Frameset for £500 budget?

minusnothing
minusnothing Posts: 30
edited November 2016 in Cyclocross
In the market to upgrade my frame.

Anyone know what's out there for about £500. Either Cross or Adventure or Gravel.
Don't mind aluminium or carbon so long as it's fairly light.

Comments

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,553
    Kinesis?
  • The_Wicker_Man
    The_Wicker_Man Posts: 338
    Kinesis for aluminium or Planet X for carbon or if you can up your budget to £600 get a Dolan CDX, clubmate has one and loves it (also very light).
  • devhads
    devhads Posts: 236
    Bear in mind the Kinesis race frame is just that, a race frame and has no bottle cage mounts so if you want to use it for adventure riding you're going to need a camelbak.

    Trek Crockett aluminium comes in disc or canti for £550 and is lighter than the Kinesis, Dolan and Planet X.
  • minusnothing
    minusnothing Posts: 30
    Thanks guys. Also just found the Fuji 1.1 Alu in Evans. £400 1.3kg frame.

    Seems legit?

    What do you think?
  • Chris James
    Chris James Posts: 1,040
    edited November 2016
    The_Wicker_Man wrote:
    Kinesis for aluminium or Planet X for carbon or if you can up your budget to £600 get a Dolan CDX, clubmate has one and loves it (also very light).

    I saw a Black Friday advert that the Dolan's have 10% off, taking it down to £550 for frameset.

    I don't know what they are like, although I like my multicross (not very light!) and I know a couple of other riders with Dolan's (Dual and Prefissio) and they have both been happy with their's. you also get a seatpost included in the frameset so if you need one of them then it takes you a bit closer to the £500 mark.

    The Trek looks good, although I am surprised if both the disc and canti frames have a claimed weight of 1250g as I would have expected the disc one to be a bit beefed up.
  • VamP
    VamP Posts: 674
    I think if you're going for Chinese carbon, you can always get a better deal going direct. The iplay IP-105-D is the one I'd go for - they are lovely frames.
  • Chris James
    Chris James Posts: 1,040
    VamP wrote:
    I think if you're going for Chinese carbon, you can always get a better deal going direct. The iplay IP-105-D is the one I'd go for - they are lovely frames.

    I'm sure you can buy cheaper, the worry about buying Chinese is always the (lack of) customer support. I guess you balance that with the savings you make.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    Chris James wrote:
    VamP wrote:
    I think if you're going for Chinese carbon, you can always get a better deal going direct. The iplay IP-105-D is the one I'd go for - they are lovely frames.

    I'm sure you can buy cheaper, the worry about buying Chinese is always the (lack of) customer support. I guess you balance that with the savings you make.
    In practice though, what's actually going to go wrong with a frameset? So long as you buy something with a decent reputation, so you know the basic product is sound, there's not a lot to go wrong.

    One thing I would check when buying any CX frame is that there's a ready source of replacement mech hangers (whether from the manufacturer or elsewhere). If the only source is overseas, might be worth having a couple of spares "in stock", so that you're not out of action for ages if (when) you break one.
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • minusnothing
    minusnothing Posts: 30
    Chris James wrote:
    The_Wicker_Man wrote:
    Kinesis for aluminium or Planet X for carbon or if you can up your budget to £600 get a Dolan CDX, clubmate has one and loves it (also very light).

    I saw a Black Friday advert that the Dolan's have 10% off, taking it down to £550 for frameset.

    I don't know what they are like, although I like my multicross (not very light!) and I know a couple of other riders with Dolan's (Dual and Prefissio) and they have both been happy with their's. you also get a seatpost included in the frameset so if you need one of them then it takes you a bit closer to the £500 mark.

    The Trek looks good, although I am surprised if both the disc and canti frames have a claimed weight of 1250g as I would have expected the disc one to be a bit beefed up.

    Chris, where have you seen a claimed weight of 1250g, on Trek site?

    Agree it's inlikely to be disc *and* canti!
  • Chris James
    Chris James Posts: 1,040
    MinusNothing wrote:
    Chris, where have you seen a claimed weight of 1250g, on Trek site?

    Agree it's inlikely to be disc *and* canti!

    http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... ook-38133/

    'Claimed weights are impressive for the all-alloy frame, too. According to Trek road bike brand manager Michael Mayer, a 56cm Crockett frame weighs less than 1,250g. The matching all-carbon cantilever fork adds 395g with an uncut, 300mm-long steerer tube while the disc version will tack on another 100g with its additional caliper mounts and sturdier alloy steerer.'

    Although this was 2013/14 and the disc fork now looks like it has a carbon steerer.
  • Chris James
    Chris James Posts: 1,040
    TGOTB wrote:
    In practice though, what's actually going to go wrong with a frameset? So long as you buy something with a decent reputation, so you know the basic product is sound, there's not a lot to go wrong.

    One thing I would check when buying any CX frame is that there's a ready source of replacement mech hangers (whether from the manufacturer or elsewhere). If the only source is overseas, might be worth having a couple of spares "in stock", so that you're not out of action for ages if (when) you break one.

    A friend of mine has snapped the steer on two sets of forks in two years. This was from a reputable brand. Not that it helped him much, as the second time they told him it was now outside warranty!
  • VamP
    VamP Posts: 674
    Given the amount of help a 'reputable' manufacturer was when I had frame issues, I'd just as happily deal with iplay or Farsports.
  • clc2005
    clc2005 Posts: 186
    I'll chip in about the Crockett as I have one myself. My pink canti frame weighs 1560 g in Size 56cm so nothing to write home about. The matching pink canti fork weighs 415g which is pretty lightweight for a CX fork. So the frameset is not a lightweight package overall. However, it seems very well built, has good geometry (read roadbike) and is good value at £550-600. I built mine up with Red 22 and used it mainly for offroad gravel tracks and bridleways and it deals with these brilliantly. I'm getting rid of mine shortly only because I would really like discs. If anyone would like my 1 year old good condition canti frameset (in Pink) for £300 then drop me a PM.

    Couple of Pics
    https://flic.kr/s/aHskHmAzN3


    Regards

    Chris

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