I'm thinking about adding a road bike to my stable and have a few criteria in mind, so I'm just starting to gather data and look at options.

1. Pretty sure I want to go with Disc brakes, why because I love them on my Mtn Bikes.
2. Want some that is an "Endurance/Sportive" bike
3. Can fit at least a 25mm tire, but would like to fit a 28mm if possible.
4. Will most likely go traditional cable controlled Ultegra groupo.

What I have found already.

I'm pretty sure I need to be on a 56cm frame, I tested a Cannondale Synapse, which had a relatively good fit, and a BMC Gran Fondo, which would need a lot of adjustment to fit, although I like the BMC bars.

So looking at geometry, nothing quite lines up to the Cannondale for dimensions, or at least that I can find.

Looking at a good blog, there are a couple choices, but not sure on them..
http://snakesthatbite.blogspot.com/2013/10/disc-brake-road-bike-part-1-frame.html

So what do people know or say about the options?

All depends on location, trail type, bike, etc...

On my full rigid 057 that I'm using for my "race bike" in San Diego, I'm using Rocket Ron 2.35 on the front at 25psi, on the rear is a Thunder Burt 2.1, also at 25psi.  The TB wears fast, but grips like nobodies business on all types of terrain.  It helps the bike climb up anything.  The RORO up front works very well also.  I did get a puncture the second ride because I was to heavy on the bars over a rock, but since then, have no reliability issues.

On my Santa Cruz Tallboy LT, I'm running, Maxxis High Roller on the front and Maxxis Ardent on the back, for a little mkre All MTN type performance.  Overall they work great, with the exception of the front washing out while landing a jump the other day.  Not sure the details, but lost the front and I bit it pretty hard.  I think it was rider error more than tire issues.

Oceanside, Ca ( North end of San Diego County)

How about a cyclocross bike??  That would be the fastest on road and hard pack.  Would make things much more interesting offroad.

Is it just me or is the XMIPLAY site down?

Yeah, original calculations should have had it at 18.5, but almost every part was overweight, especially the wheels and frame.   I know I could get a full pound out of the wheels, but Im 220, so a light wheel set would scare me....

I'm not complaining about the weight, as I know it could be lighter, but many of the uber light parts carry a rider weight limit that Ill never be under, so a 19.5lb bike for a 220lb rider is pretty damn good in my mind, especially when I still go ride with my "All-Mtn" friends on this bike.

I've put some mileage on this bike now, not huge numbers, probably a couple hundred miles, including several night rides and a couple races at night.

So far everything is holding together fine, I recently thought I had a crack starting on the fork, but it appears to just be a scratch.  I was cleaning it and didn't notice a metal shaving in the microfiber towel until the first swipe, but it's only 1 small scratch on the front of the fork.

Whenever I come across new people they always stop to check it out and ask questions, even the guys from a new local bike shop who were all riding similarly equiped Specialized, they even took a few photos to post.

I do think I need to true the wheels, but I started to one night and the spokes started to rotate with the nipple, so I stopped there until I felt more ambitious.

As far as riding, this thing is so fast up hills, never feels like I need more gear than the 32/42, I have run out of energy before I ran out of gear.  Places I've stopped, even if I had a smaller gear I wouldn't have gone any further.  Going downhill, sometimes gets interesting, I did a ride recently and followed a guy on a full suspension bike down a pretty gnarly section, I was quite a bit slower, but still followed down.  It was mainly a poor call because there was a smoother line, but required commitment at the start as the lines were seperated by boulders or shrubbery (don't recall).  The only on trail issue I've had with the bike happened a little after this on another section of rocky downhill.  The bar clamp slipped causing the bar to rotate downwards, nothing broke, and I actually found a better bar position after this, so no harm no foul.

Couple things I've added have been titanium bolts pretty much everyplace except the seat clamp hardware.

Rotor bolts, caliper bolts, brake lever clamp, stem bolts, aluminum bottle cage bolts, uber light stem cap/bolt.

All told I think I spent about $70 on hardware and saved about 60 grams.

Here's a couple pics of those parts.

Old Stem cap


New Cap


Brake Pad locator pins


I was suprised at how light the new ones were

My LBS is now carrying Borealis and if I didn't know better (I don't) I would swear that it's being made in the same factory as the XMIPlay stuff.  Almost the entire bike looks like a slightly enlarged 057.  The front triangle looks almost identical with the exception of the BB being fatter, the lower chain stays even look to be identical, just wider.  The only place that looks different are the seat stays, which look like a copy of a Specialized.

Had a discussion with one of the guys at the shop because I said it looks almost identical to my frame sourced directly from China, and he swears it's made in Canada or someplace in the midwest.

http://www.borealisbikes.com/bike/yampa

While I'm not in the market for a Fat Bike, I'm just posting to start a discussion.