Steel road bike/commuter/tourer hybrid - cyclocross?

Trojan

I'm thinking about an entry level road bike too... I'd be interested in a steel frame if I could find one with Tiagra set, but odds are I won't find anything like that so I'll end up going AL with carbon fork if I get something new. Models I was looking at included Trek 1000, Lemond Etape, Lemond Reno (pricey), Specialized Allez, Giant OCR 3, along with a few Decathlon options.

Any steel roadie fans got good leads for us?


Edit: didn't mention what I'd be using it for: all sorts, from commuting to triathlon to short training spins to longer (100mile+) spins. Maybe even touring if it was suitable to conversion.

cerebus

Trojan wrote:

Any steel roadie fans got good leads for us?

May not be exacty what you are after, but you might consider a Lemond Poprad.

Steel frame, 105 groupset. Nice ride.

Technically a cyclocross bike, so comes with cantilever brakes if you want to be truly cross-ready (blame the UCI). You can get a disc version if you prefer. (Actually, lookng at the Lemond website it looks like they only offer a disc version in 2007 - maybe the UCI are changing their regulations!)

Can be fitted with racks and mudguards successfully.

I had a set of 105 road chainrings (53/39) and skinny tires on it during the summer and raced it on the road. Have just fitted the stock CX-specific 46/38 chainrings and the knobbly tires back on and heading into the CX season (first race last weekend!)

Very hard to find another steel bike with that groupset in the same pricerange.

Saying that, you could consider Surly bikes as well - they make a nice steel bike called a Crosscheck that is about the same price as a Poprad, and very cool. May be hard to find in Ireland.

Wibbs

Trojan wrote:

Any steel roadie fans got good leads for us?

Well as was saying on the other thread about frame materials, you could always try ebay for an older steel frame(mid 80's on) from a good maker and buy the groupset seperately(on ebay too if you like and save a fair few quid, or get a better one for the same money). Putting the thing together isn't rocket science either(well maybe stringing up a set of wheels is..).

You might even get lucky trawling the buy and sell. A guy I knew picked up a reynolds 753 frame for a few quid there a while back(it wasn't listed as such of course). It would be one of the pinnacles of steel tech. Sweet, strong and a very light bike. The only thing you may have to do with an older frame is to coldset(bend basically) the rear triangles to take the newer wider hub/gears at the back, usually by about 5 mm. Not a problem, unlike the other frame materials you can do that with steel without weakening it unduly. When you do get steel frame the only thing I would advise is to spray some anti rust goo into the main tubes.

Trojan

Cerebus, the Lemond Poprad sounds fantastic. I found this review though, and the bike sounds very sweet, almost exactly what I'm looking for. Unfortunately out of my current price range - I think I'd be looking in the Sora-Tiagra range. My budget is for an entry level bike, around 800e max (pref Tiagra for upgradability). You mentioned it's suitable for touring/commuting - I didn't see any eyelets to fit racks etc, is that model year specific?

2006
Mercier I saw on ebay... is this bike really worth the 2k he's talking? Not interested in the bike (budget++), just wondering how much of a good deal and what kind of margins these guys have. I had a quick look for Reynolds frames on ebay, I'd prefer the pre-made bike, but I would consider building one up. I'll start picking up the Buy and Sell, see what's on the market.

Trojan

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-34394.html

"Mercier" is just a label now. The people who own bikesdirect.com, Cycle Spectrum (the Texas-based bike shop chain), and, yes, "sprtymama@aol.com" who sells this stuff on ebay, own the rights to the Mercier brand name in the US. They contract to have "Mercier" bikes manufactured in Asia using generic designs and off-the-shelf parts, and sell them through their various retail and online outlets.

This is not to suggest that there's anything wrong with the bikes or they way they're sold. By most accounts, they're perfectly ok, and buying Asian frames and bolting standard parts on them is a pretty common way of building a bike.

