by peted76 on Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:13 pm
Hi I'm in the market for bit of a do it all bike, but with a heavy lean towards the road, I'd like some wide tyre clearance for a bit of off roading and I want a bike which I can ride in winter with mudguards... if I could have a crack at a CX race it'd be a bonus but I'm not too fussed.
The idea is I'll set it up as a 'road bike' primarily but might invest in another set of wheels for anything to do with mud and grass in future.
I figure I want room for up to 38mm rubber, provision for proper mudguards, a 2x groupset and I'm leaning towards hydro discs mainly because as soon as you look for anything with tyre clearance you need discs and I hear non hydro discs are where it's at.
So I've been around the houses a bit looking for this spec within my price range (circa 3.3k GBP all told). There are some very uninspiring carbon bikes out there and a growing number of 1x bikes. Neither of which I'm very keen on. I'd love a nice titanium bike but I think I'm hovering around the 'can't afford it' area.. also I'm a bit ignorant to the magic of Ti and don't understand why PlanetX can offer a bike at £700 and Van Nick are three times that for a frame.
It is unusual that I can actually spend money on a bike with free hands so I want to make the purchase count. I want to plan to ride this bike for a decade.
I've narrowed my choices down to the:
J.Laverack J.ACK (Titanium beauty which ticks all the boxes - but has a huge question mark on the sizing (24mm higher stack than I'm riding now!!)
Mason Definition (which looks beautiful and fits price range, it won't take me offroad, max 33mm tyre, but I still love it)
Reilly Gradient (Titanium, ticks all the boxes - but has a huge question mark on the sizing)
Shand Stooshie (Ticks all the boxes and I can have my own paint job done, but although light steel is still on the heavier side of these bikes)
Kinesis PRO6 Disc - (ticks all the boxes and allows me to buy a second set of wheels from the off, but is a proper CX bike and may not suit long multi day rides in the saddle for example.
I've included my current Giant TCR in the below numbers, I get it's low and racy but I don't really get what it means to me when comparing against other bikes.. I have had a bike fit and can provide numbers if that helps.. I'm really after a bit of guidance before I go crazy.
STACK REACH
TCR (S) 529 378
Kinesis PRO6 Disc (51) 522 375.3
Reilly Graidient (52) 531 384
Mason Bokeh (50) 537.9 363.3
Mason Definition (50) 543 380
J.Laverack - J.ACK (52) 553 370
Shand Stooshie (XS) 558 358
Shand Stooshie (S) 570 368
I am concerned about sizing on these.. in particular the JLaverack J.ACK which until I saw the huge stack was the front runner.
I should also note that I really can't actually sit on these bikes prior to purchase.. as much as I'd love to, all but the JLaverack are just too far from me, hence why I come to the internet hive mind that is WW, for your opinion and expertise.
Here are my bike fit measurements:
Saddle top to crank centre 678
Saddle tip to head bolt 385
Saddle tip to hoods 640
Stem length 100
Crank length 170
Saddle to bar drop (bar centreline) 67
Saddle set back (tip to crank centre) 30
Inseam measurement 77.5
Any comments about sizing or in particular any other bike or build options are welcomed.
Thanks in advance
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