Racey Boutique Gravel Frames?
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On the new Ridley Astr: interesting design failure. They use a metal clamp around the steering post to lock the brake hoses. Apparently that clamp is so sharp it cuts into the hoses.
Gotta keep your eyes open when you buy a completely new model.
Gotta keep your eyes open when you buy a completely new model.
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Thanks everyone.
@Aradell Yeah there is very little toe overlap but not rly much. Even possible to slip through with little force and also some room on the cleats to get further back. Could also go 2.5mm shorter in crank length but no need now.
I am used to ride a singlespeed/fixie with way more overlap so no prob for me. It might be less overlap on a langer frame and with smaller tires like 40s.
ckchriskohl wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2024 9:32 pmThanks everyone.
@Aradell Yeah there is very little toe overlap but not rly much. Even possible to slip through with little force and also some room on the cleats to get further back. Could also go 2.5mm shorter in crank length but no need now.
I am used to ride a singlespeed/fixie with way more overlap so no prob for me. It might be less overlap on a langer frame and with smaller tires like 40s.
What size are you riding and how tall are you? I have always loved the look of the Standert bikes, and I was thinking about getting one in the same color. But toe overlap would be a no-go for me.
(I’m 184 cm and would probably be on a 56 or 58 cm frame)
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168cm size 50. Stem 90 (100 would be slightly better). 65mm reach on the Bars.Aradell wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2024 9:12 amckchriskohl wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2024 9:32 pmThanks everyone.
@Aradell Yeah there is very little toe overlap but not rly much. Even possible to slip through with little force and also some room on the cleats to get further back. Could also go 2.5mm shorter in crank length but no need now.
I am used to ride a singlespeed/fixie with way more overlap so no prob for me. It might be less overlap on a langer frame and with smaller tires like 40s.
What size are you riding and how tall are you? I have always loved the look of the Standert bikes, and I was thinking about getting one in the same color. But toe overlap would be a no-go for me.
(I’m 184 cm and would probably be on a 56 or 58 cm frame)
Try to calculate your position on bike-stats before and maybe measure to overlap beforehand.
Awesome! i'm also looking at getting the propain. It ticks all the boxes that i'm looking for but in most of the marketing material it looks a bit akward due to the bikefit that they seem to push. curious what it will look like in a more racier setup. Also curious what the real life tire clearance is like it looks like there is plenty of space for more than 50mm. looking forward to seeing some pictures once it is finishedwirelessness wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2024 6:35 pmI'm building up a Propain Terrel CF. With WG44 wheels and pretty decent kit. Will report back. The frame quality is top notch. The raw carbon is beautiful. It's probably not condidered 'racey' due to the longer chainstays and trail but it should work well for what I plan to use it for.
I totally missed the ASTR launch. Tempted to line one up as my next purchase - I'd been eyeing the Ostro Gravel even after reports of a harsh ride but finally knocked it off the list once it became clear that 52mm clearance is the new standard. ASTR looks very like a next-gen Ostro Gravel!
Or I could just wait til next Spring and there will probably be another half dozen new bikes on the market that meet these requirements...
Where's this from? (Not so concerned about the clamp as it's probably easy enough to replace with something as simple as a zip tie - more wondering if there's another thread/forum with more detailed discussion about the bike).
Or I could just wait til next Spring and there will probably be another half dozen new bikes on the market that meet these requirements...
I think it's from the review of one of the bike magazines. Found it randomly on instagram.
For the ASTR: I contacted Ridley to ask if you can buy a frameset only. Turns out you can. It's still 4990€, including handlebar. Can akso request unpainted.
Steep .
Shame, as I REALLY like the looks and specs. Another potential turn-off for self building: pressfit BB...
Edit, found the source of the picture:
https://bikerumor.com/ridley-astr-rs-gr ... ty-review/
For the ASTR: I contacted Ridley to ask if you can buy a frameset only. Turns out you can. It's still 4990€, including handlebar. Can akso request unpainted.