But it is to say that there's no real "legacy" or "commitment" involved in the current Mercier brand name. If a Chinese factory offered them a sweet buy on aluminum frames, there's probably going to be an aluminum bike in their line.

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-24733.html

Well the Serpens came in and boy is this thing light. After putting the bike together I took it out to the garage and weighed it on my fish scale, only 18.5 pounds for a 58cm (no pedals), I'm impressed. Really expected it to weight closer to 20 pounds. The seat post weight is 280g and the seat weight is 330g ,so will do a light weight upgrade one day. Took it for a quick ride around the block and so far seems to be a very smooth , plush rider.

--

Might add and BikesDirect has horrible customer service. The worst I have ever seen. They send you a bike and you have thirdy days to keep it or send it back, no middle ground, no help. If anyone one part is bad or scratched then you must keep it or send the whole bike back. I had one small blem problem with the Shimano shifter, it had a small chunk of chrome chipped of the top of the shifter cap and at least thought BikesDirect could send a replacement cap. E-mail many times and not one returned responce (No Phone number). I like the bike not to send it back for such a small blem, but I will just need to go to a LBS and order a new cap. They could at least replied and said "sorry can't send you a replacement cap".

cerebus

Trojan wrote:

You mentioned it's suitable for touring/commuting - I didn't see any eyelets to fit racks etc, is that model year specific?

Funny, that review you linked to mentioned that the bike didn't have the braze-ons and eyelets required - I can confirm that my 2006 Poprad does indeed have these. I have successfully fitted a set of Planetbike Freddy Fenders to it (one small workaround needed) and plan to put these back on for the winter.

Evans Cycles' website show a 2006 disc Poprad for 999 Stg - non-disc version should be cheaper. End of the year too - 2007 models will be coming in soon. Might be closer than you think to your budget?

Trojan

cerebus wrote:

Evans Cycles' website show a 2006 disc Poprad for 999 Stg - non-disc version should be cheaper. End of the year too - 2007 models will be coming in soon. Might be closer than you think to your budget?

Haha - hopefully so! LeMond Poprad Cyclocross Frame + Carbon Fork Cross 56/57cm

Regards fitting, is it better to err on the side of the smaller frame with road bikes same as MTB? I'd be looking at either a 52 or a 55 for the Poprad, as I'm 5'7. Don't mind the seatpost showing a bit more and messing with fore/aft adjustment to dial it in properly, but too large a frame would be a shame

Hmmm... how much can I get for my 4300... I wonder




(large size)

(yeah, I just put on the new wheels today, and got both skewers wrong!)

Trojan

Continuing the thread hi-jacking, I found some great close-up pics of the 06 Poprad here - 56k warning!

From this and
this (blurred) it looks like it can take a rack.

cerebus, where did you get yours? Is there a Lemond dealer in Ireland?

Itsfixed

Hey Trojan

How about a Planet X Kaffenback? Its a 700c steel cyclocross/do it all frame, it takes tyres up to 38mm without a problem, V-brakes, all for about STG599.

It got a great review in cycling Plus magazine, 9/10.

see www.planet-x-bikes.com under complete bikes. You can pick and choose your wheels and components. Delivery would be about E50.

cerebus

Trojan wrote:

cerebus, where did you get yours? Is there a Lemond dealer in Ireland?

Got mine locally in Vancouver, BC - currently live (and bike) here.

No idea about Lemond dealers in Ireland. They are a branch/division of Trek as far as I know so it might be worth checking to see if your local Trek dealer can source one?

Lots of UK stockists according to Google.

Morgan

The Planet X Kaffenback is a great suggestion - I'd second that one. You can get it as a frame or with several build options depending on your budget.

You could also consdier a Surly Pacer or Crosscheck.

Itsfixed

Morgan wrote:

The Planet X Kaffenback is a great suggestion - I'd second that one. You can get it as a frame or with several build options depending on your budget.

You could also consdier a Surly Pacer or Crosscheck.

I can't stop now with my steel road bike fetish. Here's another one that's got great reviews. The Cotic Roadrat.

