Dolan RDX. Anyone got one?

Darius_Jedburgh

https://www.dolan-bikes.com/road/disc-r ... build.html

Looking at one if these for a wet weather, winter second or just an easy day bike.
Terry's place is just up the road from me, but if I call in he'll browbeat me. He always does!

Does anyone on here ride one of these machines and if so what are they like? Any alternatives that anyone could suggest. Wouldn't mind a steel one :roll:

timothyw

Yeah, it's great.

I bought it to replace a Hoy Alto irpavi I bought last autumn that died within 6 months.

It feels nippier than they Hoy did and has proper guard mounts.

Got the frameset for £170 as it apparently had a blemish, which was very nearly imperceptible, probably one of the best bike bargains I've ever bagged (and I love a bargain....)

Darius_Jedburgh

That sounds good.
I suspect Terry will be in Yorkshire this week so I may call in and "accidentally" miss him!!!

super_davo

I have one:

viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=13083231

Still enjoy riding it. My main use is as a winter road bike too. It's a comfortable ride, no problem doing huge mileage on it. It's not the snappiest handling bike, certainly in relation to my summer bike, but also probably vs the Ribble winter it replaced. If I was in the market today I'd consider a Ribble Endurance AL disc which is priced similarly but a bit lighter plus less gravel bike and more out and out road bike.

If you do get one, then go small. The head tube is quite long for my normal position so I've got a "slam that stem" to get me lower. I'd probably pick a smaller size and longer stem for same effect. Also the Mavic Aksiums it came with were very heavy so changed them after one ride. There are lots of reasonably priced disc wheels now; I bought Prime Pros which are nice and light but the bearings need a lot of attention (so probably not ideal for winter usage).

Darius_Jedburgh

Thanks a lot. As I said I'm local to the shop so was thinking of going to get a fitting. £25 would seem to be good value.

I'll have a look at the Ribble as well.

timothyw

Yeah, would concur that it sizes large - I bought the 58cm based on the geo table where normally I'd take a 60cm.

I was surprised to find I could still use the -17 degree stem I had on the Hoy.

stuart_c-2

A note on the Ribble AL Disc if you've not seen my thread. Tyre clearance with guards is limited to 25s but I believe the RDX is calling bigger than this.

Otherwise I would agree with what's been said, very close to RDX in terms of spec and usefulness.

Darius_Jedburgh

Nope, not seen the thread. Any chance of a link???
I'll be running max 25 rated tyres, but of course who knows how big they actually are!!!

Darius_Jedburgh

Found your thread, and bookmarked it.
You were looking at the Boardman. I have a hankering after steel; is there a reason you discounted this?

stuart_c-2

Old 105 groupset, QR wheels and a few reviews of the wheels being less than great.

As you, I did really want to like it. Proper British bike built for Britain.

timothyw

Stuart_C wrote:

Old 105 groupset, QR wheels and a few reviews of the wheels being less than great.

As you, I did really want to like it. Proper British bike built for Britain.

Old 105? It's listed with R7020 (or r8020 ultegra as an upgrade).

Seriously though, they still do the frameset for £225. That's still a billy bargain - bit of canny shopping and you could probably build it up yourself for less.

Nothing wrong with QR for road discs either.

-Dash

TimothyW wrote:

Nothing wrong with QR for road discs either.

I'm curious. What difference does road make?

timothyw

I'm not sure it makes any difference for anything else either, but I'm only qualified to comment on road bikes - I've had like 5 different road/cyclocross bikes with disc brakes, one of them had thru axles.

I've not had a mountain bike since I was a teenager, and that had V brakes.

janwal

I have not found any difference whatsoever between through axle and quick release. I have a Trek with axles and had a Boardman with QR and now have a Bianchi Infinito with QR. Getting wheels on and off is easy on both with no problems at all.

Darius_Jedburgh

Old 105? It's listed with R7020 (or r8020 ultegra as an upgrade).

I asked Boardman about this and here is their answer...

Thanks for getting in touch about the ASR 8.9. The 105 groupset is 5800 and it can't be upgraded to Ultegra for you I'm afraid, its sold as the spec and can't be changed

timothyw

Oh, I'd assumed he was talking about the RDX.

ASR 8.9 does look nice though, undeniably. My experience with steel though hasn't shown it to be any more reliable than alu and has added rust problems.

Darius_Jedburgh

TimothyW wrote:

Oh, I'd assumed he was talking about the RDX.

ASR 8.9 does look nice though, undeniably. My experience with steel though hasn't shown it to be any more reliable than alu and has added rust problems.

But it isn't as heavy or as harsh a ride. And the rust problem only appears longish term if you abuse the bike.

timothyw

Are you saying steel is lighter than alu? Or specifically the RDX versus the Boardman?

I don't think there's much in it but road.cc quote the ASR at 10.6kg and bikeradar quote the RDX at 9.85kg.

Certainly the rule of thumb is that alu is lighter than steel.

Conventional wisdom is that alu is harsher but on bikes like this where you can easily run 28mm or bigger tyres that isn't really a factor - might be if you are running 23mm at high pressure.

Darius_Jedburgh

No, just the rule of thumb. I've always found alu to be a harsher ride than steel. My presnt alu bike feels seriously heavy and not very nimble, hence the search for a steel version. But I accept that may be to do with the construction and other frames may well be different.
I do wonder where all the steel frames have gone, and maybe the new alu frames are nice and responsive. Trouble is getting a decent test ride is almost impossible. by decent I mean an hour or two, not the 5 mins in the car park that is uaually on offer!
I'll have to dig aground and see what my bike is rated at. I may be surprised.

stuart_c-2

TimothyW wrote:

Stuart_C wrote:

Old 105 groupset, QR wheels and a few reviews of the wheels being less than great.

As you, I did really want to like it. Proper British bike built for Britain.

Old 105? It's listed with R7020 (or r8020 ultegra as an upgrade).

Seriously though, they still do the frameset for £225. That's still a billy bargain - bit of canny shopping and you could probably build it up yourself for less.

Nothing wrong with QR for road discs either.

My post was in reference to the Boardman, not the Dolan, but think we've established that now.

Having had thru axles on the MTB for a couple of years I just prefer them now. Same with the brakes really.