£3k budget for a steel or Ti frame road bike

Wheelnut64

I am having my dream bike for my 50th birthday.

I already have a Boardman team carbon (entry level carbon) but fancy either quality steel or Ti framed road bike. I have looked at Condor, Starley, Singular, Surly and have also been told about Shand, Rouke, Epic, etc.

I guess I am a bit in a spin with all the choice!

Ti or steel or stainless steel?
Custom made or off the peg?

Please help :-)

Regards Andy

bmxboy10

Been on a similar journey over the last six months. Having had a Van Nicholas a while back I had focussed on steel as the Ti bike was too springy for me. The verdict on custom frames was buy local but out of all the builders out their I always felt Rourke was the product for me and they are 300 miles away. Then some guys on here started to show me the Tommasini range and I fell for the Tecno big time. You can go custom on the sizing and tube diameters and even pick a custom paint job and the bikes are made in Italy. The overall verdict on here was the Tommasini but clearly its whatever floats your boat. I am still thinking about what to do BTW :roll:

If you are interested in the Tomassini call Adam at Comtat London.

Wirral_paul

I'm really happy with my Burls Ti custom bike (winter / touring) and wouldnt hesitate to recommend Justin. He's a frame builder himself and does the steel frames himself in Suffolk, but has Ti frames made in Russia.

http://www.burls.co.uk/index.php

ride_whenever

Is 3K F&F or complete bike?

flasher

+1 on the Burls, custom titanium what's not to like?

styxd

Pegoretti

Bordersroadie

+1 for Burls Ti.

Wirral_paul

Lets get Justin another customer then shall we! haha 8)

Ok here's mine......

Camcycle1974

Get yourself along to bespoked Bristol in April I think. Plenty on offer there in ti or steel.

LegendLust

Camcycle1974 wrote:

Get yourself along to bespoked Bristol in April I think. Plenty on offer there in ti or steel.

Isn't Bespoked at the London Velodrome this year?

mfin

OP is saying 'dream bike', but this is a personal thing, I love my ti bike for general duties, but one thing I also appreciate is that whilst it is not lacking too much behind, when the best bike comes out it does offer more in all respects (and I like that, to look forward to). Not that that is all down to the materials though. You've got to ride any individual bike to get a real grasp of it, and it has to fit, to the mm.

mattythemod

LegendLust wrote:

Camcycle1974 wrote:

Get yourself along to bespoked Bristol in April I think. Plenty on offer there in ti or steel.

Isn't Bespoked at the London Velodrome this year?

Yes it sure is http://www.bespoked.cc/

I too was in a similar siutation with regards to Steel or Ti and ended up going to the NEC bike show last october which really helped in narrowing down my options ..in the end i went with a Condor Super Acciaco with a cutom paint finish , very very happy with the finished result .

Camcycle1974

LegendLust wrote:

Camcycle1974 wrote:

Get yourself along to bespoked Bristol in April I think. Plenty on offer there in ti or steel.

Isn't Bespoked at the London Velodrome this year?

Thanks, didn't know it had changed venue, I will definitely go then as Bristol is a bit of a trek from Cambridge.

twgh

I just went through a similar process - ended up going with Matthew at Saffron Frameworks. He has been fantastic to work with. If you are looking for your dream bike and something you will treasure forever then a custom frame and handpicking all the parts is without doubt the way to go. You will know and love every part of the bike and really feel like you had 100% ownership of the entire process.

For your budget you could easily get a custom frame, with some top notch handbuilt wheels and still have enough money left over for an ultegra 6800 groupset. Bespoked should be your first port of call if you are unsure as seeing all the bikes in the flesh will help you make the decision.

If you have any questions send me a message.

owenlars

Cherubim Piuma
here is a link to a picture of mine

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8014/7414 ... 6362_z.jpg

drlodge

I can recommend the guys at Rourke Cycles...Jase, Gaz, Chris and of course Brian. An 853 is probably more in your price bracket, a 953 frame is getting close to £2k. That said, you can always have an 853 with bare 953 stays...choice is endless.

holiver

The Kinesis Ti frame might be worth a look too.

