Caliper

I love my fixed gear bike, it's a nice converted Raleigh frame with some cool shiny bits. Here's a shameless plug of its beauty:




Unfortunately, there's also a lack of rideable pavement around me and the 27x1.25" tires it runs just won't take me as far as I want to go on dirt. The rubber is nearly kissing the chainstays so bigger tires aren't an option, thus I spend most of my time on my gravel bike. I've noticed that Wabi says their Thunder frameset will handle up to a 44mm tire, which sounds like a good combo with their reputation for building quality bikes. Is anyone riding the Thunder frame? Is it as amazing as they make it sound?

ceelint

I don't ride a Thunder..
But as far asyour current bike, you could prob toss some 700c wheels on it and run a bigger tire

johnnytheboy

phobus

Don't forget the Surly Cross-Check (and Straggler). Room for 700x42s, geometry is more suited to off-road/dirt riding than typical road/track fixed gear bikes.

belacqua

I'm with @ceelint. 700c and you can probably put 42mm tires on there. I think the wabis look great but I doubt it would be nicer than your Raleigh.

Caliper

This bike IS a 700c frame. I have to partially deflate the rear tire to install it. No way are big 700c tires going to fit. 27x1.25 only has a few mm of clearance to the sides.

It does ride nicely, but is made of 555 steel, so not quite as nice as my other Raleigh with 531 tubes. Honestly, a Wabi would be a N+1 bike. I'm not giving up this one because it does sing on tarmac. I thought Wabi's 725 steel was at least as good as classic 531?

I'll have to do some reading into the other SS options suggested.

czr

50voltphantom

700c is smaller than 27"

drabbuh

I've had a complete one for a couple weeks, running 37c travel contacts on it. Gorgeous bike. smooth, comfy, yet quick to accelerate. Wheel true not perfect, crankset wasn't tightened sufficiently out of box. After tightening it down theres just 1-2 mm of clearance between chainring bolts and chainstay--Yikes! I'd probably just get the frameset if I were to do it over as the tire clearance, weight, mounts, and comfortable geo are
still better than the competition (steamroller, nature boy, Kilo WT) for these Michigan roads.

Caliper

Yes, by 8mm diameter at the rim bead. I'm very familiar with running fat 700c tires on a 27" frame and do it on other bikes that have a frame designed for 27" tires. The problem is that the frame was only designed to clear a 700c road tire. The 27" wheel only leaves 2mm between the tire and the chainstays to the sides and needs to be deflated slightly to get around the chainstay brace and into the dropouts. While a 27x1.25 may have the same diameter as a 700x36, there is no room for the additional width.

That sucks on the crankset! I've pondered just getting the frameset since I'd probably ditch the tires and brake levers that Wabi uses straight out of the box.

Which Nature Boy did you ride? I looked at their website and the Nature Boy 853 does seem to spec a higher grade of steel. I agree with you about the geo though. Wabi has a shorter top tube more in line with the classic frames that I like due to my long-legged build.

drabbuh

I haven't personally ridden one but the 4130 chromoly nature boy has a very heavy fork which I wasn't into. I disregarded both the nature boy 853 and Zona due to their very thin tubes which I found were very easily dented after looking at the used market for them, not to mention the Carbon fork. I chose the Wabi because the tubing is thinner than 4130 that its not quite as heavy, but not as dramatically as 853 that it easily dents. Something I don't want to be worried about since I commute with it and don't want to baby my bikes.

blueviolet11

I own both a Straggler and a Wabi Classic, so maybe I can provide some insight. I've never ridden a Thunder, but its geo looks similar to the Classic. I love my Wabi. My Straggler has been relegated to a rainy day bike because the Wabi is just more fun to ride. It's a real bargain for the tubing it has, in my opinion. If you're intent on going SS, I would absolutely get the Thunder over a Surly (or really anything by QBP). Lighter tubing and cheaper (at least new MSRP). The Surly will obviously be more versatile if you want to throw gears on it or load it way down with stuff, but that doesn't sound like your goal.

Caliper

Interesting that this came back up now... The geo definitely looks good, but in the end I decided not to get the Wabi. The frame weight on the Thunder is 6.7# and when I started calculating out the components I wanted to replace, the prospect of a 20# bike for $2000 just didn't line up to a good value for me. I've decided to switch a bike I've currently got over to fixed instead. It'll clear at least 38mm tires and probably a bit more. It may be a touch heavier but only cost me the price of a nice set of wheels I was looking at anyways.

hsuBM

so what did you get?

Caliper

Ha, I actually still haven't bought the wheels. I set my Schwinn Passage up fixed though. The Raleigh above got upgraded to some deeper section fixed wheels and donated the 27" hoops to the Passage which is using some 27x1 3/8" Club Roost tires I had sitting around. Wish they were wider, but it's the best option for a dead wheel size and didn't cost me anything. I suppose all I got was a 16/18 dingle cog and a half link to make the chain length work out.