Lava

God help us if we ever have to service the bottom brackets on our Topstones ourselves! This is a Herculean effort, thanks for sharing your pains!

HarborBandS

shoota 

Add this to the list of reasons why no one should ever own anything FSA. I beginning to think the arm and spindle have fused together.

shoota 

I win.



I hope I can get used to these slack angles, it feels really weird.

itskohler

Looks pretty slick. As my fitsr non-mtb I've been loving minem what exactly feels weird.to you?

shoota 

The slack seat tube. I've already got a zero setback seatpost and I can tell already I'm going to have to scoot the saddle even more forward. It's going to look weird.

HarborBandS

shoota 

itskohler

What length crank arms are you using? Mine came with 170, and Im used to 175, that makes the bike feel weird under me.

shoota 

shelbyfv

shoota, maybe you will consider posting a comparison of the Topstone and the Tamland once you get a few miles on the new bike. Few complaints here with the Tamland (other than weight) but wish the Topstone had been available when I was in the market.

Metieval

It feels weird because they lengthened the top tube. Run a size smaller stem than you normally do, and all will be right in the world again.

My guess.....

shoota 

Well you know, the front end doesn't feel too bad but the back end just feels soooo slack. My SuperX has a STA of 73.5* and the Topstone is 73.1*. I'm not an angle expert but those numbers aren't enormously different number wise, but to the naked eye the Topstone's seattube is noticeably slacker than the SuperX's. And I can definitely feel it on the bike. I had to scoot the saddle forward quite a bit to accommodate for that .

shoota 

So far I'm liking the Tamland better. I will wait to finalize that opinion until I get the Topstone set up tubeless and put more actual gravel miles on. If lighter wheels and tires set up tubeless don't feel noticeably snappier than the Tamland then I will give the nod to the Tamland because it is freaky smooth.

shelbyfv

Thanks

shoota 

There's a good chance that yours won't be like this. It could have been something as simple as water getting in there and corroding/fusing the arm to the spindle as it sat in the shop for months and months. If I were you guys I would try the 8mm bolt and see if it works without much effort. If it does great, if it doesn't then take it back to the shop where you got it and let them try, in case it breaks.

redlude97

Nice! Looking forward to hearing your opinion compared to your SuperX.

shoota 

I already wish I would have bought a new geo SuperX. And I still may, but I need some gravel miles on this first.

HarborBandS

Don't talk yourself out of liking the bike before you even try it!

I'm curious about the compliance of the frame. I'm well in to my 40's now and get pain from harsh washboard rides. I had been favoring the Trek Checkpoint SL5 because of the frame compliance of carbon plus IsoSpeed, but need to try out the rear IsoSpeed a bit more before making the leap.

I'm still rocked by experience with some old harsh aluminum frames, but I'm told the newer aluminum frames have solved some of these issues. But this Topstone is such a nice package for the price!

shoota 

To be sure, it's no late 80s Cannondale crit racer. It's definitely stiffer than any of the steel gravel bikes I've ridden, but not by much, and it could arguably be attributed to the tires/PSI.

Lava

It seems pretty smooth for me so far, but I've yet to take mine off-road. NYC streets give plenty of opportunity to feel the road, however, and as someone who has back/neck pain from an old injury, the Topstone has definitely helped the post-ride recovery. I have to spend some longer time in the saddle to get a better sense of how well it does on this front, though, so I'll report back when I do. John Watson from The Radavist had good things to say about the ride quality, and since they focus a lot on nice riding hand-built steel bikes, I take that as plenty positive.

Frankly, I think I could have benefited from an Isospeed or Futureshock system, but didn't want the headache that these proprietary components would have given me down the line. I really appreciate the Topstone's simplicity, and might look into a suspension seatpost if I feel like I need a little more compliance in the future.

HarborBandS

The simplicity is appealing to me as well, though i don't think IsoSpeed will ever require any additional maintenance. I could be wrong about that... Something I need to clarify. FutureShock is a non-starter for me.

Frankly, if the Cannondale Synapse had greater tire clearance, I would snap one up.

Badstoob

The 105 Topstone seems to be rarer than rocking horse poo but the apex model is in stock. Is there anything that you guys would consider needs upgrading from the off? I read somewhere, perhaps on here that a carbon model is coming but cannot find any information.

Lava

I think it's speculation at this point, but if it is indeed as popular as it appears to be (hard to find everywhere), a carbon tier seems a likely eventuality.

The Apex model gets you upgraded wheels, the WTB i23 light, which is the only part of the bike I've felt needs upgrading from the get go on the 105 model. And even then, the i23s that come stock seem pretty capable, if not exactly light, so they may be just fine depending on your use case for the bike.

HarborBandS

I asked the guys at my LBS about it when I test-rode the Sora Topstone (the only trim level they had in stock in my size). They said it was very unlikely within the next model year, and they had no specific information about a carbon model.