Steep .
Shame, as I REALLY like the looks and specs. Another potential turn-off for self building: pressfit BB...
Edit, found the source of the picture:
https://bikerumor.com/ridley-astr-rs-gr ... ty-review/
Thanks for the photo link - I see what you mean. Fortunately those are just shims to make sure the headset cone spacer doesn't bind on the frame (at least as far as I can tell from the photo). I've made them out of the lid of a SiS drink mix tub before (using Tarmac SL7 stem/spacers on another brand bike) and ridden multiple gravel race seasons that way - they never need to take the compression force of a hit and only have to be strong enough to stop the fork dropping downward out of the headtube when the front wheel comes off the ground.
I also don't see them posing a danger to the steerer - on the SL7 recall the issue was that the metal reducer had sharp corners which made direct contact with the tube, and because it's a fully round tube there was some scope for that reducer to rotate back and forth relative to the steerer. These Ridley ones appear clover or mushroom shaped so will be fixed relative to the steerer, and I'd suspect they have all their corners rounded off too.
Even the scars on the brake hoses don't worry me too much - most look like the kind of thing you end up with after wrestling with a hose during routing. The one bit that is concerning is just above the top of the headtube in the photo - looks like the shim has shaved the rubber off of about 5mm worth of housing, exposing the structural part of it. That's also the height at which those shims will actually sit when assembled.
That alone might make it worth fashioning a custom plastic shim instead. Or, since the front hose isn't likely to rub in the same way I guess you could just keep an eye on it and know that if it fails you're losing your rear brake ages before your front is even compromised.
No great danger and if that part is problematic I expect it will get recalled and replaced with plastic in a few months anyway. Might even be done already if the media bikes were pre-production.
Yeah price isn't ideal but isn't surprising from an established brand - you can do frameset option on the online configurator now. With custom colours it's still £1000 (and presumably ~1000EUR) cheaper than a MOG or an Ostro Gravel frameset. It's also just slightly under the best available online prices for previous-year S-Works SL8 framesets (which which don't include barstem), and almost identical to an S-Works Crux frameset (also no barstem). So I'd say it's average for a flagship race bike in the league it's meant to occupy.
Switching to a full build with GRX825 adds about £300 less than the best price I've seen for that groupset so far though, and with that you'd get a pair of alloy wheels and a basic saddle that you can sell on to recoup a bit of cash. That's the build I'd be doing anyway so only potential hiccup is the lack of option to choose crank length, but I'd guess they might do that by special request.
Since GRX is one of the retail stock specs I also imagine I might be able to pick one up from stock at an additional 15-30% discount in 6-10 months time. Not sure that's a worthy tradeoff for the wait, uncertainty, and build compromises for me, but it's an easy recommendation to make to someone else for an off the shelf racer...
One of the custom colours is "UD Carbon" with the option to pick another colour for the logos and choose either gloss or matte finish - I'm guessing that's a clearcoat only option, right? I'm not looking for flashy paint so that would suit me really well and likely keep additional weight to a minimum. Not the same if you're looking at 3rd party paint, but then in that case I'd guess at least Ridley won't hit you with the custom paint upcharge for requesting an unpainted frame.
I do think the days of dodgy pressfit BBs are mostly behind us. Unless you don't have a press at home it really shouldn't be an issue. Worst case is you end up fitting a thread-together model for a few grams of weight penalty and the confidence that you'll never need to worry about it.
(I'd still choose threaded on a custom build, but pressfit isn't worth avoiding anymore IMO)
Not ready to pull the trigger just now, but I think this is the most compelling option I've seen to date for my needs.
I also don't see them posing a danger to the steerer - on the SL7 recall the issue was that the metal reducer had sharp corners which made direct contact with the tube, and because it's a fully round tube there was some scope for that reducer to rotate back and forth relative to the steerer. These Ridley ones appear clover or mushroom shaped so will be fixed relative to the steerer, and I'd suspect they have all their corners rounded off too.
