Author Topic: Any guidance on how to select a road frame  (Read 2174 times)

mux

Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« on: May 28, 2024, 03:50:30 PM »
Hey everyone,

I know these types of posts aren't everyone's favorite, but I could really use some help avoiding decision paralysis.

I've been riding a Triban RC520 for the past few years and have made a bunch of upgrades, like a new wheelset, changes to the bottom bracket, shorter crank arms, seat post, seat, and cassette, and switching to conti gp500 tires with cyclami TPU. Even with all these changes, the bike still feels super heavy, and I think it's time for an upgrade. 

My daily training rides usually involve around 250m in elevation and cover a distance of 27km.

Any suggestions for a new frame would be greatly appreciated, feel free to also PM if that's easier. I'm definitely budget oriented, so I'd like to keep the frame under 700$. I purchased the Triban RC520 in a size medium, but given my height of 5'8", I'm between sizes, and I should've gone for the small.


Frames I've seen around these forums:
Velobuild R265
Yishun R1058/Light carbon Light carbon LCR017-D
R1058
Yishun R086D


I'm not exactly sure what to look for when searching for frames, other than weight and overall geometry, but I don't have much experience so I've just  been comparing with bike geometry/insights and they all look within range of what would work for me?




rasch

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2024, 04:57:45 PM »
I'm not sure you can reuse the wheels.
If I'm not mistaken your brakes are also not hydraulic which makes it not so suitable for integrated handlebars.
That budget will only fit velobuild if you take shipping into consideration. But you'll need to add the bottom bracket, probably handlebar tape, new cables and etc etc. People talk ok about their 268. Try it or check the 2nd hand market around.

Did you take off all your spacers? Lowered the stem (potentially inverting it)? This will make u faster than switching frame due to aerodynamics. Triban is honestly not bad at all for what it is


mux

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2024, 01:13:16 AM »
I'm considering a budget of $700 USD for the frame alone. Are there any options in this price range other than Velobuild? I've also seen the Hyggee frames selling for a bit less than that, but I believe the Velobuild quality control might be better.

I plan to repurpose my Mavic Krysium wheelset that I've used on the Triban until I save up for a carbon wheelset. As for the groupset, I'm thinking of going with the Wheeltop EDS-TX.

I haven't budgeted our the rest of the build or components, as I wanted to start from a frame and go from there.

mux

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2024, 01:44:19 AM »
VeloBuild  268  in size Medium seems like it would be a good option coming at under my budget.
I compared also the Hyggee but the Velobuild seems to be a higher QC frame

Serge_K

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2024, 04:14:15 AM »
I guess it would be pretty straightforward to create a questionnaire that would fill in a simple database with important metrics. Without knowing your age, weight, measurements, flexibility and so on, we're shooting in the dark, as you didn't write much in way of context.
The Triban RC520 is pretty crap, it's not just in your head.
Assuming you're young enough, either flexible or willing to get flexible enough (not that hard), i dont think you need to overthink it too much, the VB 268 will probably be life changing, and you dont need to spend more, especially if you order it black. To customize, you can get decals cut locally (or via aliexpress) for cheap, it's a good way to save 100 usd.
Given your budget, you should assume you'll be your own mechanic going fwd, because labour cost post inflation & now that bikes are fully integrated can double the cost of the bike in a few visits to the LBS... You'll also learn a ton.
Expect to start with all the spacers on the 268, because that decathlon bike has a VERY relaxed geometry. Then you may find yourself removing spacers over time, which will mechanically go faster on the flat. From this perspective, make sure to buy a cockpit that allows to have spacers above the stem, otherwise you'd have to cut the steerer every time, which is a disaster. It would also be pretty smart to get a bar & stem vs cockpit, because you may also want to change stems.
From a bike fit standpoint, given the uncertainty, you would benefit from a bike that is NOT fully integrated, to allow making changes more easily.
Changing anything on a fully integrated bike is absolutely miserable.
The best bike is a comfortable one that fits you.


Fast on the flat. And nowhere else.

Takiyaki

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2024, 06:04:17 AM »
There are a lot of frames in that price range so you have to figure out what you want out of a frame to help narrow things down. Why do you want to move on from the Triban? What do you like about it that you want to keep in the next bike?

Plus bear in mind with DTC frames a lot of it is a crap shoot. Yea you can read reviews and the like but you don't really know how the bike will ride until you build it. But you can steer things one way or another with different choices. Aero? Climber? Endurance? Light gravel? All-arounder? What kind of geometry are you looking for? I think once you get those basic questions answered you will have a direction that makes recommendations easier and more useful.

fiveup89

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2024, 09:20:45 AM »

Frames I've seen around these forums:
Velobuild R265
Yishun R1058/Light carbon Light carbon LCR017-D
R1058
Yishun R086D


I can comment on the Yishunbike R1058D which I've build up over the winter. Meanwhile I did 2k on the bike and it performes really really nice. As I am not the lightest one with 95kg even in my sprint sessions with ~1400Watts the bike appears stable and without massive flex in all relevant areas.

