CdF Custom build?

[Wafer]

Took bike to LBS to fix my bodged tweaking of the front dérailleur, ended up talking to a chap about a custom build Genesis Croix de Fer..... (and getting bike fixed, phew).

Sounded quite a nice idea and now I've got back to my desk and looked up the frameset and liking the idea even more http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/adventure/frames/croix-de-fer-frameset

He seemed pretty practical, suggested maybe going for a slightly lower spec brakeset than the CdF20 and reckoned the incoming Tiagra gearset was looking very good and they were talking about recommending it over 105. Sounded a lot like last years 105 to be honest with much neater cables. And a decent entry level Mavic wheelset (think he was suggesting Mavic Crossone MTB wheels) with probably some touring tyres for the kind of use I was talking about.
He said it'd probably cost a little more than the CdF20, which is £1200, but would be more bike for the money. Frameset gets a carbon fork and the wheels should be a lot better than on the 20.

Figured some people here had probably built up a Croix de Fer before and wondered how they'd found it?
I know it's a well respected range and I'd been pondering whether to just go for the 20 anyway, pending test ride.

This wouldn't be a bike to do any proper offroad/cyclocross stuff, more for the roads and tracks in the area that I don't like riding my Synapse on. I hadn't really been wanting to go above about £1k, but I'd rather than the extra up front than be talking about a new, lighter set of wheels fairly quickly.

[added] Link to CdF 20 for reference http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/adventure/b-road/croix-de-fer-20 [/added]

 

[vickster]

I did one with a burnt copper genesis equilibrium 20 frame, because I didn't want a shimano groupset. It ended up costing more than the stock bike because I fitted better components, the SRAM groupset was more than 105 at the time too

Not the best picture but she is very pretty

 

[benb]

I'd be tempted to wait until the 105 hydraulic brakes come out - should be later this year.

 

[Wafer]

It ended up costing more than the stock bike because I fitted better components

Ah yes, he said someone in the shop had done a build with the Equilibrium frameset with a darker copper colour than the CdF.
I guess it might be difficult to assess but how much of the price difference do you think was due to more expensive components? Guess I'm wondering if even custom building a CdF with the same components as the 20 would be more expensive. At the end of the day I probably won't know unless I ask them to suggest a spec and price and see what I think.

I'd be tempted to wait until the 105 hydraulic brakes come out - should be later this year.

Yeah going to wait a little bit anyway, having had a quick look at the TRP lineup I think he was actually suggesting dropping to a mechanical set rather than hydraulic anyway. That'd be something to consider based on the price it came out to.

They also sell Focus and Whyte and he assured me the Whyte Dorset could fit ~32c tyres and mudguards which interests me as I nearly bought the Dorset originally (had I known that then I think I would've gone for it) and I've also been eyeing up the Mares AX which he said they could easily get in to look at assuming Focus had stock. Both options would be cheaper than the CdF 20, let alone a custom build. Potential for a lot more procrastinating and ponding the price I want to pay.

 

[vickster]

I probably could have got the stock bike for around £1100
My guess is that the bike in its current form cost me around £1500...but I would have had to spend some money on narrower bars on the stock bike, possibly a shorter stem, plus a ladies saddle (the one I got cost me £80...it's not actually very comfortable but it matches the bike so well, the only grey women's saddle I could find)
The bike has fulcrum 5 wheels, a hope bottom bracket, lighter pro plt bars and stem, better tyres (although these came off another bike), jagwire cables, lizard skin tape . The frame and forks cost £400. SRAM rival is equivalent to 105 in terms of weight, but less commonly used (I don't get on with shimano levers and braking) and so was more like £400-500 than £300 for 105. All those bits add up

Go ride all the bikes. I had a test of the equilibrium, told me it was the bike I wanted but that I definitely didn't want 105, so I shopped around for all the parts and a friend built it for me

 

[Wafer]

Thanks, yup, plan to go ride the 20 at some point, probably try the Dorset properly while I'm at it too. I was pretty nervous on the hoods for a while but now I'm more used to them I'm relatively happy I guess, might be tempted to see what they've got with SRAM shifters and see how they compare.

 

[vickster]

Few bikes have them as stock. I was lucky when pearson put them on my carbon bike all those years ago...along with an 11-32 cassette!

 

[benb]

The stainless steel Croix de Fer looks amazing.

 

[Wafer]

Hah, doing a little googling I found road.cc testing the frameset, looks quite nice the way they built it up http://road.cc/content/blog/139428-davids-genesis-croix-de-fer-long-termer-ready-ride though I see the wheelset alone is about £2k!

 

[Wafer]

Went back to lbs today after emailing them about it. Seems I was a bit late in the year to be asking about the cdf frameset, none that would fit me left! 2016 version is apparently mustard yellow (looks better in person than on screen apparently...) and is slightly cheaper but the carbon fork will now be an upgrade making it more expensive....

