The perfect bike!

[Fab Foodie]

Is that steel?

Yep, custom built 853 steel with steel fork, basic £1000 for frame alone. Wheels custom made about £500 with SON dynohub, Ultegra triple drive train from donor bike, 28c contis, mudguards and bits of finishing kit. All done by Rourke in Stoke.

If I swapped the steel fork for s £70 carbon job, removed the guards and put my summer wheels on it would be pretty light and go like a scolded cat.
It's stiff without being uncomfortable, it can cope with full touring loads and has full fit and forget Dynamo lighting for all year use.

When I picked up the bike they had completed an 853 steel winter training bike for Matt Crampton and we're working on others for team GB. Nicole Cook did pretty good on Rourke steel frames!

 

[Fab Foodie]

Steel just rides so much nicer than alu imo

Agreed.
One of my club mates had a nice Ali Specialized that he bought for a LEJOG which later broke. He's just bought a Chromoly Genesis and whilst slightly heavier he says the ride quality is fabulous in comparison.

 

[derrick]

Agreed.
One of my club mates had a nice Ali Specialized that he bought for a LEJOG which later broke. He's just bought a Chromoly Genesis and whilst slightly heavier he says the ride quality is fabulous in comparison.

How do you compare a cheap steel frame to a good steel frame, It's got to be the same as ally and carbon, As said in another tread i did not like the feel of a carbon cube, But we have an allu Ribble that feels really nice to ride. But nothing i have ridden comes close to good carbon, But with all this talk about steel it's making me feel like i should try one.

 

[Fab Foodie]

How do you compare a cheap steel frame to a good steel frame, It's got to be the same as ally and carbon, As said in another tread i did not like the feel of a carbon cube, But we have an allu Ribble that feels really nice to ride. But nothing i have ridden comes close to good carbon, But with all this talk about steel it's making me feel like i should try one.

I think it's a different comparison. A cheap 'quality' steel frame will be Chromoly like 501, 520, 525 will be a slightly heavy tubeset that will have quite a lively and flexy ride, quite different to Alu and Carbon. Comfortable and very supple over poor roads.
Move to higher end steels like 853 and 953 and the flexiness goes, the frames are stiffer, more responsive, much lighter but still retain a natural ability to absorb shock and road buzz. Steel frames tend to feel alive if that doesn't sound like pseudobollocks.
It's worth trying a steel frame, they are just different to Alu and Carbon.
The other benefit as with Titanium is that you can get custom made frames exactly as you want them. :-)

 

[russ.will]

I think the OP hit the nail on the head with the Planet-X London Road. The Cycling Weekly review pretty much hit the nail on the head with the review of the 1x version, but there are Rival 22 and Apex versions which take care of that criticism.

The Apex version leaves plenty of budget for another set of wheels, but as all of them are disk brake, I'd be tempted to go for better wheels in the first place (which gets winter friendly hydraulics) and just change the tyres.

Russell

 

[bikingdad90]

The Raleigh RX Comp looks nice in Red but it is described by Raleigh as been a racer with bosses. I'll have to try one and see how aggressive the geometry is, it certainly looks aggressive. The weight is ok at 9.8kg too.

I have ruled out the Genesis range as the bikes are steel ( I just don't like the extra preventative maintenance that is required to stop rust) or they have straight top tubes which don't work for my lower back. I had a Croix De Fer for a while and it was smooth but boy did it hurt my back.

The Whytes look interesting. I like that they are UK based but need to look into mail order/ road trip to find a dealer as non local to me. Which model would you recommend?

In terms of budget. The bike would be most of it £900, say £40-£50 for mudguards and say £40-50 for a rack. I could always say a little bit more and get the wheels/tyres as extras later.

 

[bikingdad90]

My understanding is that disc brakes and cross top levers aren't compatible with STI levers

In your shoes, I'd have a Genesis equilibrium disc or a Whyte

Like others, why no steel? Have you tried them?

You are unlikely to get higher than 105/rival anyhow. How much of your budget is for the accessories

Interesting, bikes like the Boardman CX and Giants CX range have them. All they do is interrupt the brake line and allow you to pull further down the line so it would work with cable pull calipers but not hydraulic brakes.

