Dolan Dual Wet Weather Road Bike

bobones

[Click for hi-res image to see the dirty tyres and spot the small mistake!]

Frame and Forks: Dolan Dual 56cm (carbon frame and fork blades)
Bars: Zipp Service Course Short Shallow (42cm)
Stem: Zipp Service Course (90mm)
Headset: Alpina integrated (supplied with frameset)
Bar Tape: FWE Vex Gel

Shifters: Shimano 105 R7000 (Black)
Brake Calipers: Shimano 105 R7000
Front Mech: Shimano 105 R7000 (34.9mm band-on)
Rear Mech: Shimano 105 R7000 (short cage)
Cables: Shimano (supplied with shifters)

Saddle: Cosine Ti Endurance Road
Seat Post: Alpina carbon set back (supplied with frameset)
Seat Post Clamp: Alpina

Chainset: FSA SLK-Light MegaExo 110 BCD
Chain rings: Praxis Works 50-34
Chain: Shimano 105 5800/SLX M7000 HG601Q 11 speed
Cassette: Shimano 105 R7000 11-28
Pedals: Garmin Vector 3
Bottom Bracket: FSA BB 8681 (BSA)

Wheels: Cero AR24 Evo
Rims: Cero (rebadged Kinlin?)
Spokes: Sapim D-Light
Hubs: Cero (rebadged Chosen?)
Tires: Maxxis Padrone 23mm tubeless ready
Skewers: LifeLine Ti Pro

Bottle Cages: Elite Custom Race (Alpina badged)
Mudguards: Radial Avert Pro 30mm

Weight: 8.5kg as pictured

Other Notes:

I had 2 other winter bikes: a Tifosi CK7 with black 5700 that I've just sold, and an old Trek 1.5 with silver 5700 that I'm keeping for turbo use. I do a lot of riding in wet weather and spend a lot of time on my winter bike so I wanted something with permanent mudguards that's a bit lighter, snappier and nicer to ride than your usual winter hack. When I saw the Dual frameset on sale with £200 off, I took the bait and bought one.

I was originally going to just swap over 5700 components from the Tifosi and sell the frameset, but in the end I opted for new R7000 components and sold the Tifosi as a complete bike. I am really glad I did this as the R7000 brakes and gears are a massive improvement over 5700 and now the Dolan feels like a new bike and is really fun to ride.

I've reused an old SLK-light carbon chainset with Praxis rings mainly because I had it lying around, it's light and the carbon finish won't get scraped by my winter boots as a black painted/anodized chainset would.

I am currently running tubeless 23mm Maxxis Padrones on the Cero AR24s under narrow aluminium mudguards. I know that the trend is toward 25 or 28mm tyres, but this is easily the smoothest, fastest and most comfortable feeling combination of wheel/tyre that I've tried (I've been riding 25mm tyres for years). I may switch to 25mm Fusion 5 All Seasons on DT Swiss R460 handbuilts if the Padrones or AR24s don't hold up well in the depths of winter, but I'll need to swap to the wider 37mm Radial mudguards as the current 30mm are the limiting factor for clearance, not the frame. I'll probably add some mudflaps for group rides even though hardly anyone else I'm out with bothers that much about their fellow riders!

Incidentally, I bought the Padrone tyres in a 2 for 1 last Black Monday sales (£40 the pair), but I am so impressed I bought another set for future use as Wiggle are currently doing them for £33.50 each: they're definitely my favourite tubeless tyre at the moment. Also, it's a real shame that Radial have stopped producing the Avert mudguards as they were great for the money being alu and less than £20 a set.

lostboysaint

If that was disc it would be my perfect winter bike.

And that isn't a criticism of your spec by the way!! I like it a lot.

keef66

That does look sweet! I'd deffo add the mudflaps, more for your own and the bike's protection though

supermurph09

Personally think you've done a great job there, that'd be my type of winter bike.

fenix

+1 on the longer flaps needed but sweet bike.

shamrock134

Those guards look nice.

I'm searching for the best (read: least ****) looking set and before I saw yours was leaning towards Kinesis fend-off or PDW full metal. They appear to be out of stock at Radial though.

Did you have to hacksaw the stays?

bobones

Thanks for the kind comments.

The Radial Averts are out of stock and won't be back so I've read. I used a Dremel on the stays, which is easier than a hacksaw as you can cut them while the guards are on the bike. Bolt croppers will also work.

