Barrettscv 

I added a 2016 Raleigh Roker Comp after deciding that the lighter weight and smoother feel of Carbon fiber was worth the investment. I have a rugged steel bike with room for 700x45 tires, but at 28 lbs, it not going to help me keep pace with a pack of fit riders on lighter bikes. I also have a Carbon fiber Cyclocross bike with cantilever brakes, but it's limited in tire size and not stable enough for deep and washboard gravel. The Roker will take a 700x42 tire, has hydraulic disc brakes, tubeless ready rims and weights a moderate 21 lbs in the 60cm size. A clear improvement over my prior bikes.

The 2016 Roker comes equipped with Shimano hydraulic brakes, 2x11 Shimano drivetrain, thru axles and a tubeless ready wheelset. I could not get a better deal at anywhere near the price found at corp.raleigh. I've immediately changed the crankset to a 46 & 33 and I'll use alternative tires, but the bike is well equipped for demanding gravel roads.

The 60cm frame size complete bike weighed 21.3 lbs with stock tires and pedals but without accessories.

FRAME Carbon fiber, Tapered head tube, English thread bottom bracket, 12mm thru-axle, Internal routed cables, Clearance for 42mm tires

FORK Carbon fiber, 12mm thru-axle

HEADSET Tapered headset

CRANKSET Generic, 46/34T chainrings

CASSETTE Shimano 105 5800 11-speed, 11-32T

SHIFTERS Shimano STRS-785 2x11-speed

FRONT DERAILLEUR Shimano 105 5800

REAR DERAILLEUR Shimano 105 5800L, 11-speed

BRAKES Shimano hydraulic disc, 160mm rotors front/rear

TIRES : 700x40c Clement MSO, now fitted with 700x36 tubeless MSO











The OE crankset has been replaced with a Shimano CX50. The 36 inner chainring on the CX50 has been replaced with a TA 33t. The 11-32 cassette has been replaced with a Sram PG-1130 11-36. I was able to change the chainring and cassette without any other modifications.

Soonerinfrisco

Very nice! A good friend of mine rides his Roker on our club rides and it rolls very nicely on paved roads and really well on broken pavement. I may add one of these at some point. Keep us updated!

Barrettscv 

Thanks, I've only done about 20 miles on it. It needed numerous details attended to. The standard saddle and seatpost created about 2 inches of unwanted setback, so I changed the seatpost to a Thomas zero setback and temporary installed a Forte saddle. The internal cable routing was binding. A local professional mechanic rerouted the cables, corrected a slightly bent hanger and cleaned and oiled the chain. It hopefully will shift as it should now.

I'll provide a report in 10 days.

BluesDawg

Nice looking bike. I have a friend who rides a Roker Sport with some modifications and he loves the ride and handling of the bike. I think the color scheme of your bike is the best of all the Roker offerings. I'm not exactly in love with the aesthetics of the 105 hydro shift/brake levers, but I place much more priority on comfort and function than aeshetics. I have no doubt they work beautifully. What is your impression of how they feel to your hands as you grip and operate them?

Barrettscv 

The levers provide a large ramp shaped platform for the hands. The size of the upper half of the lever feels natural, the hands normally rest near the seam towards the back edge of the hoods. The fingers easily reach the levers from the back half of the hoods. An additional hand position further forward above the lever pivot is available, but it's an uncomfortable reach to maintain. The lever is also easy to finger when the hands are forward on the drops.

So the levers look extra long, but most of the time the hands are in a familiar position.



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BluesDawg

Thanks. A friend and customer is considering a bike with these components and had mentioned having read somewhere that they had some kind of bump where your thumb rests which might lead to discomfort. I'm wary of generic "things I read on the internet". Having a few years history communicating with you and reading your posts here and in other forums, I place much more stock in your comments than a less familiar source. We've all seen some pretty ridiculous ideas get repeated and touted as gospel on various bike forums.

Unfortunately, we don't have anything in stock with these levers at the moment.

Barrettscv 

I could see how the brifter might be installed and used as to create an uncomfortable grip. The brifter has a lightbulb shape to it, but the upper extreme is not comfortable, IMO.

The hands are comfortable on the back half of the hood, where the Shimano logo is embossed. However, if the lever was placed further down on the bar (and rotated downward) the hands could find a flatter platform above the lever pivot point. A cyclist would need abnormally large hands to make the area above the pivot point work.

I would install the brifter so that the Shimano logo is horizontal. If the brifter is tilted with the logo tilting downward, it will force the hands towards the front, above the pivot. Most users won't like that.

Edit: There is a vein like feature on the rear of the hood. It's where the hydraulic fluid pipe exits the brifter, the shifter cable is bundled there also. I could see how this feature might feel uncomfortable if the Abductor Pollicis Brevis (the muscle between the thumb and the wrist) was compressed by the feature. It doesn't bother me, but I'll try to photograph the feature.

I'll post some pictures this week.

Jackmen

Mike

That is a very nice looking rig you got there. Did you buy this one in addition to the alloy gravel rig you got from nashbar just a month or so ago? You are loading up on bikes.

This bike should work very nice for the gravel ride next weekend in southern IL. Make sure you run the tubeless tires at a lower pressure. I've found that 40 PSI is wonderful for my schwalbe 38 G Ones.

Barrettscv 

Hi Jack,

I was able to send the aluminum rig back for a full refund. It wasn't a leap forward from my existing bikes and I knew I was on an aluminum bikes after a few hours. The Roker is about 4 lbs lighter and seems to have a very plush ride.

