Reasonably priced gravel steel frame?

Weepsie

In 5'11 / 181cm and a medium in both my Genesis bikes. Only reason the CdF is a bit small is the seized seatpost

CantGetNoSleep

Croix de Fer is hopefully arriving Monday or Tuesday.

Will build it up with 105 in the beginning & an FSA 48-32 chainset. May change to GRX 1x eventually (although will keep the 105 shifters and calipers)

Looking for recommendations for wheels and a new gravel handlebar too. Currently toying between DT Swiss G1800 and Hunt 4 Season for the wheelset. No idea for the bars, first gravel but the one I have feels too narrow

CantGetNoSleep

Frame is here but I've run into my first problem - even though both frames are BSA BB, the old FSA cranks are 19mm so won't fit the new BB.

Want to get up and running by Christmas so it is either find a GRX 1x crank & long cage derailleur locally, or find a new 105 crankset (which would be easier but won't give me the gearing I'd like)

Would there be any harm in going with a 170mm crankset when I'm used to 172.5?

cletus

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Frame is here but I've run into my first problem - even though both frames are BSA BB, the old FSA cranks are 19mm so won't fit the new BB.

Want to get up and running by Christmas so it is either find a GRX 1x crank & long cage derailleur locally, or find a new 105 crankset (which would be easier but won't give me the gearing I'd like)

Would there be any harm in going with a 170mm crankset when I'm used to 172.5?

I'd imagine you'd find it hard to notice a 2.5 mm difference. You could always raise saddle height a commensurate amount

John Hutton

Doubt you'd notice it with the right adjustment. Shorter cranks might be an advantage on a gravel bike too

CantGetNoSleep

Thanks for the replies.

I now have a beautiful bike shaped object but I've reached as far as I can without picking up a few bits.

Found a GRX600 46/30 crank an hour and a half drive away so I'm off to get that first thing in the morning. First day of my Christmas holidays so need to use it productively.

Aside from that the only two challenges I'm seeing is that the fork needs to be cut. Usually I don't cut the steerer tubes on my bikes and just leave two or three spacers (and this is what I'm going to do here at least until I've tried out the size a bit, but this is far too long. Don't have a saw in the house so will need to figure this one out, it's a steel fork so might not be the easiest to cut down.

I also need a Shimano screw for the rear disc brake and not sure where I will manage to find this (one of the bolts goes into the caliper so you need the right size for the frame + 160mm adapter)

I've left the cables and hoses attached to the bars from my previous build. If I'm lucky they will fit so I won't need to go near the shifters (especially for the hoses, i'll just fit a new barb and olive where it attaches to the caliper and do a bleed)

Alek

If you can avoid it, for the time being, don't cut the steerer. I've regretted it every single time, after some time.... Recently was when I wanted to set up a properly flared drop bar (Genetic Digest) that requires exactly that extra bit of the steerer that I removed.

And if it's long enough, stick a spare donut on it and ride away :P

I also need a Shimano screw for the rear disc brake and not sure where I will manage to find this (one of the bolts goes into the caliper so you need the right size for the frame + 160mm adapter)

If you tell me the length you need, I may find one in my skip bin and send over to you.

CantGetNoSleep

Alek wrote: »

If you can avoid it, for the time being, don't cut the steerer. I've regretted it every single time, after some time.... Recently was when I wanted to set up a properly flared drop bar (Genetic Digest) that requires exactly that extra bit of the steerer that I removed.

And if it's long enough, stick a spare donut on it and ride away :P



If you tell me the length you need, I may find one in my skip bin and send over to you.

On the steerer, I'm planning to cut it but still leave enough space for the five spacers that came with it for now. At the moment there is 12cm of steerer left above the headset. Do you think I'd need even more?

Thank you for your kind offer on the bolt, I am abroad though so with the current mess of shipping I will try to find one locally. Appreciate it though

Alek

12 cm is not that much, usually the stem takes 4-5cm with plus a couple of spacers underneath... If it's sticking out 3-4cm now, I'd leave it and wait a month or so to decide if its really needed or not. It will hurt eyes though

CantGetNoSleep

Yeah needs about 5cm off even with the five spacers. I don't have the tools to cut it so I've no choice for now. But I've a local "bike doctor" coming tomorrow to fit a set of mudguards on another bike (I gave up) so might get him to do it.

I'm off to look for the bolts for my rear caliper then I have a fully built bike. Just need to connect up the hoses and cables - and fit a set of tubeless tires to the DT Swiss wheels I picked up on the bargain alerts thread

CantGetNoSleep

Here she is, still need to connect up cables and hoses but not far off being rideable. Quite happy with how it turned out.

Still need to swap out the wheels, not sure if I will go for DT Swiss (GR1600 or G1800) or Hunt

[IMG][/img]https://imgur.com/a/PyobF5f

cletus

Looks good, man. Well wear

Alek

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Here she is, still need to connect up cables and hoses but not far off being rideable. Quite happy with how it turned out.

Still need to swap out the wheels, not sure if I will go for DT Swiss (GR1600 or G1800) or Hunt

[IMG][/img]https://imgur.com/a/PyobF5f

Aah, a beauty in this paint scheme + tan walls!

(you're right, chop that steerer, its a health and safety issue the way it is now :P)

CantGetNoSleep

I finally finished this, although I'm still waiting for my gravel wheels and don't have a pair of MTB shoes at the moment so it is in road mode for the moment (well I didn't really finish it, I got lazy over Christmas and dropped it over to a mechanic to finish it for me).

Quite happy with how it turned out and the overall weight though (10.6kg without pedals so not much more than the alu Ridley from the first post). Depending on how it gets used (I have a good bike and a winter bike) I may swap out the fork for carbon if I ever see the Genesis fork on sale which would knock a kilo off.

Excluding wheels (which I already had and I've bought the gravel wheels with a voucher, and labour, it cost me 1300€ so I am quite happy with that). I had cancelled a titanium gravel bike from Decathlon to save money so made a decent saving in the end.

I'm right at the top of the advised sizing for an M for Genesis and I find this bike big. I'd advise checking out in person if possible if anyone else is thinking of one

https://imgur.com/a/CdMSjQN

cletus

Looks lovely. I especially like the colour. Well wear

Alek

Great looking build! I remember I got approx. the same weight with my 2014 CdF on the 5700 105 groupset and Hy/RD brakes. Well wear!

John Hutton

John Hutton wrote: »

Have you looked at Spacycles? They make good steel frames and are nice to deal with, dunno what impact brexit will have though

https://spacycles.co.uk/m11b0s143p4590/SPA-CYCLES-Elan-725-Frame-and-Forks

Well the impact is that they no longer sell or deliver to the EU.