I don’t tend to keep bikes for long, I don’t know why, It could be that I have a really short attention span… or the frames break on me, or I get an injury that reduces the need for a certain type of bike. Anyway… Now I have the opportunity to get a frame custom made for me. I want this bike to be with me for a very long time and because of this I don’t want to rush in to it. I am the first to admit I don’t know the technical ins and outs of what parts can go with what so I tend to stick with brands I know will do the job for a long time without much maintenance (Chris King, Thomson…). I am hoping with the collective knowledge of the people on this forum, you can help me build the bike that I am after.
My initial thoughts is a geared CX frame that will be a bit of a weapon. Fairly light, strong and a bit of a do it all. Something along the lines of the pure blood has my interest. Pure Blood | cycles for heroes
I am still trying to work out if I want to go down the disc brake road or not. Running cantis for the sake of it being a CX bike doesn’t interest me. I feel that if there are better brakes out there then use them instead of being traditional. But at the same time, I want it to be functional… is running discs overkill? Bear in mind that I hardly doubt that i will be riding this bike in mud because 1) It doesn’t rain much in Canberra and 2) If it rains, I hardly doubt I will be playing in the mud on this bike as I will be out on the Downhill or XC bike. If I do go the disc brake route, are there any advantages of changing the rear spacing of the frame to fit a MTB hub? This will give me more choice as far as hubs to fit discs goes.
So groupset… SRAM Rival is the one that came to mind first, i don’t know why, it just was. I am happy to hear suggestions or feedback on this decision.
Thats about all I am concentrating on now, wheel set and drivetrain.
Just got rival myself, feels good. But life long? The plastic parts on the derailleur make me think you should aim for force/red.
Also, I wouldn’t bother with discs, cable, blehhhh. Get some good V’s, like these: Single Digit Ultimate
A frame like the Soma Doublecross disc is a good reference- disc, canti, pannier, everything mounts.
If I was getting a custom CX frame built today I’d definitely get the disc mounts put on- even if you don’t initially use them. The trend is towards disc brakes on CX frames after all.
discs are awesome in the wet, but you might as well get both canti and disc mounts put on. it’s going to add crap all weight and gives you the option to change when you want to.
i’m guessing it is going to be cro mo, so you can get it made with 132.5 spacing, and just stretch or squeeze the rear together so you can run either mtb or road spacing.
get a pre-made carbon fork, there are plenty out there that aren’t too expensive, and it will be a lot lighter than a cro mo one, but you have to decide on this first as the frame needs to be built around the fork.
general stuff: sealed bearings all round to keep the crap out, run the cables on the downtube (so you don’t have cables rubbing on you when you pick it up), or preferably in the tubes, and put on drink bottle mounts.
there was also a frame on here that had horizontial drop-outs but also a derailier hanger, i really like that idea, makes it a bike you don’t have to own forever cause it can morph into different things as change takes your fancy, also BB height? do CX BB heights have to be heigher than road and different to track?, but def internal cable routing , that shit id hot and simple
Mate, nice opportunity to custom spec a frame! Here arebsome thoughts:
I like the idea of rival. Would you go road compact or cross chainset?
I’m against having both disc tabs and canti mounts. Decide and stick with it. For me, i like rim brakes for lightness and ddont ride through muck very often. A frame, and certainly fork, built for use with discs will be different and usually heavier than the same built for rim brakes.
Get a fork built too. Custom frame with off the shelf fork is strange to me.
Get mudguard eyelets.
I like an extended seat tube. It looks custom and is light.
I would also go a custom stem. Spec the top tube height that youre after and then get a wic stem to put our bar exactly where you want it, without spacers.
I am an opinionated bastard and have kept the above brief, but i would love hashing oit some ideas with you over a coffee or beer. I might even show you some of rad drawings of custom parts. It’d be a good time.
Edit: no to internal cable routing. And i say 130mm rear spacing, of course.
JP, thought you would like to pop your head in on this one!
As far as Rival goes, I haven’t looked in to the road v cross chainset. I have been advised by one of the Swell pro’s that I should be looking at upgrading the Rival crankset to the Force as there will be a bit of a weight difference there (haven’t looked in to it to see how much of a difference it is though).
Keen to hear your thoughts on internal cable routing as it is one of the features I am really keen on.
I am around this weekend if you are keen for a peddle and a bit of a discussion? Thinking of hitting up Stromlo on the inbred with Adam, then having some breaky if you are keen?
Nah, just get disc mounts. Scrap the cantis. Its only a matter of time before SRAM brings out a CX Hydraulic Stis (surely). You can get the adapters already. You’re carrying more weight running discs but the performance is worth it.
i’m guessing it is going to be cro mo, so you can get it made with 132.5 spacing, and just stretch or squeeze the rear together so you can run either mtb or road spacing.
I think you’d just get 135mm spacing if you were running discs, no? Most disc hubs are 135mm. And you’d be more prone rubbing on the brakes if the post mounts were totally parallel with the wheel (especially with Mechanical discs - Ask Tom about them). And derailleurs that are crossover from XC would be more robust no? You can also run a 2x10 on a 135mm hub.
Also I reckon you should get a cro-mo fork, so even if you swap it out for a carbon, you still have it for prosperity - cos’ carbon just ain’t as pretty is it.
My opposition to internal routing is an aesthetic one. Two things irk me about it. One, the cables usually bulge out from the tube where they enter and exit. Exiting the dead end of the chainstay at the drop out for the RD cable is the exception. Two, if you are going to get muddy or even just wet, you’ll probably want to use those plastic inserts that act as a cable stop, and they go a little toward relieving issue one. BUT then you have a PLASTIC insert in your nice steel frame. There are lots of great cable kits that give very good to complete cover to your cables… just use them.
if you have the choice - get top tube routed cabling… check out focus and other for how all three cables are run along the tt off-axis. DT cabling ‘can’ get more fouled from mud as it is closer to the ground and the off-axis allows for easier shouldering.
a disc setup will definitely weigh more than a rim brake setup and thats one of the reasons why itll be a while before it makes it way into the pro ranks. yes i’m sure sram will have hydro stis soon but you still have the brakes designed for stopping a far larger mass and weighing more. having said that they will eventually appear and make their way onto serious bikes.
i also agree you should pick 130 or 135, its a custom frame and ‘squeezing/spreading’ should not be required. getting a set of well-setup shorty ultimates (or even v-brakes) will give you ample stopping power and mud clearance. in fact if you are less likely to ride in mud get some of the new TRP mini v-brakes which have been updated based on feedback from their high-end model last year. light and powerful. (i cant believe i just advocated v-brakes!)
i took a bunch of weight off with my new cross bike and the difference was amazing. you have a mtn bike(s) this is for faster, longer riding… weight will be more important.
