Winter Frame
Author
Discussion

McFsC

Original Poster:

578 posts

181 months

Saturday 2nd August 2014
quotequote all
What road bike frame is best for winter? Must have mud-guard eye-lets, be fairly racey and cheap. Alloy with carbon forks or full alloy is fine.

What are you riding?

anonymous-user

83 months

Saturday 2nd August 2014
quotequote all
The blue HTT Ribble audax frame is very popular and meets all your reqts but there are loads of alternatives like Tifosi CK5 or 7 (scroll right down to the bottom of the page!) and some own Paul Milnes frames from his ebay shop or maybe one of these?

Planet X have some dirt cheap (£49!) Sab frames at the moment but it doesnt have mudguard mounts, also check out the Dolan Preffiso which would probably be my choice.


Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 2nd August 19:52

okgo

42,127 posts

227 months

Saturday 2nd August 2014
quotequote all
Race bike with st wheels. Why train on a bike different to the one you're gunna race on...?

Worst that can happen is that you need a few consumables to get it set for racing again but, at
Worst it's couple hundred quid.

anonymous-user

83 months

Saturday 2nd August 2014
quotequote all
or that, we do get quite precocious over these things sometimes!. I only have one road bike so it gets ridden throughout the winter, I'm just a bit better at cleaning and lubing it in the winter but then I dont really think that training on one bike and racing on another is all that big a deal for most people.

Dammit

3,816 posts

237 months

Saturday 2nd August 2014
quotequote all
Belt drive, Alfine, disc brakes and mudguards. Find a frame for those -and that takes big tyres - and wallop.

cramman

659 posts

224 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
I've been using a Scott cyclo cross bike the last few years. It's purely a winter hack and doesn't get looked after at all.

It's standing up brilliantly. I find the frame isn't really the problem, it's the other bits that need to be looked after.

When it comes to it I'll probably replace it with another cyclo cross bike but would try one with disk brakes for the crap weather.

McFsC

Original Poster:

578 posts

181 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
How do you get guards ( I mean guards, not bits of plastic ) on your race bike?

Guards,
Lights,
Position,
Crashes,
Unseen pot holes,

all reasons for me to get a winter bike, and I just don't have to clean it 3 times a week like I would if I rode my summer/race bike.

okgo

42,127 posts

227 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
McFsC said:
How do you get guards ( I mean guards, not bits of plastic ) on your race bike?

Guards,
Lights,
Position,
Crashes,
Unseen pot holes,

all reasons for me to get a winter bike, and I just don't have to clean it 3 times a week like I would if I rode my summer/race bike.
Can get race blades to fit any frame. But I don't bother, it doesn't actually rain 'that' much down south, if the weather is awful I wouldn't go out regardless of bike. Turbo.

Lights obvious.
Position - train and race in the same one. Anything else makes no sense.
As above, don't go out if icey.


Those blue ribble things seem popular if you do want to do it on the cheap.

Dammit

3,816 posts

237 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
I've got a lot of time for this, Rob English's personal winter training bike:



Part of the rational behind our Path Racer was that it could, very simply, take an Alfine hub and a belt-drive.





A disc-braked front end is a fork-swap away, although road-disc forks with mudguard tabs are few and farbetween that said.

964Cup

1,626 posts

266 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
No they aren't. Kinesis, if you want carbon. Genesis if you want steel. (Assuming a straight steerer).

I do like the look of the Talbot frames, though.

Dammit

3,816 posts

237 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
Got a link to the Kinesis fork? The one used on the Talbot is a Kinesis DC21 due to it being able to take a 25c tyre, a mudguard, and a short-drop caliper.

McFsC

Original Poster:

578 posts

181 months

Sunday 3rd August 2014
quotequote all
For group rides, proper guards are a must... Lights won't fit round my aero seat post.

For a few hundred quid a winter bike is a must for me, tuesday night, been wet/damp. The last thing I would want to be doing is flinging my summer bike away till the weekend... A winter bike, well...


Matt_N

9,035 posts

231 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
Rightly or wrongly many clubs frown upon non guarded wheels in winter. it's not much fun riding in a group eating the rooster tails from the guy in front.

I've got an old italian steel framed winter hack with full guard mounts, geometry matches my Colnago Master perfectly and is only a few mm out from the Tarmac.


thiscocks

3,398 posts

224 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
okgo said:
Can get race blades to fit any frame. But I don't bother, it doesn't actually rain 'that' much down south, if the weather is awful I wouldn't go out regardless of bike. Turbo.

Lights obvious.
Position - train and race in the same one. Anything else makes no sense.
As above, don't go out if icey.


Those blue ribble things seem popular if you do want to do it on the cheap.
So if you train on a slightly different bike its not worth it!? As long as you have roughly the same saddle height it will be fine. Id much rather have 2 or 3 bikes. One for the ste British winter / spring with proper guards on (not race blades)that you dont have to worry about washing too much and a best one for summer.

okgo

42,127 posts

227 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
McFsC said:
For group rides, proper guards are a must... Lights won't fit round my aero seat post.

For a few hundred quid a winter bike is a must for me, tuesday night, been wet/damp. The last thing I would want to be doing is flinging my summer bike away till the weekend... A winter bike, well...
Lights will fit. Any basic cateye fits round my cervelo aero post.

@ thiscocks - I was refrencing people that race, doesn't matter if you don't so much. But I want all adaption to be in the exact position I will race in.

thiscocks

3,398 posts

224 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
okgo said:
Lights will fit. Any basic cateye fits round my cervelo aero post.

@ thiscocks - I was refrencing people that race, doesn't matter if you don't so much. But I want all adaption to be in the exact position I will race in.
I race. I dont really see how it makes any difference. Many others that race will have several different bikes. Its personal preference whether you want to ride one bike all year.

okgo

42,127 posts

227 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
thiscocks said:
I race. I dont really see how it makes any difference. Many others that race will have several different bikes. Its personal preference whether you want to ride one bike all year.
It doesn't matter if you can mimic the position, no.. I have a single speed bike which has the exact same measurements, which is fine.

TheLemming

4,319 posts

294 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
The other consideration for riding year round is sheer cost.

I bought a Boardman CX as a winter road bike - putting in the wear and tear of a couple of thousand miles of ste weather winter destroys drivetrains.
Add in the crash I had on Ice in December - the repairs for that cost me 50 quid on the CX - new rear mech, mech hangar, chain, trued a wheel. I did more financial damage chewing up my biblongs.

I bought it to abuse, it's taken all the abuse I can dish out and is still going strong.

If I'd had that crash on my Carbon road bike with Dura Ace deep sections - it would have been a VERY expensive morning.

Rocksteadyeddie

7,971 posts

256 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
Worth getting a winter bike with full guards, proper wheels etc IMHO. It'll be far more pleasant to ride than some cobbled together halfway house with race blades on it. Therefore you'll ride more which is what we're all here for thumbup

okgo

42,127 posts

227 months

Monday 4th August 2014
quotequote all
Rocksteadyeddie said:
Worth getting a winter bike with full guards, proper wheels etc IMHO. It'll be far more pleasant to ride than some cobbled together halfway house with race blades on it. Therefore you'll ride more which is what we're all here for thumbup
Race blades are as proper any anything out there imo. I don't mean those wk plastic things from crud.