sfh

Like a lot of folks, I ride a cyclocross bike as a do-it-all. I don't race, and I don't even commute on my bike. But I ride a lot on rough roads, and I end up doing a lot of riding on the gravel shoulder. Often there's a dirt trail off in the metro parks that I want to take. I don't like there to be places that my bike won't take me. Mostly though, I find just about every CX bike loads more comfortable and fun to ride than just about every pure road bike.

A few years ago, I bought a CAADX Tiagra. Beautiful and capable bike. I like it, but I don't love it. This past week, I had a chance to ride a few miles on a Salsa Vaya, and suddenly my Cannonade feels harsh and twitchy. I just bought my son a used Surly Cross Check, and I took that for a ride. It's a little small for me, but it is smooth, comfortable, and exactly the feel I'd like from a bike. And, in all honestly, I just love the look of the round steel tubing.

So I'm thinking it's time to move to from the CAADX to steel. Cross Check is great, but it's off the list so my son stays appropriately proud of his own bike. I'll definitely take a better look at the Vaya. What else should be on the short list? Complete bike should be about $1500 or less . . . I think Jamis Renegade Expat. Kona Rove ST. Shoot, the Nashbar Steel CX looked pretty inviting during the last few days when it was 25% off.

I'm not in a big hurry since I have to unload the CAADX before I move on to another bike. Just building up a list of options I can consider as fall comes around.

Lazyass

If you can deal with the color (I personally love it) the Raleigh Stuntman is $1299 if you go to the Raleigh corporate site and sign up for an account. That's a $1000 discount. I'm seriously considering one.

2016 Interbike: Raleigh Stuntman - Room for 50mm Tires - Monster Cross! - Gravel Cyclist: The Gravel Cycling Experience

https://www.raleighusa.com/stuntman-2329

Aonex

What corporate code should you use to sign up for that discount?

Lazyass

I think it's this:

CODE: CYCLE4TAW

You may have to type it instead of copy and paste.

Aonex

Worked! Thanks.

mstateglfr 

- AllCity Spacehorse. $1150ish.
- Raleigh tamland 2. $1280. Quality steel tubing, carbon fork, 1x drivetrain.
- Raleigh tamland 1. $1140. Quality steel tubing, carbon fork, 105 drivetrain.
- Masi CXcomp 2017. $1090. Tiagra drivetrain.
- Masi CXGR 2017. $1470. 105 drivetrain, carbon fork.

And my bias since i have one- Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross frame. Lightweight quality tubing, mounting points for 3 bottles plus fenders and front & rear racks. Fits up to 50mm tires.
I bought the frameset and built it myself(since its cheaper). 105 drivetrain with gevenalle shifters, 105 hubs with h+son archetype rims, easton and origin8 cockpit.
Built up it was under $1200.

Aonex

Question regarding these Raleigh corporate orders, says that there is "some assembly required." Is this similar to a bikesdirect order, where the fork is already cut, headset installed... and just need to install the wheels and check on the brakes and shifters?

Lazyass

Yeah, that's the way every bike is shipped. You don't have to build it from scratch.

sfh

Thanks for the list. There is an All-City dealer near me that has the Spacehorse. I'll have a look. All of the Raleigh options are interesting too -- they look a lot nicer than the Raleigh bikes I've seen previously.

But . . . this Black Mountain option . . . did you buy the frame direct from them? Never done a total build from scratch before, but I don't mind recruiting the LBS to help out where my skills end.

mstateglfr 

Yes, the raleigh bikes are well thought out and spec'd for the prices. The one uncertain on them(and sister company Diamondback) is the wheelset. They will typically be poorly assembed(low amount of bearing grease and hubs set up too tight). Easy fixes during setup.


As for the Black Mountain frame- yeah i bought the frameset from the shop by the same name. A really awesome guy named Mike Varley owns the shop and frame brand. He used to design for Masi and Haro and has owned his own shop for over a decade ir so.
He will press i the headset for free if you buy it from him(they are at good prices too) and he sends the frames out the day you order. Ive emailed and talked with him and he is really helpful and willing to discuss options/ideas.

If you have him press in the headset, all you really need to do is attach a bunch of components, cable the bike, and wrap the bartape. Step by step processes are available on parktool, youtube, and here too.
You would need some allen wrenches, a bottom bracket wremch, and cable cutters. You could take it to a shop for the fork steerer to be cut to height and the starnut to be set into the fork steerer tube. Thats a 10min job for them.
Speaking of that last bit of work, its nkce that thw fork comes uncut. You can then set the height you want.
I believe Maxway of Taiwan makes the frames. Maxway is a long standing steel frame builder and the quality of the welds and paint are excellent. Paint is wet color with a clear powdercoat over, which is really durable.
Next year, he will offer a disc brake version, but for bow canti/vbrakes are what the frame allows.
My wheelset is from velomine.com and was machine built. Its what any wheelset at this general pricerange will be. Butted spokes though, and the wheels have spun true for a year now on rough sufraces while holding me(not a lightweight).

I should add that some need to have all the components match, but i built mine to match what i want instead of to match as a group. 11sp shimano shifting, but microshift shifting on gevenalle shifters. Old suntour canti brakes, a 10sp Shimano CX crankset, and a SRAM cassette.
Piecing together, from ebay pulloff(never used) and various onlibe sites, helped keep the costs down. I could have built it for less and still loved it too...probably important to mention.