However the shop would be happy to take a 10/20/30 and alter the spec while knocking some money off for the removed bits.
Suggested a cdf10 with hope 29" wheels, 105 groupset and carbon fork would be about £1500.

Only got a 54 though which he reckoned looked about right height for me but felt short. Didn't really try it other than sitting on it in shop as I think I'd want to compare to larger size, my cannondale is 56 so was surprised the cdf might need to be smaller.

New Genesis bikes available from October time so now want to find out what colour next year's 10 is to decide whether to wait for that!

 

[User19783]

The stainless steel Croix de Fer looks amazing.

It's not that good,
Had mine for 7 months now, but just it's ok.

 

[Wafer]

That's the new frameset colouring, curtsey of http://www.freeborn.co.uk/genesis-2016-croix-de-fer-725-frameset
Can't say I'm sure on that yet...

 

[jiberjaber]

Went back to lbs today after emailing them about it. Seems I was a bit late in the year to be asking about the cdf frameset, none that would fit me left! 2016 version is apparently mustard yellow (looks better in person than on screen apparently...) and is slightly cheaper but the carbon fork will now be an upgrade making it more expensive....

However the shop would be happy to take a 10/20/30 and alter the spec while knocking some money off for the removed bits.
Suggested a cdf10 with hope 29" wheels, 105 groupset and carbon fork would be about £1500.

Only got a 54 though which he reckoned looked about right height for me but felt short. Didn't really try it other than sitting on it in shop as I think I'd want to compare to larger size, my cannondale is 56 so was surprised the cdf might need to be smaller.

New Genesis bikes available from October time so now want to find out what colour next year's 10 is to decide whether to wait for that!

I've just been through a similar journey... needed something I could put a rack and guards on for the Lowlands tour as the Carbon bike whilst will take guards (strap on) has no provision for luggage...

So armed with a C2W voucher, I aimed at the Tour de Fer. Same issue you have found, July is the wrong time of year (oddly) for availability! So the TdF was out of the equation. The more I thought about it, I eventually gravitated to some sort of CdF.. I wanted to build my own up initially (the copper frame is lovely) but the C2W voucher was for Evans and I was stuck with that. So I went and test rode the 54 & 56cm frames at Evans Gatwick (56 CdF20 and 54 Stainless), thinking that would make my mind up on frame size, I was left still puzzled as the brief test ride, both felt comfortable!... (I'm on a 55cm frame on the Rose).

Eventually I had to make a decision on the CdF20 or 30. 30 with 105 & hydraulic brakes + carbon fork, or the 20 on Tiagra and hybrid cable operated hydraulic brakes with steel fork. I preferred the colour of the 30 (blue) and the carbon fork on the stainless certainly improved the ride over a steel fork.... I went for the CdF20 in a 54cm in the end. The carbon fork is only £100 to buy and I liked the "easier to fix in the field" of a cable disc but with hydraulic action.

Coming from Di2 Ultegra, the Tiagra has been surprisingly easy to get used to and I've only had to give the barrel adjuster a slight turn to get the gears as smooth (but not as quick) as the Di2... (I was expecting £1 shop performance - so a nice surprise!) - the hoods are a bit ugly and massive compared to the Ultegra ones, but I got this bike to turn in to a tour machine, that said, it isn't a slouch either over the 45 miles or so I've ridden it so far since Thursday.

The supplied cyclocross tyres are quick too (another unexpected bit!). Weight wise, it came in around 12kg.

I'm quite happy with it, the Tiagra will be upgraded after the winter, to what I don't know, but its Di2 ready for internal routing of cables and a battery shelf inside the seat post, so options are open but suspect the next things on there will be tour orientated (PDW City mudguards already on there, rack to follow and maybe a dynohub too).

 

[Wafer]

Thanks for the thoughts. Interesting process isn't it!
Funnily enough the LBS I went to don't rate the hybrid brakes and recommend the Spyres, to the extent that one of the shop guys had a CdF20 and was going to 'downgrade' to the spyres...

I sat on a 10 with Sora shifters and immediately knew I didn't want a bike with them! The hoods seemed huge, like some cobra head, compared to my Synapse's 105 shifters.

Out of interest, and knowing that height isn't the only consideration for frame size, how tall are you? I'm about 6'1".

Having googled a bit more last night I think I'm going to wait for the 2016 models. I haven't found any pics but I saw a site quoting the CdF10 colour as 'cosmic copper', found some glimpses of the 20 in Olive green and have to admit it looked alright (a hint of british racing green about it) and apparently the grey option is better in the flesh and there's going to be a decade version which I saw pics for and was quoted as looking particularly nice (http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...from-ridley-genesis-saracen-and-rapide-181673).
Though the decade is a single ring SRAM setup with SRAM hydraulics and I don't think it would be worthwhile getting that stripped off.

 

[jiberjaber]

176cm high in new money, not sure what old money that equates to...