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Help me find a crit/backup/rain bike frame

1K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Dopamine 
#1 ·
So I've only got one road bike right now - a Lynskey R340 that I bought two years ago, swapped the Ultegra 6700 group from old bike on to it as well. Enve 2.0 fork. It's a great, great bike, best I've ever ridden. I'm not going to race it though, because I don't want to destroy it.

I'm kind of fat now and getting back into riding a lot as I'm just finishing night school, and I do intend to start racing again once I'm skinny again. So I want to put together a budget bike that I won't cry when it inevitably gets rashed up in a race when the inevitable pile-up happens right in front of me.

I already bought a new Ultegra 6800 group which I'm going to swap onto my Lynskey next week after finals. So I've got a full Ultegra 6700 group to use for this backup bike, and a set of my old standby wheels - Ultegra hubs on Mavic Open Pros, 32 3 cross bomb proof cheap to repair.

SO, frame recommendations please. I have two absolute requirements: the frame MUST use a traditional threaded bottom bracket shell and it MUST take a traditional cupped headset - none of that integrated crap, I hate it. Had the integrated garbage on a Wilier I used to have and it creaked and popped constantly.

With all this said, I'm leaning toward a steel Gunnar Roadie. They're about $950 new. However, if any of you know of any aluminum or carbon frames around that price point I'm fine with that as well - I'm just having trouble finding any that don't have crap integrated headsets or crap press fit bottom brackets. And I don't want to get into a debate about those things either - in my experience they creak and pop and I don't like them, won't use them again.
 
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#3 ·
I'd suggest you buy an entry level Lynskey (Rouleur) or a Caad10.
If you are getting into racing the last thing you want is a carbon frame. If something happens to the Lynskey you can send it back for repairs, chances are it will shrug off a pile up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0eP-6j8d6s
 
#9 ·
If you are leaning towards a Gunnar Roadie, you can save some $$ by checking out the Soma Smoothie. Same frame geo, might be different kind of steel. Make in Taiwan rather than Wisconsin. Probably around $400 for frame.

Or look for a used Lynskey Cooper frame. It's their entry level race frame from 2010-2013.
 
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