I've got SKS mudflaps on my 37mm Averts, which are currently on the Trek. I'm planning to swap the guards around so I have the option of running 25mm tyres on the Dual.

I've also been looking for alternative metal guards, but they're few and far between. The PDWs look nice, but they're very expensive and a bit narrow as they're designed to cater for bikes with limited clearance. Those Kinesis Fend Offs look promising apart from all the Kinesis branding.

Here are some others I found on my searches:

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/mudguards/d ... 6mm-black/
https://www.velovitality.co.uk/collecti ... -mudguards
https://www.velovitality.co.uk/collecti ... -eye-bolts (34mm)

Before I got the Averts I was a big fan of the SKS Longboards, but you know they're inevitably going to crack somewhere.

Here's my old Tifosi with the 37mm Averts and flaps:

keef66

+1 on the use of a Dremel to cut the stays once all the faffing and fine tuning is done. Very neat and extremely satisfying. Just watch where the sparks go!

ugo.santalucia

Welcome to the Dual owners club... most versatile bike ever

Bordersroadie

Nice bike.

Like you I have an FSA SL-K light crankset in my shed that I fancy putting on a bike but (despite the cranksets being ridiculously lightweight) those 8681 bottom brackets are expensive (like £50 each!) and have a reputation for being rubbish. My first one went after a lowish mileage so I'm wondering whether to bother buying a new BB and using the crankset again.

What's your experience of using it? Have you used on in wet weather before? I'd appreciate your feedback!

bobones

Bordersroadie wrote:

Nice bike.

Like you I have an FSA SL-K light crankset in my shed that I fancy putting on a bike but (despite the cranksets being ridiculously lightweight) those 8681 bottom brackets are expensive (like £50 each!) and have a reputation for being rubbish. My first one went after a lowish mileage so I'm wondering whether to bother buying a new BB and using the crankset again.

What's your experience of using it? Have you used on in wet weather before? I'd appreciate your feedback!

You can get one on Tredz for £36 (£40.99 then wait for the £5 off voucher to appear) or £33.30 on eBay.

You're right though, I don't think they're the most durable of BBs, but looking back at my Strava stats, it seems I was getting 5-10k miles or a couple of years use of the them. I have never used the chainset on a winter bike so it remains to be seem how well it will hold up to getting a real soaking, but a bit of proactive maintenance (e.g. cleaning and greasing after riding through floods) may help to extend the life.

OnTheRopes

I have Dolan Dual as a winter bike, ridden for 2 or 3 winters now, there i just one thing that bugs me...
if I use mudguards, I cannot seem to fit bigger than 23mm tyres. I use GP4000sii

Bordersroadie

bobones wrote:

Bordersroadie wrote:

Nice bike.

Like you I have an FSA SL-K light crankset in my shed that I fancy putting on a bike but (despite the cranksets being ridiculously lightweight) those 8681 bottom brackets are expensive (like £50 each!) and have a reputation for being rubbish. My first one went after a lowish mileage so I'm wondering whether to bother buying a new BB and using the crankset again.

What's your experience of using it? Have you used on in wet weather before? I'd appreciate your feedback!

You can get one on Tredz for £36 (£40.99 then wait for the £5 off voucher to appear) or £33.30 on eBay.

You're right though, I don't think they're the most durable of BBs, but looking back at my Strava stats, it seems I was getting 5-10k miles or a couple of years use of the them. I have never used the chainset on a winter bike so it remains to be seem how well it will hold up to getting a real soaking, but a bit of proactive maintenance (e.g. cleaning and greasing after riding through floods) may help to extend the life.

bobones, many thanks for that feedback, it sounds like maybe not HTII durability but if I use it on a dry bike I should be okay, maybe I was unlucky with the previous one. Cheers for the Tredz tip too. Good man, appreciate it.

lakesluddite

Is the deliberate mistake a headset spacer upside down?

Do I win £5?

bobones

LakesLuddite wrote:

Is the deliberate mistake a headset spacer upside down?

Do I win £5?

Correct, top marks for observation! 4ZA spacer mistakenly installed upside down, now fixed of course.

Here's your (virtual) prize

bobones

Update with the bike in its current form: Force AXS groupset replaces R7000, wheels are self-built Mavic Open Pro UST with 25mm Hutchinson Fusion 5 TLR tyres. Bars and stem are now from Fizik and guards are 35 mm wide aluminium Radial Revert with SKS mudflaps.