube.

Thanks

Gary

vorsprung

Gary Marshall wrote:

Looking to replace current Ribble as the head tube is just too short for me and it's five years old so that's all the excuse for a new frame right?!

Was thinking of going Rourke steel but waiting list too long for this winter's use so is there anything out there that's likely to be readily available, prob aluminium /carbon fork would do the job.

Ideally c.20cm headtube, 55-58cm top tube.

Gary, this is my preferred size here's a list

[*]Tifosi CK7 57cm / 20cm
[*]Ridley Aeron TR1 57cm / 19cm
[*]Specialized Secteur

Gary Marshall

thanks, i've thought about the tifosi before but never taken the plunge.

cheers

gary

giant_man

Don't forget the kinesis racelight T2 and TK2 .... 20cm head tube and 58.2cm top tube on a 60cm .... alu with carbon fork.

arlowood

What about a Genesis Equilibrium frame - £280 and a sweet looking number:-

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/frames/equilibrium

and built up as the Equilibrium 20:-

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/img/bikes ... ighres.jpg

Head tube is 170max and might be a tad short if you are adamant about needing 200mm minimum.

Gary Marshall

Thanks, Yes i'd forgotten about Kinesis, could do to be shorter in the top tube but may have to make the compromise to get the head tube which seems to make the most difference for comfort, and bung a shorter stem on, cheers.

on-yer-bike

Why do people want steel for winter? It Rusts. Carbon (plastic with carbon in it) is weather proof so is Ti.

Mike39496

on-yer-bike wrote:

Why do people want steel for winter? It Rusts. Carbon (plastic with carbon in it) is weather proof so is Ti.

Steel is cheaper?

Gary Marshall

Can't say I've ever had a problem with rust on a frame.

bmxboy10

Look at the Pearson range, some seriously long head tubes on some of their frames and the new branding looks cool. Also service is great.

Bordersroadie

Gary Marshall wrote:

Thanks, Yes i'd forgotten about Kinesis, could do to be shorter in the top tube but may have to make the compromise to get the head tube which seems to make the most difference for comfort, and bung a shorter stem on, cheers.

I've just built up a Kinesis Racelight T2 with 105 as an all-weather bike and I'm extremely impressed with the quality, lightness and ride comfort. Because you buy the fork (DC07 carbon) separately with an uncut steerer, the headtube height is irrelevant. I like a Sportive sort of geometry and compared to my summer bike the Kinesis head tube is a bit short for me (mines a 51cm frame so it's very short!), so I just left the steerer the appropriate length and inserted a few spacers. Doesn't look too silly IMHO!

The top tube is quite long on the T2 so with a (shorter than my other) 90mm stem and the spacers, the effective geometry is identical to my tall-head-tube summer bike.

ProBikekit have the T2 frames on offer at £168 presently, a very good deal indeed. Get your DC07 fork from Winstanleys, at the lowest price too, £112.

Gary Marshall

Cheers for that, Kinesis is top of the list at the moment,

I've been told historically by maestro colnago & kinesis say themselves, not to go over 4cm of spacers to avoid what maestro called 'the george hincapie at paris roubaix' incident. I will probably have 20cm and 3-4cm of spacers just to be sure!

I do have a query, does it need long reach brakes?

I've currently got some nice 1st gen skeleton veloce's on the bike at present that i'd like to keep.

giant_man

Yes you are going to need Tektros R-539 with a 47-57mm drop or similar on the T2 or TK2, especially if you intend to use mudguards, which it's intended for.

These are included on the ready-built machines, but I'm guessing you are going with frame and build up yourself?

Gary Marshall

Yes , will probably get York Cycleworks to build it out for me, they stock them.

Refitting ultra-torque etc is getting beyond my old school 'super record' mechanics skills.

giant_man

Don't tell me you are going to put SR on this, surely not ... lol

Gary Marshall

No, I wish i still had it all though!

Quite happily built many bikes over the years but generally find nowadays a good bike shop does a better job, and I like it to be 'right.'

giant_man

Winter bikes usually consist of lower tiered groupsets, cos of the censored and $hit on the roads during the winter months. It's up to you of course, i have a Kinesis build in mind for winter myself, but I would be building myself, much more satisfactory imo ..

