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TECH NEWS

Kinesis Bikes T3 launched - £270 frame is lighter than old T2

Classic aluminium touring/winter training bike gets a complete update

The Racelight T2 has been in the Kinesis range for a number of years; we've tested it twice in that time, with the latest £999 Tiagra build getting a good write up from VecchioJo  – he called it a “Cheerful-to-ride bike that helps make winter training, commuting or Audaxes fun”. Nothing stands still, though, and At the Cycle Show at the NEC Kinesis rolled out its successor. You'll never guess what it's called. The Racelight T3. Oh, you guessed. The frame on its own costs £269.99.

- 10 of the best touring bikes

Kinesis Racelight T3 - head tube.jpg

What's new? Well, the geometry isn't. Kinesis reckon they've more or less got the right mix of agility and stability spot on in the angles they used for the T2, and that's borne out in our tests of it: eager enough for a club run or chain gang but not too much of a handful on the wet and leafy winter tarmac, or loaded up with panniers. And like the T2 it's externally cabled which makes re-lubing in wet and salty conditions a whole lot easier. The bottom bracket is a standard 68mm threaded unit so BB swaps are as easy as possible too.

- Review: Kinesis Racelight T2

Kinesis Racelight T3 - bottom bracket.jpg

Kinesis have moved from 7005 to 6061 alloy, and in the process of revamping the frame have managed to save about 200g of metal over the T2. That's even with the extra going into the head tube: The T3 gets the now-ubiquitous tapered headset for a bit of extra front end stiffness. Kinesis say it's a perfect match for their full carbon Tracer fork (£199.99)

Kinesis Racelight T3 - dub decal.jpg

There's two colour options: the grey and red pictured, and a dark navy and fluorescent yellow. It's available in 48cm, 51cm, 54cm, 57cm, 60cm and 63cm frame sizes.

Check it out at the Kinesis Bikes website for more info

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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11 comments

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srchar | 6 years ago
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What brakes are people using with this frame?  I've tried Miche Performance and Shimano R451 long-drops on the rear and they both impinge on the tyre. I bought this frame rather than a disc frame because I didn't want and fucking around with the brakes! I'm starting to think I have a faulty frame, which would piss me of royally since it's all built up apart from the brakes.

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_serge | 7 years ago
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Kinesis is specified 51cm (ST) frame only weight: 1.38кг (http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Catalogue/Models/Racelight/T3).
But the 51 size frame have net weight is 1.61kg really!!
I'm purchased this frame from:
https://www.probikekit.de/fahrrad-rahmen/kinesis-racelight-t3-frame-blue...
This is not good.

Avatar
mtbtomo | 7 years ago
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But at £270 + £200 for the fork then it's barely any cheaper than the 4s (disc)?

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Ad Hynkel | 7 years ago
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Boy, that head tube is one ugly mutha.

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WillRod | 7 years ago
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The question is... What is the build quality like? The carbon fork incident has put me off a little.

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jellybike | 7 years ago
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It is getting close to a 4S. But the 4S has been discontinued and replaced with the 4S Disc (though it retains the ability to fit calipers). The 4S disc also has the higher grade Kinesium tubing, internal routing and di2 capability

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gmac101 | 7 years ago
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Damn - just bought a T2

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wrevilo | 7 years ago
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The T2 with the Tracer fork would be about 365g ligher than my T2 and DC07.

Is this pretty much the 4S?

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javi_polo replied to wrevilo | 7 years ago
1 like

wrevilo wrote:

Is this pretty much the 4S?

Oh no, not at all. The 4S comes with a matching colour fork :D. No, seriously, why don't they release matching colour Tracer forks... (or a black T3!)

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Vejnemojnen | 7 years ago
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the ht lenght-stack-reach-head and seat tube angle on the 57cm is.. perfect  1

Nice, albeit, it could use some red-cherry-brown-yellow-orange

Avatar
Luv2ride | 7 years ago
0 likes

Mmmm,  navy and flouro for me. Like.

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