Crit bike

dombhoy

Im looking to build up a bike for training and to start racing, what frameset would people recommend, I'll probably be building it up with 11 speed shimano 105, but also need to consider what wheels.

I have a budget of about £1000 for frameset and wheels combined, as i have a groupset, and have a good idea of what finishing kit I like from my previous bikes.

This will be my only road bike apart from a cheap bike that i use for winter, What frameset would people reccomend for crits and fast training rides, and what wheelset would people reccomend for racing, fast training rides. Thanks

BikeRadarAdmin

I've mentioned my bike before on here. But, the Bowman Palace is an aluminium Crit specific bike that retails for £650 (frameset + carbon forks + headset). It'll tick all your boxes if you want a fast, cheapish race bike!

I'd definitely check it out and if you already have a groupset, you should be able to get some decent wheels with the remaining budget.

dombhoy

That was definately one i was looking at but hadnt seen many reviews so its good to hear a positive review, it is definately one of the best looking bikes in my opinion.

BikeRadarAdmin

Yeah I absolutely love it. Been riding on it just over a year now with 105.

I managed to get second hand Chris King Hubs off eBay and for H Plus Son Archetype rims for about 500 all in. Super stiff and strong, as well as incredibly fast rolling. Ultegra hubs or similar would do a similar job I guess!

dombhoy

Thanks thats really helpful; the bowman looks like a very good option

bluemoon17

CAAD 10.

matt-h

Why not a SuperSIx and sell of the groupset to bring it down to budget.
There was a thread on here where someone bought a stonker for very little

Matt

iron-clover

Yup, the above are good points, although I'm not sure about Archetype rims though- they look like they could be a little weighty to me and I'd leave them for general/ training use.

The Kinesis Aithin is also a good shout, and leaves about £400 for wheels. I would probably go for good alloy over cheap carbon- especially as if you are planning on doing lots of crits it's inevitable it'll be involved in a crash at some point, and alloy is easier to assess for damage.

There are so many options when it comes to wheels...
I find good old Mavic Open Pro rims are fine for racing (surprisingly light) when paired with good tyres (I'm on Shwalbe Ultremo atm) and light tubes like Conti supersonic.
The only 'downside' is it can be difficult to find Open Pro rims/ pre built wheels with less than 32 spokes, but the extra spokes don't add much aero drag and very little weight, but do mean if you lose one (like I did when warming up for one race...) you can always open the brakes and carry on. You can also train on them reliably.

My favourite racing wheels at the moment are 32mm tubulars (extremely light rims plus most of the aero benefits), but I wouldn't use them in wet crits and only with good brakes/ pads due to the large amounts of braking. I would avoid any wheels over 50mm depth as the weight of the rim will be far worse than marginal aero gains- in crits low weight for all the accellerating out of corners is king.

With this in mind second hand Dura Ace c24 wheels would be great- just don't use them for anything other than racing as the brake tracks wear faster than a lot of other wheels! If you stick with a 10 speed groupset (no reason why not in a crit...) then you should be able to find plenty of decent 2nd hand wheels as people go for 11 speed.

Good luck!!

dombhoy

Thanks everyone some really helpful advice, I think top quality alloy is the route I will probably go down so the caad10/12 , kinesis Authentic and bowman palace all seem like good options,currently I really like the palace and the Aithein and I think matched to some decent wheels could be the perfect solution,

dombhoy

Has anyone got any experience with the allez race smart weld frame as that seems like another possible contender

trek_dan

Ribble 7005 Ultralite?

philbar72

a clubmate has an allez smartweld. he's also got a canyon ultimate cf slx so uses the smartweld for training. another clubmate has the Kinesis and rates it really highly.

Anonymous

I would look at concentrating more on the wheels you buy than the frame. Crits have a lot of out of the saddle sprinting involved and better lighter wheels will help you perform better. So many decent cheap frames around to not need tospend too much on.

JesseD

What size are you?

I have a 58cm Cannondale System Six frameset for sale cheap at the moment which is widely regarded as one of the best crit frames you can buy, or used to be able to buy as you cant get them anymore. Only reason I am selling it is because its too big for me.

This may seem like a shameless plug but I honestly do rate these framesets, they are stiff and comfortable and corner like they are on rails, one of the most stable bikes I've ridden.

That said I have also been looking at the Bowman palace and everything I have read says they are great framesets and at £650 all in its a pretty good deal as well, just as long as the geometry suits you.

Spartacus1981

If only that System Six was a 54cm

PLuKE

Daft question...

I know crits can be rough at times, I have watched a few but haven't taken part yet.

Isn't it best to use your best parts including frame for racing to win? Or do folks use there best kit for road races and cheaper/robust stuff on the crits

Luke

iron-clover

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19750013#p19750013]PLuKE[/url] wrote:

Daft question...

I know crits can be rough at times, I have watched a few but haven't taken part yet.

Isn't it best to use your best parts including frame for racing to win? Or do folks use there best kit for road races and cheaper/robust stuff on the crits

Luke

"Don't race what you can't replace" is the golden rule.
If you race smart and watch out for others doing stupid and/ or dangerous things (basically ride defensively) you'll lower your chances of being involved in a big smash, but sometimes things happen a couple of wheels up that you can't avoid.
Same goes for on road races unless you plan to break away early- the most spectacular crash I've seen was out on a big road course.

If you would be totally devastated if it get's broken in a crash then think twice about using it in a race. I save expensive and/ or difficult to replace kit on TTs and hillclimbs, and keep my race bike so I can replace any individual bits without too much pain.

JesseD

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19750029#p19750029]iron-clover[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19750013#p19750013]PLuKE[/url] wrote:

Daft question...

I know crits can be rough at times, I have watched a few but haven't taken part yet.

Isn't it best to use your best parts including frame for racing to win? Or do folks use there best kit for road races and cheaper/robust stuff on the crits

Luke

"Don't race what you can't replace" is the golden rule.
If you race smart and watch out for others doing stupid and/ or dangerous things (basically ride defensively) you'll lower your chances of being involved in a big smash, but sometimes things happen a couple of wheels up that you can't avoid.
Same goes for on road races unless you plan to break away early- the most spectacular crash I've seen was out on a big road course.

If you would be totally devastated if it get's broken in a crash then think twice about using it in a race. I save expensive and/ or difficult to replace kit on TTs and hillclimbs, and keep my race bike so I can replace any individual bits without too much pain.

This!

Matthewfalle

Ali framed Planet X team super light with carbon forks, carbon seat post, carbon stem and a few other bits available all unused from me for a sooper dooper pre Chrimbly price.

Good enough for the P/X race team and I've trained/commuted/raced on one for a few years and love them to bits.