What part of the bike do you wish for more stiffness? The head tube, bottom bracket, the fork, or the chainstays?
It sounds like you have a lot of doubts about a custom bike. The easiest thing is just to talk to the builders. They will gladly take your call and answer your questions. They won't charge you for talking. Spend a few hours to talk to several builders. And perhaps share your findings here.
And oh if you lived close to me I'd gladly let you ride my custom bike. Do you have anyone close to you with a custom bike?
A Classical Affair (Litespeed Classic)
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What will riding someone else's custom bike tell me?
As far as talking to a builder...for work, I have a team of sales people that report to me indirectly but I deal with frequently. Their job is to convince the buyer that our company is the best for them and can meet their needs. I would only expect a good builder to be able to do the same. When I do application development or anything that I'm building/putting together something with another person, it's an iterative process. I think a custom bike would really have to be the same.
Regarding flex on this bike, I don't know. I think I'm able to twist this bike in a way that my two touch points (feet and hands) are not moving in the same way. I think that's what our perception of flex is anyway. Keeping those in sync minimizes our perception of flex. I think the downtube plays a key role in that and why the Litespeed T3 had such a large, biovalized downtube which made it feel so great to do efforts on. I know you (pdlpsher) sent me the video of the guy riding to point out that you think chain stays are the key to a stiff frame, but riding seated is not where I judge a frame's stiffness or lack thereof. Even a cheap classic steel frame feels fine to me in a seated effort. It's when I go to wretch on the bars that the issue of stiffness comes to mind. If I can get my front wheel to move in a different plane than my rear, then it becomes noticeable.
As far as talking to a builder...for work, I have a team of sales people that report to me indirectly but I deal with frequently. Their job is to convince the buyer that our company is the best for them and can meet their needs. I would only expect a good builder to be able to do the same. When I do application development or anything that I'm building/putting together something with another person, it's an iterative process. I think a custom bike would really have to be the same.
Regarding flex on this bike, I don't know. I think I'm able to twist this bike in a way that my two touch points (feet and hands) are not moving in the same way. I think that's what our perception of flex is anyway. Keeping those in sync minimizes our perception of flex. I think the downtube plays a key role in that and why the Litespeed T3 had such a large, biovalized downtube which made it feel so great to do efforts on. I know you (pdlpsher) sent me the video of the guy riding to point out that you think chain stays are the key to a stiff frame, but riding seated is not where I judge a frame's stiffness or lack thereof. Even a cheap classic steel frame feels fine to me in a seated effort. It's when I go to wretch on the bars that the issue of stiffness comes to mind. If I can get my front wheel to move in a different plane than my rear, then it becomes noticeable.
Yes, that's the other part of the custom equation. I was more thinking about height than weight. Small frames used to have horrendous HA/fork rake combinations to eliminate foot overlap and then STA/top tube all bodged to make a frame that could be sat on. So they handled like shit.RyanH wrote: ↑Sun May 05, 2019 11:38 pmI was thinking about that today as I was riding home and saw a 250lb guy riding. If you're outside of the design criteria then you won't have the intended experience. The question that most of us don't know is what is the design criteria. Was that 56/58 frame designed for a 6'1 155lb pro or a 6'1 190lb strong rider?
You have the same issue with weight.
Someone of 175 cm could easily weigh anywhere between 55 kilos and 100 kilos with commensurate power and power/weight ratio changes. Yet they use the same size frame, with the same tubeset. Mr(s) 55 kilo would fine the frame jarring and overly stiff, Mr(s) 100 kilo of solid muscle would find it whippy and unable to track in a straight line under full power efforts.
I'd be extremely surprised if you've ever had a frame that you can't get the front and rear wheels in different planes. Whether it's noticeable or not is another matter.
I wanted to mix things up and ride something different so I spent a couple hours setting up the Classic to be the primary bike. I've been riding it for few weeks without power but I got a BSA compatible Quarq in yesterday.
I think this is the first NHB Red Quarq
For comparison, Cannondale Si SRM with spacers:
I think this is the first NHB Red Quarq
For comparison, Cannondale Si SRM with spacers:
Round 4:
First thing first was to strip the frame down since it needed some TLC. Obviously need to get a weight during that process:
A tad porky at 1470g. My English is almost lighter than this frame.
One of my pet peeves with CK headsets is the gap between the headset and fork since the crown race is thicccc:
So, Tune headset will replace the CK headset:
Also, the frame needed some polishing so spent some time cleaning it up with Blue Magic Shine and replaced the bottle cage rivnuts with alloy ones:
New decals:
I ended up borrowing the bars and cranks from the Calfee since I needed to swap the sanded cranks to the English anyway and I was being lazy and wanted to save a few minutes on bar setup. (I need to fix saddle and bar angle it seems)
A tad porky at 1470g. My English is almost lighter than this frame.
One of my pet peeves with CK headsets is the gap between the headset and fork since the crown race is thicccc:
So, Tune headset will replace the CK headset:
Also, the frame needed some polishing so spent some time cleaning it up with Blue Magic Shine and replaced the bottle cage rivnuts with alloy ones:
New decals:
I ended up borrowing the bars and cranks from the Calfee since I needed to swap the sanded cranks to the English anyway and I was being lazy and wanted to save a few minutes on bar setup. (I need to fix saddle and bar angle it seems)
Killer build as always! i'm curious where this will fit in your line up.
Also, are you running 25s or 28s on this? I'm in the process of upgrading my 97 classic to a 2000 classic for the 1-1/8th head tube but it looks like the chain stays have a few less mm clearance. It seems like a 28 may fit but only on a rim with a more narrow interior diamater like 19 or less. on a quick fit test with HED/ENVE at 21 mm ID, seems like 28s will rub.
Also, are you running 25s or 28s on this? I'm in the process of upgrading my 97 classic to a 2000 classic for the 1-1/8th head tube but it looks like the chain stays have a few less mm clearance. It seems like a 28 may fit but only on a rim with a more narrow interior diamater like 19 or less. on a quick fit test with HED/ENVE at 21 mm ID, seems like 28s will rub.
Tire clearance is a bit of an issue on this frame. 28mm actual (as measured) is rubbing. A bit of a predicament...