10 or 11kg. No heavier than alu

I'm not sure the perfect bike exists for £1k, at least not new

A perfect bike for me has to be no more than £1k, any more is just too much, I would be too scared to use it and scratch it. More worried about theft. I know bikes can be a lot more but the £1k mark is my tipping point between enjoyment, modesty and value for money.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I have ruled out the Genesis range as the bikes are steel ( I just don't like the extra preventative maintenance that is required to stop rust) or they have straight top tubes which don't work for my lower back. I had a Croix De Fer for a while and it was smooth but boy did it hurt my back.

.

OK, firstly whether the top tube is straight or not and whether it affects your lower back is just bollocks. It's a bike fit issue not material or shape.
Secondly, there is no preventative maintenance required with steel, I have 531 tubed bikes from the 60s, a few from the 80s, and the modern era none of which need any special maintenance at all ... I barely clean them either, so that's bollocks as well.

If you don't want steel that's OK ....

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Interesting, bikes like the Boardman CX and Giants CX range have them. All they do is interrupt the brake line and allow you to pull further down the line so it would work with cable pull calipers but not hydraulic brakes.



A perfect bike for me has to be no more than £1k, any more is just too much, I would be too scared to use it and scratch it. More worried about theft. I know bikes can be a lot more but the £1k mark is my tipping point between enjoyment, modesty and value for money.

You can use cross top levers with cable operated discs.

 

[Fab Foodie]

How do you compare a cheap steel frame to a good steel frame, It's got to be the same as ally and carbon, As said in another tread i did not like the feel of a carbon cube, But we have an allu Ribble that feels really nice to ride. But nothing i have ridden comes close to good carbon, But with all this talk about steel it's making me feel like i should try one.

Here's what I went for in 'touring mode':

 

[bikingdad90]

Secondly, there is no preventative maintenance required with steel, I have 531 tubed bikes from the 60s, a few from the 80s, and the modern era none of which need any special maintenance at all ... I barely clean them either, so that's bollocks as well.

If you don't want steel that's OK ....

Fair point, maybe I inherited a bad example. It was only 6 year old but there was rust on the dropouts and where the paint had chipped and then been repaired, perhaps the repair was poor and allowed for water ingress. That is what has kind of put me off steel but I might consider steel again as long as I can get one with a sub 11kg weight

 

[Fab Foodie]

Fair point, maybe I inherited a bad example. It was only 6 year old but there was rust on the dropouts and where the paint had chipped and then been repaired, perhaps the repair was poor and allowed for water ingress. That is what has kind of put me off steel but I might consider steel again as long as I can get one with a sub 11kg weight

To be fair I never try to repair chips or rust. When I do get around to cleaning then a wipe over the dropouts etc with an oily rag is enough. Frames don't rust through overnight! Look at some of the vintage restorations on CC

 

[Pale Rider]

Here's what I went for in 'touring mode':

View attachment 123528

Proper job all round - bike and touring kit.

 

[Pale Rider]

... Weight is not everything ... In fact it's often over-rated. It depends what qualities you want.

I think weight is over emphasised for touring.

There's a hill near me which I winch up on my Cannondale MTB, not much of hill, but a good challenge for me at my modest level of bike fitness.

There's also a shop at the bottom from which I bought two litres of milk and a litre bottle of pop before my last attempt to creep up the hill.

My shopping equates to an extra 3kg of dead weight, but I couldn't detect any difference on the climb.

Weight may make more of a difference for fast road riding.

 

[Oldfentiger]

The Raleigh RX Comp looks nice in Red but it is described by Raleigh as been a racer with bosses. I'll have to try one and see how aggressive the geometry is, it certainly looks aggressive. The weight is ok at 9.8kg too.

My abused bones wouldn't tolerate aggressive geometry. I find the RX to be all-day comfortable. It's my first experience with SRAM, and I've become a fan of that too.
A word about the spare wheel set.
IIRC the OE cassette was 12-28. I decided to replace it with 12-32 to help me up the Lancashire hills, necessitating a change of rear mech too.
So, spare wheel set, two 25mm Marathon + tyres & tubes, two new cassettes, additional pair of disc rotors, double wheel bag for storage/carrying, represents a fair additional investment, (£350 ish). However it now feels like I have two bikes to choose from to tackle any terrain I'm likely to encounter.
Recently went on a weeks holiday with the caravan and bikes to the New Forest, and was able to ride roads on the IOW and also forest tracks with the appropriate wheels fitted.
I've also done the spare wheel set thing with the wife's bike too.