[kil0ran]

As the title – I’m looking for a road frame on the race-side of the performance/comfort envelope that will run rim brakes (caliper or canti is fine) but will take a 28mm tyre with guards. Not too bothered as to frame material but I’d like it to be a lightweight build. Current rim-braked bike is a shade over 10kgs and only takes 23s with guards and my tourer is probably north of 15. Looking for something that will do for fast 20-milers on New Forest “roads” but mudguards are pretty essential. Ideally frameset rather than full bike. £1k for the frameset, doesn’t need to be new.

Any options come to mind? 

Topic

[kil0ran]

So as a followup I’ve spent

So as a followup I’ve spent the whole summer on the Layhams. Brilliant bike – looks the part, fast enough in terms of stiffness, comfy enough for decent distances, fits me like a glove. About to be re-shod with mudguards and winter wheels and will be used throughout the winter (stainless steel doesn’t rust, right?) as my tourer has now mutated into a monstercrosser running 40mm knobblies. Very likely to be my forever bike.

[IanEdward]

Do yourself a favour and get

Do yourself a favour and get some PDWs, they’re so much neater to install and quieter in use than any SKSs I’ve used.

[kil0ran]

IanEdward wrote:

Nice! Very jealous, it’ll be a couple of years before I can justify spending new bike money, but guards and big tyres are top of the brief.

In the meantime I’l have to make do with the Rose. Quietly pleased with how neat the mudguards went on, benefits of chainstay mounted brakes I guess, and once they fail I can justify getting some PDWs which should be even neater.

I love a neat mudguard install, nice job. Now I just need to decide whether the Layhams will look better with silver or black guards. Long drop calipers from the parts bin are silver, rest of the group is black, and tyres will be tanwalls. I do wonder if I’m a bit weird in that I actually enjoy installing guards.

I’m hoping this bike is going to outlast me, or at least be something I can give my son whe he’s tall enough. Despite the brief I’m wondering if its going to see many winter miles, not sure I can bear to get it covered in mud!

[IanEdward]

Nice! Very jealous, it’ll be

Nice! Very jealous, it’ll be a couple of years before I can justify spending new bike money, but guards and big tyres are top of the brief.

In the meantime I’l have to make do with the Rose. Quietly pleased with how neat the mudguards went on, benefits of chainstay mounted brakes I guess, and once they fail I can justify getting some PDWs which should be even neater.

[kil0ran]

kil0ran wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

Joe Totale wrote:

I’m currently in a fairly similar situation to you as I want a new rim brake commuter/winter bike come Spring time. I’ll let my current hack put up with this winter! 

I think this time I’m going to buy a complete bike, not a frameset. In your situation a Bowman Layhams sounds ideal although maybe a bit too pricey?

https://bowman-cycles.com/product/layhams-copy/

A cheaper option could be a Genesis Equalibrium frameset, not sure if it can fit 28s with guards mind.

I think I’m going to grab a Specialized Allez when they’re back on the market as they can have mudguards with 25″ tyres, I’ll grab the Sora one as I’ll have some spare 105 parts to upgrade it myself and also some better wheels to fit on it. 

If I had the budget that Layham’s would be mine. Gorgeous thing….

And now it is – found an unbuilt one on eBay! Now busy force-refreshing the DPD tracking website. Utter porn and should be buildable in to something around 8kgs.

The other option was a Fratello, or a Kinesis GF Ti v2 but they so rarely come up for sale.

Layhams completely fits the brief. I could have gone for a Rourke or Bob Jackson or Mercian, but winter would have been done by the time they were ready. Hopefully be out on the Layhams over half term now…

[kil0ran]

IanEdward wrote:

Is the lack of clearance at the chainstay bridge for the tyres only, or tyres and guards? i.e. could you just stop the guard before the chainstay bridge?

Am embarking on fitting full length guards to my Rose Xeon tonight, cautiously optimistic but 25s are my max and the guards will need to stop at the fork crown and the chainstay bridge, much dremelling!

 

p.s. did you check out the Holdsworth Competition? I ended up not buying one because I didn’t think I had the time to do my own build, possibly regretting that decision now…

 

Anecdotally it can take 28s with room to spare. You would need those little mudguard eyelets that sit on your QR axle but they’re cheap enough.

I did like the look of that (absolute sucker for orange bikes, plus a Holdsworth would make the old man jealous, as long as he didn’t realise it wasn’t a “real” one) but really wanted proper mudguard eyelets. 

As to mudguards I was primarily interested in keeping myself dry rather than protecting the bike so was looking in to options for cutaways, etc. That would have meant metalwork and proper guards rather than chromoplastics which just don’t like being cut, so probably PDW or Gilles Berthoud.

[IanEdward]

Is the lack of clearance at

Is the lack of clearance at the chainstay bridge for the tyres only, or tyres and guards? i.e. could you just stop the guard before the chainstay bridge?

Am embarking on fitting full length guards to my Rose Xeon tonight, cautiously optimistic but 25s are my max and the guards will need to stop at the fork crown and the chainstay bridge, much dremelling!

