As described in my "about" section one of my passions is the bicycle of which I'm sure I'll be posting all sorts of info and links in the future. For now I thought I'd relate the latest cycle related project that I undertook and the decisions taken on route to get the end result. It may be of interest to anyone looking to purchase something similar.
It all began around the middle of 2011 when I decided to build a new road bike to replace my Ambrosio carbon framed bike. This bike had been built in 2001 and the lugged carbon tube frame was showing signs of delamination at one of the lugs. Not wishing to tempt providence and become a A&E statistic I felt it was time to look for a replacement ( not sure about everyone else but I get an intense guilt feeling at this point ). My initial thoughts were to purchase a low cost carbon frame, PedalForce, Ribble, Planet-X etc as they are all good quality frames and a nice start for for a lightweight road bike. My preference is to a bike that looks understated which to all intents and purposes the above frames are, perhaps with the exception of quite a number of Ribble frames which can look a little garish in my opinion.
As I went around in circles costing framesets, groupsets, hunting reviews etc my thoughts turned to an alternative frame material. It would mean pushing the budget but this bike would be intended to see me through perhaps 10-15 years. The material was titanium, a wonder metal to many in bike circles. The new kids on the block now were Van Nicholas, Enigma and Lynskey ( also looked at Burls as I'd read much positive on forums ). All of these companies responded promptly to my emails answering my queries and sending geometry diagrams of the frames I was interested in. Throughout my bike design I drew frames up on a Rotring drawing board but after about 6 drawings I discovered RattleCad which is a beautiful freeware program for doing exactly this. The package shows all important dimensions for comparison with any current bike setup you may already have. As I specc'ed up the design it didn't matter which frame I was looking at ( VN Chinook, Enigma Echo, Lynskey Cooper ) I felt I was going excessively over budget, as is often the case you always push further than your means. They are beautiful frames though and I'd not hesitate to purchase from any of the companies mentioned.
At this point, whether it be sheer frustration, I started looking at off the shelf bikes in particular Canyon and Rose. So in June 2012 I became the owner of a Canyon Ultimate AL with Ultegra groupset. Low cost, very light, and many reviews praised it to the hilt. Mine sadly arrived with dings in the top tube, Canyon were fine offering discount or fully paid return. I opted for the latter and there was no replacement stock and the price went up. So now I was back to square one and feeling pretty crestfallen. It was August now and just by chance I was looking at a back edition of Cycling Plus testing steel bikes, two stood out the Enigma Elite and the Condor Super Acciaio. The flame of my original idea was relit I weighed up the costs and options of both framesets and decided to pursue the Super Acciaio. It seemed to have all the attributes I wanted, shock absorption, stiff and responsive ( I couldn't flex a stick of liquorice so perhaps that stiffness aspect may be wasted on me! ). I contacted Condor, swapped several emails with Seb and pushed the button on a Super Acciaio in Rapha team colours. I felt this was more flexible to the groupset/component colours on the market allowing more aesthetic choice. The frameset arrived and I was floored by simply how beautiful it was.. and light considering the material.
With frame in hand all of my component decisions had pretty well been made in the intervening months. The design decisions go much deeper than my blog overview, there were some very frustrating times I can assure you! Components were chosen as a balance of weight and cost, upgrading in the future if necessary. The choices were:-
Wheels : Campagnolo Zonda - Parker international
Tyres : Continental Grand Prix 4000S - Ribble
Groupset : Camgnolo Athena Carbon,50/34 Cassette 12-29 - Comtat
( Levers Chorus for multiple shifting )
Seatpost : Deda RS02 - Ribble
Stem : Deda Zero One - Ribble
Saddle : Legacy item, Charge Spoon, fantastic VFM
Bars : Easton - Ribble
Weight : 18.3lbs ( I learnt manufacturers aren't truthful on weights! )
Tools : Raleigh Workstand ( £50 marvel ), cyclus headset press, KMC chaintool park cable cutters......
Excellent service from all of the above suppliers in particular Adam at Comtat and Seb at Condor both of whom I had many emails with.
The result of my building ( and the long post! )
Well we got there in the end....
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