Even the scars on the brake hoses don't worry me too much - most look like the kind of thing you end up with after wrestling with a hose during routing. The one bit that is concerning is just above the top of the headtube in the photo - looks like the shim has shaved the rubber off of about 5mm worth of housing, exposing the structural part of it. That's also the height at which those shims will actually sit when assembled.
That alone might make it worth fashioning a custom plastic shim instead. Or, since the front hose isn't likely to rub in the same way I guess you could just keep an eye on it and know that if it fails you're losing your rear brake ages before your front is even compromised.
No great danger and if that part is problematic I expect it will get recalled and replaced with plastic in a few months anyway. Might even be done already if the media bikes were pre-production.
Yeah price isn't ideal but isn't surprising from an established brand - you can do frameset option on the online configurator now. With custom colours it's still £1000 (and presumably ~1000EUR) cheaper than a MOG or an Ostro Gravel frameset. It's also just slightly under the best available online prices for previous-year S-Works SL8 framesets (which which don't include barstem), and almost identical to an S-Works Crux frameset (also no barstem). So I'd say it's average for a flagship race bike in the league it's meant to occupy.
Switching to a full build with GRX825 adds about £300 less than the best price I've seen for that groupset so far though, and with that you'd get a pair of alloy wheels and a basic saddle that you can sell on to recoup a bit of cash. That's the build I'd be doing anyway so only potential hiccup is the lack of option to choose crank length, but I'd guess they might do that by special request.
Since GRX is one of the retail stock specs I also imagine I might be able to pick one up from stock at an additional 15-30% discount in 6-10 months time. Not sure that's a worthy tradeoff for the wait, uncertainty, and build compromises for me, but it's an easy recommendation to make to someone else for an off the shelf racer...
One of the custom colours is "UD Carbon" with the option to pick another colour for the logos and choose either gloss or matte finish - I'm guessing that's a clearcoat only option, right? I'm not looking for flashy paint so that would suit me really well and likely keep additional weight to a minimum. Not the same if you're looking at 3rd party paint, but then in that case I'd guess at least Ridley won't hit you with the custom paint upcharge for requesting an unpainted frame.
I do think the days of dodgy pressfit BBs are mostly behind us. Unless you don't have a press at home it really shouldn't be an issue. Worst case is you end up fitting a thread-together model for a few grams of weight penalty and the confidence that you'll never need to worry about it.
(I'd still choose threaded on a custom build, but pressfit isn't worth avoiding anymore IMO)
Not ready to pull the trigger just now, but I think this is the most compelling option I've seen to date for my needs.
@Voicycle: thanks for your thoughts and interesting considerations.
Another consideration for you: the Ridley ASTR frame (so not the 'S') version comes in MUCH cheaper. Framekit is EUR 2299 instead of 4999. I tried to find the specs for the non-S version but Ridley isn't exactly clear about it.
They say it is 'marginally' heavier, different carbon lay-up and round seatpost instead of aero seatpost. The S frame is quoted at 890grams. If the non-S frame is around 1000-1050g's I think it's a very interesting option to buy tbh. Would love some more details on the differences between the two frames though.
Another consideration for you: the Ridley ASTR frame (so not the 'S') version comes in MUCH cheaper. Framekit is EUR 2299 instead of 4999. I tried to find the specs for the non-S version but Ridley isn't exactly clear about it.
They say it is 'marginally' heavier, different carbon lay-up and round seatpost instead of aero seatpost. The S frame is quoted at 890grams. If the non-S frame is around 1000-1050g's I think it's a very interesting option to buy tbh. Would love some more details on the differences between the two frames though.
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If you are looking for cheap, light, fast and racey, this is 8kg and cost very little. It's a cross bike, it's not a fancy brand and it won't get you social media affirmation, but you can race on it no problem. This is after 160km of Catalan gravel.
Last edited by BenCousins on Wed Oct 16, 2024 6:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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What titianium axles are you going to run for the XTR pedals?