Gary Marshall

Certainly agree if you've got the tools and skill to do it,i tend to favour the 'custom spec and then get it built approach', but annoying if they don't get it spot on, a slightly too short chain on the winter bike at the moment still irritates me!

giant_man

The thing is, Gary, i learned a long time ago that if you want something doing properly, you do it yourself. A visit to a LBS a long time ago for a simple fettling of gears was the last time I visited one for the mechanics of a bike. Do it all myself now, really not hard either. As I said before, it's much more satisfying, and you learn from your mistakes of course.

vorsprung

solboy10 wrote:

Look at the Pearson range, some seriously long head tubes on some of their frames and the new branding looks cool. Also service is great.

The current Pearson frames have short to average head tubes, none of them are particularly long

I'm sure they look nice and that Mr. Pearson is very polite

Gary Marshall

I did look at the pearson web site, certainly look the part but geometry for racing not posing by the looks of it...

clarkey cat

Condor Fratello fits the bill. 20.5cm HT on the 58.

giant_man

OP wanted alu ....

Bordersroadie

Quick update on the now-built Kinesis. I'm very impressed indeed. I cannot believe the ride quality, how comfy it is. I'd read reviewers comments that compared to a Ribble Audax (for example) the Kinesis is comfy, but I'd say it's as good as (if not slightly better especially in fork damping) the 531 frame that I've been riding through winters since 1987, a real surprise. And a great pleasure as I'll probably put more miles on this all-weather bike than my summer machine.

For the record the tyres are 25c wire beaded Gatorskins straight off my old steely, so not the comfiest tyres really.

bmxboy10

clarkey cat

giant man wrote:

OP wanted alu ....

Italia then.

Gary Marshall

I did nearly buy an Italia earlier in the year when I needed a replacement frame but ended up buying a complete Ribble Sportive Bianco instead.

Spoken to Cycleworks about the Kinesis so that looks like where i'll be heading, thanks for the advice...

tonye_n

giant man wrote:

Don't forget the kinesis racelight T2 and TK2 .... 20cm head tube and 58.2cm top tube on a 60cm .... alu with carbon fork.

The Kinesis racelight T/TK2 frame has a similar geo to the Ribble winter frame. Certainly with regards to the headtube height. So if the Ribble is not suitable, I don't see how how the Racelight T will be.

tonye_n

arlowood wrote:

What about a Genesis Equilibrium frame - £280 and a sweet looking number:-

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/frames/equilibrium

and built up as the Equilibrium 20:-

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/img/bikes ... ighres.jpg

Head tube is 170max and might be a tad short if you are adamant about needing 200mm minimum.

Please point me to where you can get the Equilibrium frame for £280.
I've been searching for some time now and seems like only the 2013 version is available and that is about £330 for frame only.

Gary Marshall

tonye_n wrote:

giant man wrote:

Don't forget the kinesis racelight T2 and TK2 .... 20cm head tube and 58.2cm top tube on a 60cm .... alu with carbon fork.

The Kinesis racelight T/TK2 frame has a similar geo to the Ribble winter frame. Certainly with regards to the headtube height. So if the Ribble is not suitable, I don't see how how the Racelight T will be.

Well my existing one is far too short so that's the problem.

I bought I think the Ribble 58 which has 56.3 top tube and 15 cm headtube, (this is actually the second one, I first bought one with a 56cm top tube and 13cm head tube which i gave to my dad in the end) but looking at it again, the 60 and 62's with 57 and 58 cm top tubes do have 17.5cm and 19.5cm head tubes which are about the same as the racelight.

Thanks, I will have another look at them. I've no quibble with my existing one other than it is too small.

Bordersroadie

Gary, if you do decide to go with a Kinesis T2, I'm not sure if I mentioned already that the cheapest paces currently are ProBikekit (frame, black only, £168) and Winstanley (DC07 fork, £112) each of which delivered in a couple of days with no hassles. Very good value I thought.

I posted a couple of pics in the my road bike section if you're interested in how the black looks built up.