Now I just need a better motor! I've lost about 20 lbs from when we met in Cuba, but I'm targeting another 20 by summer. Did a demanding 50 miles today and about 150 miles in the last 9 days...

Jackmen

Mike

That is great that were able to send it back and get a carbon rig. You will notice the difference. Great that you are dropping weight as this will make a tremendous difference.

If you think about it, if you drop 20 lbs its like losing the weight of an entire bike! That's what I call the best bike weight loss. Its also way cheaper than trying to drop a few pounds on your bike.

I think I am going to do the callaway 50 next week instead of the southern Ill. ride. It does look like a great ride though and that bike will be perfect for it. Congratulation for the great purchase.

You may want to get some racers tape and coat your frame in all the important places to prevent rock chips. I got a roll of the stuff that was about about 2" wide and placed it every where where the frame could be damaged. it has been great. takes a little time to put it on without bubbles but it provides great protection to the CF. The gravel is flying every where on these rides and it will chip your frame otherwise.

Barrettscv 

I was able to put some substantial gravel miles on the Roker yesterday. It's a distinctive performer. It's capable of maintaining a solid pace across almost every surface found on a gravel ride. It also rides with exceptional smoothness. The handling is super stable if a little sluggish. I'll summarize its performance on a variety of surfaces.

Pavement: Travel on hilly paved roads was better than expected. I normally consider gravel bikes with low air pressures gravel tires to be unresponsive on pavement, but the Roker accelerated and climbed well on rural paved roads. Not much different than my carbon Cyclocross bike. You won't want to sell your road bike, however. Long stretches on pavement are tolerable, but not ultra-fast.

Firm and mostly smooth gravel roads: Almost like being on pavement. Plenty of grip and speed. Easy to climb steep hills while standing over the pedals.

Flat, recently graded gravel: Recently graded gravel can be soft in spots and lacks a smooth track. The Roker really soaks up the loose layer of random-sized stones. Holding a good pace is possible.

Soft, poorly maintained gravel: Excellent traction and stability progress on soft, inconsistent gravel.

Climbing on soft gravel: Better than expected traction while climbing a 15% grade on a loose surface.

Descending on soft, rutted gravel: Stable, fast and reasonable safe due to geometry and hydraulic disc brakes. Fear no downhill.

mstateglfr 

You have a significantly more refined pallet.

I see gravel and think- that was fun and my bike allowed me to do well.

The nuances of knowing the bike's geometry and hydraulic brakes is what kept you confident on descents is something i lack.
I just ride a pace that feels safe and blame the road conditions if i go slower than i think is typical.



Looks like you have a near perfect bike for those refined enough to fully utilize the features.

Barrettscv 

Extremely relaxed geometry is easy to feel, the first 20 mph turn feels more like steering a school bus than a Porsche. That's a good feeling on downhills covered with loose gravel, the steering is not easily deflected. Hydraulic disc brakes are also obvious. The light effort and granular modulation is easy to apply. It makes the feel of cantilever brakes bipolar by comparison.

mstateglfr 

Yeah, i get slack angles...i ride a bike that has head tube and seat tube angles as slack as or more slack compared to the Roker.

I suppose i lucked into the perfect geometry and setup for my size and use and so i dont have experiemce with gravel bikes that sport aggressive geometry? Perhaps i dont give enough benefit to my bike's geometry?

Something to think about. Perhaps i need to wax poetically about what i have and not just take it for granted since there are apparently lota out there with poor geometry? The Roker just looks, #s wise, as a pretty standard endurance gravel frame. That isnt taking anything away from it, just saying its set up quite well.

Certainly some food for thought for me.

Rhonda

Curious how your Roker Comp is treating you? I love, love, love this bike that I have had for a year, when it is shifting properly. However, almost after every ride, I can't shift into my lowest gear and have to take it to the shop. They have replaced the cabling, I am tired of hearing my derailleur hanger is bent, and once even the rear hub was loose causing the problems. Anyone else experiencing this and how did you fix? Latest from Shimano is to ditch the Jagwire bushings.

Barrettscv 

I like the bike and look forward to riding more gravel in the future.

I also had shifting problems. I attempted to adjust it myself, but I could not get it to shift with any dependability.

I finally took the bike to the best mechanic in the area. He removed the bar tape, repositioned the cable housings along the handlebar. He ran the cable housings across the front of the headtube so that the housings have a reduced bend. It's a novel approach and it requires that the cables to be carefully routed internally. It now shifts perfectly.

I'm certain that the cables were improperly installed at the factory, and it takes a talented mechanic to sort it out.

MCWyeth

I'm browsing through posts about the Raleigh Roker Comp as I've been looking to pick up the original wheelset from the 2016 Roker Comp without any luck so far. Any chance someone here still has these original wheels from the 2016 Roker Comp (These were Weinmann Impulse TL wheels which I think use the Novatec D771/D772 Hubs). That rim just happens to allow the tires I want to use to barely fit in my steel frame Raleigh CX bike, and I have the same hubs in some other wheels so it makes it very easy for me to service them without having to buy yet more expensive tools
I'm interested in purchasing them (or trading plus cash - I also have a pair of the very similar Weinmann Impulse TLs that have zero miles - these ones have slightly beefier spokes, 2.0 instead of the stock 1.8, & nicer Japanese EZO bearings than the no-name one that came stock in the OEM Raleigh wheels). I'd trade these plus add some cash on top to close the deal if interested, please let me know! Thanks!

Barrettscv 

I have a set, PM sent