Mccaria

This is my stainless steel Xcr Pelizzoli. Really like it, definitely go with carbon forks.

Have fun choosing

Wheelnut64

Thanks guys....Matt I love the Condor super Accadio too. I visited the shop last week while in London.

I was thinking of buying before Bespoked as birthday is March 25th!

Rouke is a little far away as is Shand and Starley. I am in the south East so Burls in Sussex is not that far away and of course any builders in London.

I love the 953 steel but my budget would need to expand past £3k. It would be unusual and distinctive of course. I am concerned Ti might be too springy. I have a steel Genesis Single speed flyer which I believe is the same frame material as the Equilibrium?

neeb

Enigma are right on your doorstep - how about a custom Extensor in Columbus XCr? I couldn't be happier with mine. The XCr tubeset is brilliant. With custom paint, fork, a decent groupset and wheels it would be a bit over 3K but well worth it. Otherwise I'd be tempted by custom 853 from any one of a number of builders.

bmxboy10

You live in the same region as me. I discounted Enigma as I wanted a classic looking bike but that said the guys (over the phone) were really helpful. Was impressed with Roberts in Croydon but compared to the Rourkes they are expensive IMO. Best not to rush this IMO so if I were you I would wait until Bespoke now unless you want the Condor which as a non bespoke bike goes is a nice bit of kit.

neeb

If you go custom with Enigma you can have it looking as classic as you want. They will do a straight top tube and let you specify paint. Of course modern steel such as XCr or 953 is never going to look completely classic because it is oversized, but really, if you are actually going to use the bike and want something that feels stiff and responsive like a modern frame then that's definitely something you want...

Not sure if Enigma do lugged frames in XCr if you really want the California-neo-old-school-handbuilt-boutique type thing, but I know that they do in other tubesets (for a cost). But again, lugs really don't make sense on a modern steel bike, tubesets such as XCr were designed to be tig welded.

Monty Dog

Don't see the point of building 953 or XCR with lugs either - you're adding weight and reducing strength.

drlodge

Monty Dog wrote:

Don't see the point of building 953 or XCR with lugs either - you're adding weight and reducing strength.

Not sure about lugs reducing strength, but I do prefer TIG for the clean lines. I don't get why you'd want to use lugs with 953, although Ricky Feather does make very nice lugged frames.

navrig2

I took delivery of a Lynskey R255 last week. Bought from Fatbirds - good service and a reasonable deal (its C2W so limited negotiation on price). With Ultegra 6800 it is bang on your budget if you accept budget wheels (I bought without wheels).

There are more Lynskey models than I anticipated so worth a look at the Fatbirds website.

Wheelnut64

Thanks Owen, lovely bike! I see Kinoko cycles in London have Cherubim Piuma frame at £2,100 or did have? Shows out of stock! What makes them so special?

owenlars

Rather than me blather on about them read this Bike Radar review.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... uma-45240/

owenlars

Go and see Andy at Kinoko they may have one you can try. Shin-Ichi will make one for you in Tokyo. It will probably take 6-9 months though. It will however be your measurements and your colour scheme.

neeb

I must have been in a bad mood when I wrote my comment on that review.. ;-) Now at least, I actually think it looks quite nice.

But I still don't understand how a frame with those tube profiles can be properly stiff as well as light. Steel has effectively the same density and Young's modulus whatever the alloy. You can only make it stiffer by increasing the tube diameters or the wall thickness/weight. The really good modern steels are stronger, which allows you to increase the tube diameters (and so stiffness) while making the walls very thin (and so keeping the weight down). Narrower tubes must be either less stiff or heavier, whatever type of steel they are made out of.

owenlars

I'll pm you

joelsim

I want one of these so much it hurts

http://road.cc/content/news/112970-just ... ipster-atr