The One Frame to Rule Them All? Best Pick for a Beginner Racer!

[alfiomotrambo]

Hey,
Looking for advice on picking a frame that's suitable for beginners but also decent enough to participate in a few races.

Basically, something reliable, versatile, and good enough that it solves like 80% of the usual doubts people have when buying their first serious frame.

What would you recommend? Budget more like 500 - 800

Thanks in advance for your tips!

[SillyMochi]

Hi, before you think about specific brands or manufacturers, you should decide on a rough geometry.

In the worlds of road bikes, those are mainly:

• Race bike: very aggressive geo, often with aero features "low and long" aka low stack and long reach
• Endurance bike: higher stack and shorter reach, makes for a more "relaxed" ride
• All-road bike: similar to and endurance bike but allows for (even) wider tires. Bit of a crossover to a gravel bike. Makes rides on rough terrain more comfortable

If you want to race (often), you might want to look into #1. However, the geometry can be uncomfortable, especially for beginners and if you lack general fitness and flexibility. You can practice (and get in shape) to be more comfortable on this type of bike but "comfort" is never a focus on these. They are meant to go around a track as fast as possible. Whether you are comfortable while doing so is not a top priority

#2 is a geometry that's usually more sensible for recreational riders. Especially, if you wanna do tours longer than 2-3h. That being said, I regularly do tours of 5-8h on a race bike as well. You are a bit more upright than on a race bike and - again depending on general fitness and flexibility - your body especially your back with be grateful for it. This doesn't mean you can't go fast or even race on these bikes. Many hobby racers do. You might just miss out on a few marginal gains. But in this class of racing, your general fitness and power will decide the race much more than a few watts saved by aero features.

#3 the "real" do-it-all bike. If you wanna take your road bike off the paved roads from time to time (aka light gravel riding), this might be something for you. Geometry is usually similar to the endurance bikes but they allow for a bit wider tires. You could even opt for 2 wheel sets: one for road riding/racing with fast tires and another one with wider gravel tires for your bike packing/gravel touring demands and added comfort and stability on uneven terrain.

I probably missed another "category" but I think those are the most common ones. And they aren't clearly defined. Frames overlap and might be in-between two categories. But these can help you decide what is most likely the best general fit for you.

Let me know if this was helpful or if you have further questions. Once you decided on a frame category, it makes more sense to look for a specific brand and model.

[Blueberry]

Have you bought direct-to-consumer frames before? I think it's important to go into it very ready for the fact that direct-to-consumer frames (from anywhere, not just Asia) can come with all kinds of issues and you have to know what to watch out for. I wanted to add this because when you say "beginner" I am not sure if you mean beginner to riding bikes, building them, or both. Maybe you have already done this but, if you don't have experience with carbon frames, I would recommend binging youtube videos from channels like Peak Torque, Hambini Engineering, and Trace Velo to get an idea of what to look out for, good and bad.

I've build several frames in the last 3 years or so and they have almost all had some sort of issue:
Onirii ONE: pretty good, just needed to file out some holes a tiny bit.
Ribble Endurance AL: Paint splattered in the bb threads and headset bearing cups, rear thru axle could not go in because the paint was too thick (LBS fixed it up for me)
ICAN Flyee: Front thru axle was cross threaded and the threads were damaged (tapping the threads solved it)
Salsa Journeyer: decent, but all the mounting points for bags and bottles had paint in them and needed to be tapped.
Winspace C5: big chip in the carbon in the bottom bracket, sent back to winspace to be exchanged (exchange process is still ongoing and is being handled wildly incompetently, its been a nightmare.)
Enve Melee: immaculate, which it darn better be for the price they charge for those.

All of these issues are solvable and I think it worth it to have a custom built bike at a more affordable price but it's easy for things to not go as planned!

[Serge_K]

the right frame for you is also a function of age, weight, height, saddle height, flexibility, roads you'll ride, how much optionality / capability you want in your bike (do you want the bike to clear 35C, for example, or is 32C enough - dont buy anything that doesnt clear 32C)

Currently, I like the Speeder 55, but i havent ridden it, and it costs more than a lot of alternatives. It's still within your budget though. I think it's pretty

[alfiomotrambo]

Hi, before you think about specific brands or manufacturers, you should decide on a rough geometry.