More of a flat-bar bike, and frame only but you can re-use old bits you might have lying around. Its has v-brake/cantilever mounts plus mounts for disc brakes. Can be run as a geared, singlespeed or fixed. Comes with mudguard and rack eyes. How's that for versatility?

www.cotic.co.uk

i'll stop now, sorry:D

Trojan

Here's what I got back regarding Kaffenback.

planet-x wrote:

Due to product availability, we're not doing super-budget stuff right
now.

We're onto 105 10spd now, and we're looking at £699 built up with a
spec like this:-

Kaffenback frame
Kaffenback fork
6061 planet x 42cm bar
Anti Gravity seatpost
Seatclamp
Planet X 2 bolt stem (110, 120, 130mm)
Selle Italia Initiale Saddle
105 10spd cassette
105 10spd chain
105 10spd front mech and 31.8mm clamp.
105 10spd rear mech
105 10spd STi shifter/brake lever with brake and gear cables
105 10spd crankset
on-one retro cross canti's or tektro mini v's
Xero wheelset
Conti Top Touring tyres

That's 1037 euros in new money... bit out of my budget.

Also, and I don't know a lot about this, but I think I might prefer a 9 speed over 10 due to reliability concerns. Comments on that?

Morgan

I haven't found 10-speed to be any less reliable than 9.

You could just get the Kaffenback frame and fork and put whatever you like onto it - that's a really good price for 105 though.

Itsfixed

Morgan wrote:

I haven't found 10-speed to be any less reliable than 9.

You could just get the Kaffenback frame and fork and put whatever you like onto it - that's a really good price for 105 though.

Yeah, buying a frame and fork and getting the bits yourself (cheaper online) would be fun and a bit of an education. 9 speed may well be a bit cheaper than 10speed, for instance so some retailers may be selling 2005 9-speed kit at a discount.

With a kaffenback you could get a set of decent set of factory built road wheels from Chainreactioncycles.com (say €200), who do a bit of road stuff as well as MTB, including road groupsets.

Elsewhere, a Tiagra groupset would cost about €250 without hubs, then there's the bars, stem, and saddle and you could be up and running for about €750-800.

Trojan

I'd probably be more comfortable putting Tiagra on there from a budgetting perspective.

I'm concerned about getting any of them (Crosscheck, Kaffenback, Poprad) without a test ride, particularly sizing - I'm fairly short at 5'7 with 29" inseam, I'd be looking at either the first or 2nd from the bottom of the size range, and too big would be a nasty thing to find after attaching those wheels.

Surly wrote:

Unless a shop has your size in stock, you’ll have to rely on our website with detailed geometry charts for each model. Print these out and compare it to your current bike or another similarly sized bike and figure out what size most closely matches what is comfortable for you (top tube and seat tube lengths are the most critical). Most dealers should be able to assist you in finding the correct sized frame, and of course we’re here to help too.

Itsfixed

Trojan wrote:

I'd probably be more comfortable putting Tiagra on there from a budgetting perspective.

I'm concerned about getting any of them (Crosscheck, Kaffenback, Poprad) without a test ride, particularly sizing - I'm fairly short at 5'7 with 29" inseam, I'd be looking at either the first or 2nd from the bottom of the size range, and too big would be a nasty thing to find after attaching those wheels.

Trojan

My bike is an on-one il pompino, which is exactly the same frame as a kaffenback except it is has horizontal dropouts for a fixed gear or singlespeed. Both are made by planet x. I have the large 54cm size and i am 5'10/11. The next size down would probably be best for you. FWIW, the top tube on this frame is actually somewhat shorter than the norm for this size, which suits me because i have a short torso. The standover height on the medium size 51cm is 29.5, so you might even be better off with the small frame.

I think Cyclelogical have on-one pompinos so you could pop down and ask if they have one in stock so you can take a look. I think Kona do steel road bikes too so this shop might be your best bet.