 

p.s. did you check out the Holdsworth Competition? I ended up not buying one because I didn’t think I had the time to do my own build, possibly regretting that decision now…

 

Anecdotally it can take 28s with room to spare. You would need those little mudguard eyelets that sit on your QR axle but they’re cheap enough.

[kil0ran]

kil0ran wrote:

P3t3 wrote:

Can you get the decathlon triban 500 frame-only? One of them has long drop brakes and would most likely take 28s +guards but I can’t remember the exact model.  

I also managed to get 28s and guards to work on my CAAD8 with some coaxing and modding but it was a bit of a labour of love to keep it working well like that.  Its for sale if anybody wants a caad8 with 105.  

 

Good point – pretty sure the new 500 has the clearance, same frame as the 100 and that has 32mm knobblies fitted as standard with a ton of clearance.  Certainly an option – it has mudguard mounts and a carbon fork. I reckon I could get ~£150 back by selling the group, tyres, wheels, and bars from it so net cost would be around £200. Bit of a bargain really – the matt red finish looks excellent, it’s mercifully short of the usual B’Twin graphics screaming “6061 Aluminium is soooo coool kids”, and it even has pannier mounts front and rear. Not many carbon forks out there rated to carry 6kgs per side on low-rider mounts – you could probably ride round the world on it! Its not particularly light at 10.3kg but its sporting a square-taper triple with heavy wheels so it should be easy to get it way below 9kgs.

Whilst I’ve squeezed 28s into my Triban 3 clearances are super-tight, no way to fit mudguards unless you’re running 23s.

So I spoke to Decathlon about the 500 – no go for 28s plus guards, unless they’re skinny 28s. Issue is clearance on the chainstay bridge – they’d probably go in but you’d be running dangerously close.

So Kinesis, custom, or Condor it is.

[kil0ran]

Hmm, all the Planet X Ti

Hmm, all the Planet X Ti frames are on sale, revised versions on the way?

[kil0ran]

BikeJon wrote:

BikeJon wrote:

Planet X do a nice range of titanium frames for different purposes. I’m sure they do disc and rim brake options and look a good option for your frame-only budget.

Annoyingly their rim-braked option only has clearance for 25mm tyres, and that’s before fitting ‘guards.

I am looking at the s/h titanium market – Sabbath September definitely takes 28s, as does Spa Cycles’ Elan Ti. Airborne and Lynskey have so many versions and iterations but will probably have something. The other option is an Enigma Etape s/h.

 

 

[kil0ran]

Vehlin wrote:

Vehlin wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

They all have their place. Personally I love the short travel and instant response I get from my 5800 calipers. Run them very close and I can haul my 18st up from the hoods no problem, enough power to lock the rear. On a purely superficial level I also just like how they look. Full length housings are plain ugly, particularly on a light coloured frame. Having said all that I wouldn’t ride without discs on the tourer because I need to stop me, the bike, the tagalong, and an 8yo child. Just wish I could get them as quiet and responsive as the rims. Too much travel for my liking.

Without wanting to kindle a disc brake holy war are you using cable or hydros on your tourer? I’ve got hydros on my CAADX and never have to adjust them.

Hybrids – cable operated hydro calipers from Juin Tech (same as the Yokozuna ones Mike Stead reviewed on this site last year)

They’re good but they squeal in the wet and lever travel is too long compared to well set up rim brake. Sintered pads have helped and at least the front is reasonably good but the rear lacks response.

[BikeJon]

Planet X do a nice range of
Planet X do a nice range of titanium frames for different purposes. I’m sure they do disc and rim brake options and look a good option for your frame-only budget.

[Vehlin]

kil0ran wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

They all have their place. Personally I love the short travel and instant response I get from my 5800 calipers. Run them very close and I can haul my 18st up from the hoods no problem, enough power to lock the rear. On a purely superficial level I also just like how they look. Full length housings are plain ugly, particularly on a light coloured frame. Having said all that I wouldn’t ride without discs on the tourer because I need to stop me, the bike, the tagalong, and an 8yo child. Just wish I could get them as quiet and responsive as the rims. Too much travel for my liking.

Without wanting to kindle a disc brake holy war are you using cable or hydros on your tourer? I’ve got hydros on my CAADX and never have to adjust them.

[baumber25]

Why bother with an ‘off the

Why bother with an ‘off the shelf’ frame when you get a custom steel build to match your exact requirements.

 

I’ve got a cutom Bob Jackson Audax End-End 631 frame on it’s way for less then £700 that will take 28mm tyres, mudguards and rim brakes. You can upgrade to 725 or 853 is you want for a bit of extra £. Actually, you can pretty much specify anything you want within reason.

 

http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/product/audax-end-end/

[kil0ran]

bob_c wrote:

bob_c wrote:

I’m trying – with so far no success apart from scammers – to sell my condor fratello frameset. Could be of interest if you’re over 6ft and would be way under budget.

Sadly 5-11 so probably too big. What size/colour?

[Author]

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