In the worlds of road bikes, those are mainly:

• Race bike: very aggressive geo, often with aero features "low and long" aka low stack and long reach
• Endurance bike: higher stack and shorter reach, makes for a more "relaxed" ride
• All-road bike: similar to and endurance bike but allows for (even) wider tires. Bit of a crossover to a gravel bike. Makes rides on rough terrain more comfortable

If you want to race (often), you might want to look into #1. However, the geometry can be uncomfortable, especially for beginners and if you lack general fitness and flexibility. You can practice (and get in shape) to be more comfortable on this type of bike but "comfort" is never a focus on these. They are meant to go around a track as fast as possible. Whether you are comfortable while doing so is not a top priority

#2 is a geometry that's usually more sensible for recreational riders. Especially, if you wanna do tours longer than 2-3h. That being said, I regularly do tours of 5-8h on a race bike as well. You are a bit more upright than on a race bike and - again depending on general fitness and flexibility - your body especially your back with be grateful for it. This doesn't mean you can't go fast or even race on these bikes. Many hobby racers do. You might just miss out on a few marginal gains. But in this class of racing, your general fitness and power will decide the race much more than a few watts saved by aero features.

#3 the "real" do-it-all bike. If you wanna take your road bike off the paved roads from time to time (aka light gravel riding), this might be something for you. Geometry is usually similar to the endurance bikes but they allow for a bit wider tires. You could even opt for 2 wheel sets: one for road riding/racing with fast tires and another one with wider gravel tires for your bike packing/gravel touring demands and added comfort and stability on uneven terrain.

I probably missed another "category" but I think those are the most common ones. And they aren't clearly defined. Frames overlap and might be in-between two categories. But these can help you decide what is most likely the best general fit for you.

Let me know if this was helpful or if you have further questions. Once you decided on a frame category, it makes more sense to look for a specific brand and model.

Hi! Thanks for the reply.

As far as geometry, I'm more used to the "race" type, I have good general flexibility and I've been cycling seriously for about a year, the intended use will mainly be 100+km races, do you have any frames in mind to recommend?
As for my size, I don't consider myself super light, 180cm (5.9ft) for 78kg (171 lb) but I'm working on lowering the weight a bit

[patliean1]

What frames have you personally researched thus far? And kindly give us your pros/cons/concerns of those frames.

This is much more efficient than us trying to shoot in the dark.

[alfiomotrambo]

What frames have you personally researched thus far? And kindly give us your pros/cons/concerns of those frames.

This is much more efficient than us trying to shoot in the dark.

Yooo!

For now I'm for these frames:

• Velobuild VB-177: Currently at €399 it seems like a great deal to me, a little undecided about the stiffness of the frame and how good it could be for racing use
• Spcycle R088: (or SL8) aesthetically I like it better, it also seems like a good compromise with an aerial frame, I saw that it is on offer on alix, slightly more expensive than 177
• ICAN FL1: aesthetically very nice but more similar to aethos, I would use it less uphill

Opinions on the choices and any advice?

[patliean1]

"Race geometry" is such an overused marketing term for the purpose of attracting consumers who probably will never race. My dream cars are a Porsche GT3 RS in Arctic Grey paint and a Nissan Silvia S15. I'd probably do some hot laps around a circuit, but would never actually race if I ever had the budget for either. So the marketing clearly works.

Any bike is a race bike if used for racing. Like @Serge_K said geometry is subjective and very much rider specific. One thing that does not get discussed enough in here is the tangible robustness of any given frame. A good fitting frame is useless if it can't withstand the punishment of racing. Potential crashes, bad pavement at 30mph/50kph, repeated sprints, transportation abuse. That stuff can wreck havoc on frames.

I would not be racing on any frame that doesn't at least come from a OEM supplier. Or at least OEM adjacent.

-Speeder
-Light Carbon / Yishun
-ICAN
-Longteng
-Secondhand Allez Sprint disc

I know that Tavelo is out of the budget, and you can most likely get very close to a similar experience with Speeder. But I cannot recommend the Tavelo Arow enough. It competes with my Giant Propel.

[SillyMochi]

I disagree. I actually rather race on a "cheap frame" than on an expensive one. If you crash hard on any carbon frame, you should replace it - no matter if it's an expensive brand or a cheap one.

Did several "hobby races" last season on my VB268. Didn't win anything but the frame surely was the last thing to blame for the outcome