Mine is a generation old version. The new version has the 3 bottle cages and a completely awesome Pacenti ParisBrest crown.

sfh

Thanks again. Love the color on that bike!

I just traded a few emails with Mike Varley. He's out of stock on frames for about 6 months, but honestly that gives me time to unload the CAADX, plan my build, and a have a bike ready for next year. Meanwhile, there's another local shop that carries Soma frames and has offered to work with me on whatever frame I bring them.

I'm sure I could do the build myself. I've never run cables on a bike before but, like you said, there are plenty of videos. So if I keep the kit in my basement over the winter, I think I'd get it done.

Glad to have a few options to investigate. I'll check back as I make some progress. This all started because that guy that sold me the Cross Check for my son loaned me his Salsa to accompany on the test ride. Very kind of that guy but it's got me hooked on getting a bike that's actually suited to how I ride!

bdooner

"I just traded a few emails with Mike Varley. He's out of stock on frames for about 6 months, but honestly that gives me time to unload the CAADX, plan my build, and a have a bike ready for next year."

Read that and panicked. Just finished gathering the bits and pieces for a BlackMountain cx build. Now I'm confused. Went to Mike's site and he's fully stocked.
Am I missing something?

sfh

Sorry . . . he's out of stock in the Monstercross frame in the 54cm size that I would buy. The site lists the frames that are out of stock. Monster Cross V5.2 - Black Mountain Cycles

Lazyass

If you're looking for CX specific, I just saw the Raleigh RXM. I don't know how I missed it. 631 tubes, 105, thru axles and the wheelset even has butted spokes. $1259 with the discount. That's a dang nice bike. Competitive Cyclist has detailed pics.

mstateglfr 

Oh thats lame to hear your size is out of stock. But definitely good perspective on waiting for new stock to come in.

And yeah, not sure how i forgot about Soma. Those frames use really quality tubing and seem well designed.

zymie

I'll second the Stuntman through the Raleigh corp site. I'm about a month in and loving it!

sfh

Tell me more. What kind of riding do you do? Mostly road or mostly dirt? For that price (the corporate price is available on Amazon too), it's a steal.

Also, did you have it assembled for you with Raleigh's free assembly service? Or did you just send it to the house and do it yourself?

zymie

It's my new commuter and all purpose bike. My commute is mostly on pavement, but I cut across a golf course for the last/first bit. My old bike is an '85 Raleigh Elkhorn steel frame MTB. I wanted something in between road and mountain. I'm still getting used to the new geometry. It's very stable and very comfortable. The bottom bracket is a lot lower than I'm used to. I flipped the stem over to give it +6 degrees. I switched the tires to Continental Top Contact II to give me better pavement performance and still some tread for the grass and dirt I ride over.

I look forward to taking it out on some different terrain.

I assembled it myself. Bolt on the front brake caliper, install front wheel, install seatpost and seat, bolt on handlebars and you're almost done.

Make sure your talking about the corporate discount, not just the Raleigh.com site, the price should be $1299. At that price I couldn't find anything that could match specs.

tengtengvn

Raleigh uses beeline for local assembly. Appointment wait time is 1 month which is a joke. I don't care how busy they're or which season. Raleigh ships the bike to the shop in 1 day and beeline asked me to wait 1 month to have a tech available.
Since I saw it was shipped to a LBS, I escalated to Raleigh and the manager of the LBS to have them assemble it instead. The LBS didn't adjust the disc brake pads right. Next time, I'd assemble the bike myself.

sfh

Oh. I searched the other day when that was first posted, and the Stuntman on Amazon was $1201 delivered. Now it's back up to the MSRP. The Raleigh corporate discount is the only way to go now.

I wouldn't be surprised if the "free assembly" was worth every penny. I haven't built up a bike-in-a-box in over 10 years, but I know it's not hard. This was the first I'd realized that Raleigh had become an online dealer. I can't imagine an LBS being all that invested in getting one put together perfectly. So yeah, I think I'd assemble it myself if I go this route.

Other than their much friendlier marketing strategy, Raleigh isn't that different than bikesdirect. They have quality frames and component spec at prices that a LBS can't touch. There won't be much resale value, but the last time I bought a steel bike, I had it for 25 years.

Lazyass

Do you know how much yours weighs? The website says it's like 26lbs but I know those stock tires weigh 800 grams each. The tires I would use for pavement would chop about 2lbs of rolling weight off the bike. And swapping out that dropper post I don't need would be another pound at least.

sfh

That's a 1x11 drivetrain, right? I had just assumed I'd get a 2x . . . might have to reconsider because that Stuntman has a pretty broad range in the cassette.

zymie

Yes, 11-42 cassette with 40t up front. I've found the range covers what I need so far. I go over a couple of small hills inn the golf course and the gearing works on the low end, with plenty in the high end for road sections. I haven't even been on the 11 yet.

I'm still feeling spoiled moving from friction shifters to SRAM double tap, and hydro discs from cantis.

bdooner

There are four steel framed (631) bikes on the Raleigh site, all matching the cx all rounder profile. They are the Stuntman, RXM and Tamland 1+2. all configured slightly different. One has an alloy fork, there is a dropper seatpost, a Brooks cambium, two 1x Rival and two 2x 105's. There is a off brand crank, different brakes and tires. I think they are all good deals, it's just a matter of personal choice and sorting through the details.

jblpsyched

Just set up an account on the Raleigh Corporate site and tried to apply the discount code referenced above: CYCLE4TAW
Says it's invalid--anyone have an update or correction to offer?