Can I call on your collective wisdom?
I'm having a bit of a fleet rationalisation and swap around and looking for a new Ti Audax frame to become my new fast(er) Audax bike and winter club run bike. No need to be able to take a rack, I'll get by with a bar bag or seatpack if necessary as will likely only be using this for <400k rides.
I've settled on Ti not because I think it's necessary or anything silly like that, but because It's a been a few years since I've had a Ti bike, and I miss it. I've got other steel and alu bikes as well so would be nice to have an alternative, and the paint/corrosion lack of worries is just a nice bonus, so lets just say I'm decided on Ti for my own reasons.
requirements are:
- Ti, because of above reasons
- Rim brake only, prefer DP but canti OK...
- 25mm with guards as an absolute minimum, but 28+ would be better. My Mercian can fit 32mm with guards and BR650 57mm drop brakes so I know it's possible ;-)
- threaded BB, no press-fit nonsense.
- 2x bottle cage mounts
- Mechanical routing, not Di2, and preferably externally routed cables but not a deal breaker
- under £1500 for a frame, ~£1000 or less would be even better!
Sizing wise I'm 5'7 with short legs so I'm a little awkward, On a traditional horizontal top tube bike I normally need ~50-52cm seat tube but 54cm top tube*, but I'm not a fan of the overly tall head tubes on some compact frames, so ~110-120mm head tube on anything that take external cups, ~130-140mm for integrated if it's sloping/compact geo. I'd also prefer something with <74deg seat angle if possible but can normally get by with a decent layback post.
Current list is:
- Spa Ti Audax
Probably current list leader, despite being the cheapest it looks nice (to me) from the ones I've seen in the flesh, geometry is right up my street and tyre clearance seems as good as it can be with DPs
- Dolan ADX
Looking good as decently priced, geo looks sensible and looks nice but I'm not sure tyre clearance is as good as it could be?
- Reilly Motive (can't work out if available frame only though?)
Only found online last night, looks lovely, no other knowledge yet..
- Van Nic Yukon (or maybe amazon?)
Kind of default choice? Yukon doesn't seem to have massive clearance though so possibly Amazon might be better choice?
- Sabbath September
Seems like a nice frame, but not really grabbing my attention over a VN or Spa, not sure why...
I'm not interested in anything from Lynsky, they don't seem to do it for me aesthetically and seem expensive by comparison to other options.
I'm also staying clear of Planet X, I simply don't trust them to be helpful if I have any warranty issue down the line.
I haven't ruled out Enigma but they seem a little pricey and seem to be moving towards discs for pretty much everything in their range.
Anything else I should be looking at or anyone got any glowing/scathing words about any of the above?
*although I do have a Singular Osprey which is much shorter TT and I fit it fine with a long stem and longer reach bars, but it's got a 60mm offset fork and slack head angle so a bit unconventional in other regards anyway.