illdrag0n

Norco section steel

https://www.norco.com/bikes/2019/pav...steel-ultegra/

sumgy

Some "interesting" stem and bar setups here.

mstateglfr 

Since you rehashed the thread to just say this, can you list specifics? Not really seeing setups that are egregiously 'off'.

sumgy

sumgy

The Guru's setup is also "interesting".

diff

All City Zig Zag
Surly Cross check
Surly long haul trucker
Surly midnight special
Surly straggler

Bikes Direct also as those bikes will always have the best value.

sumgy

Love the look of this bike, but the price for a mass-produced steel frame is pretty steep.

diff

It is funny because for $2500 you can get a brand new motorcycle lol. Like a 250cc or so easy.

Bikes in general are just overpriced and you pay for the name.

sumgy

And it is not like the buildkit is high-end either.
Cheap wheels, stem, post, saddle.
Mid level groupset.

mstateglfr 

I guess if the bars were rotated down a slight bit it would look more stock.
Seems pretty insignificant to me, but ok then.

sumgy

Looking again, the bikefit is very poor, or the bike is the wrong size.

WhyFi

I thought that those were known for really odd geometry or something. IIRC, those frames were available for a song for a while, but people had trouble making them fit.

sumgy

Seems so based on those pics.

chainwhip

The Breezer's top tubes were especially long.
Were being blown out on nashbar at one point.
Could ask chaadster, if I remember correctly.

mstateglfr 

Yup- they are long and low with a steep hta.

A 52cm had something like a 55.5cm top tube, a short head tube, and a 74deg hta.
A few years ago I thought about buying a frameset for my oldest daughter and holding it until she was older. Framesets dropped to $270 or so at bikewagon/jenson/nashbar. Dont remember where.
Couldn't pull the trigger based on predicting what would work in the future due to the wonked geometry.

Crazy good deal for anyone that fit the geometry.

diff

Its not that bad. The frame is 650 and complete is 2000 (surly midnight special). A sram rival hrd 1x groupset is around 850?

Leaves 500 for a wheelset, seatpost, saddle, stem, drop bars, bottom bracket, headset, and brakes. Then additional items like cables, bar tape, tubes, and tires.

Was considering just getting a frameset and building it. But there is some definite savings on a complete. Enough to not consider building it up from a frameset. I could add up around 2000 + 850 for groupset + 650 for frameset. Up to 3500. Maybe bump up the groupset to sram force, and a better wheelset. Easy to cross 4k on a custom full build. Will just spend the 2k on a complete and then upgrade as needed.

Now the color. White.

Maybe the frame and fork could be 100 or 200 cheaper, but dont see how you can get much cheaper when comparing to the complete price.

mstateglfr 

The full build uses a promax stem and seatpost, inexpensive $35 saddle, and trp spyre brakes. Inexpensive pinned rims and plain gauge spokes too.

$650 for the frameset.
Quality handbuilt wheels for $450(h plus son hydra rims, double butted spokes, bitex hubs- for example). 105 hydro groupset for $675 from Merlin. Quality tires for $80(multiple options). Brand name bars, seatpost, stem, and tape for $150 total. $70 for a good saddle.


This means a build from home would cost $2075 and give you higher quality wheels, a cockpit that's lighter and fit to the rider, higher quality brakes, 2x for road+ riding, and a saddle you like.

A home build buying online retail can essentially cost the same as the complete bike(or less if you search for sales), yet have higher level components and be fit to the rider(stem length and angle, type of bar bend and width, seatpost offset).
not sure how the full build is a good deal when looked at in comparative detail.

But there is a convenience factor of not knowing/having to build a bike for sure. That's worth some $ to many people, and the full build would look much better then.

diff

I wouldn't need a stem, seatpost, or saddle.
Also would need a headset (~$150 for a kris king), and brakes. Seems BB usually comes with the groupset.

Its the groupset that is the killer. Cant seem to find a 105 1x for sub 700. But will search around for a bit.

sumgy

Yep, a home built should definitely cost more than an off the shelf bike built with inexpensive parts.
There is one of these sitting on my local Facebook Marketplace.
He has hardly ridden it and wants about half of what he would have paid for it.
I am so tempted to grab it, but I have lots of other priorities to manage currently.

Leaa

Nice! That bicycle looks great and the background even better, perfect for an afternoon ride I would say.

Leaa

I agree that it looks like the frame size is too small. It doesn't match with the sizes of the components like stem and seatpost at this moment.

mstateglfr 

Funny timing for this thread and comment as I pretty much just finished building up a steel gravel road frame. The fit will not look 'proper' as it has more spacers than what is trendy, but it fits quite well overall. Once the stem I like is back in stock(guessing a month or two), thatll go on and Ill figure out the end fit. Im guessing itll probably be how it looks now in terms of spacers though.

Edited to add- the stem is 15mm lower than what was preliminarily set. Rode it over 60mi of gravel, doubletrack, pavement, and level b roads- it fits as expected.
A bike needn't look traditional in fit to be comfortable and perform better than the rider needs.

Dirt Farmer

Has anyone had any experience with Sotherland bikes? They are close to me, and I may be very, very interested.

https://www.sotherlandbikes.com/

It says they use True Temper OX platinum tubing, but I thought True Temper stopped making bike tubing a few years ago. Perhaps they just have lots of leftover stock (or else use a different tubing. I have an email out to them now).

mstateglfr 

Ive read about the builder before, but no experience with him or the bikes.
He used to build in the Paramount shop and worked for Schwinn(not sure if those were at the same time or at different times). He owns a bike shop in addition to the frame building.
Traditional 1" head tube frames are what he prefers, so I moved on from my cursory search.

As for OX tubing- it could be that he has a ton of old stock. Or it could be that he hasnt updated the website and uses vari-wall which sort of took up the domestic steel void left by TT. Or it could be that he hasnt updated the website and now uses tubes from Reynolds, Columbus, Kaisei, Variwall, or Dedacciai.

sumgy

With both the amount of seatpost and spacers showing, I think that you could have gone for a larger frame.