So, in case you think about buying from Yishun, I had not at all issues regarding QC weither with the frameset nor with their wheelset. ;)


current build: Yoeleo G21 - SRAM Force
upcoming: Yishun R1058-D - SRAM Red

mux

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2024, 11:30:22 AM »
I guess it would be pretty straightforward to create a questionnaire that would fill in a simple database with important metrics. Without knowing your age, weight, measurements, flexibility and so on, we're shooting in the dark, as you didn't write much in way of context.
The Triban RC520 is pretty crap, it's not just in your head.
Assuming you're young enough, either flexible or willing to get flexible enough (not that hard), i dont think you need to overthink it too much, the VB 268 will probably be life changing, and you dont need to spend more, especially if you order it black. To customize, you can get decals cut locally (or via aliexpress) for cheap, it's a good way to save 100 usd.
Given your budget, you should assume you'll be your own mechanic going fwd, because labour cost post inflation & now that bikes are fully integrated can double the cost of the bike in a few visits to the LBS... You'll also learn a ton.
Expect to start with all the spacers on the 268, because that decathlon bike has a VERY relaxed geometry. Then you may find yourself removing spacers over time, which will mechanically go faster on the flat. From this perspective, make sure to buy a cockpit that allows to have spacers above the stem, otherwise you'd have to cut the steerer every time, which is a disaster. It would also be pretty smart to get a bar & stem vs cockpit, because you may also want to change stems.
From a bike fit standpoint, given the uncertainty, you would benefit from a bike that is NOT fully integrated, to allow making changes more easily.
Changing anything on a fully integrated bike is absolutely miserable.
The best bike is a comfortable one that fits you.

Thanks for the critical feedback. I should have known better to include more details on "myself". Regarding the Triban I have drop down a spacer or two since I purchased the bike and I am conscious of trying to ride in the drops as much as possible.
33M, very flexible, 75kg/165lb, 5'8", inseam  31".

The thing I am MOST excited about is building this bike out myself. I've done all the mechanics on my current Triban and my old Fixie bike, including the upgrades listed in the OP. I'm not at all concerned about building this one out, except for the integrated wiring and integrated cockpit. The integrated cockpit sounds the most frustrating if I need to change things.
Definitely wanting to keep this build far under 2k, we will see how close I get, but I need to start from a specific frame and build things out from there.





mux

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2024, 11:41:55 AM »
Here's I think where I am (I'm considering a size 54 in all of these frames)

Velobuild 268  more aggressive
Lightcarbon LCR 017  similar but slightly longer stack (7mm, so marginal)
TanTan X38  longest stack by 20mm over the Velobuild 268

I feel like any of these options above would be a great frame to move on from my Triban?

Upon further study I'm thinking:
Velobuild vb-r-268
sp-cycle sp-R065 
« Last Edit: May 29, 2024, 02:26:05 PM by mux »

Serge_K

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2024, 04:02:47 AM »
Makes sense. Avoid the tantan indeed.
All else equal, i'd rather you pick the SP cycle because there are probably 20 VB reviews for every SP cycle review on here, so it'd be good to mix things up a bit.
When you get quotes on the SP cycle, you will probably see lots of sellers with the same mold. I assume it's an open mould. But it's confusing because you can have the factory, the client facing brand, and the aliexpress shop have 3 different names, if not 5. Tideace / Haideli (HDL) / SP cycle seem to be the same / sell the same frames. Falcon sports, Disai, you may find on AliX, same frames.
In fact, if you happen to make sense of it during your research, please enlighten us :)

Fast on the flat. And nowhere else.

mux

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2024, 05:11:19 PM »
Thanks the input

What about something like the ICAN FL1 (Aethos clone) instead of the R065

I'm new to geometry comparisons etc. But it seems like the Aethos might be a more of an all -rounder? However in fairness their stack/reach are essentially identical.

I'm potentially worried the SPCycle R065 might be too aggressive or maybe I'm just hesitant

https://geometrygeeks.bike/compare/velobuild-vb-r-268-2024-54,spcycle-sp-r065-2024-m,triban-rc520-2019-s,triban-rc520-2019-m,specialized-aethos-2024-54/

 

beemerchie

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2024, 09:45:55 AM »
i dont know if this will help but get the SPCycle R065 or any model that has beefer bottom bracket... the difference on the stiffness will be immense...

Unsworn5836

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2024, 12:52:08 AM »
VeloBuild  268  in size Medium seems like it would be a good option coming at under my budget.
I compared also the Hyggee but the Velobuild seems to be a higher QC frame
If VB did improve their QC then they started to have one now.
My 168 is ok for the price but nothing more.
Paint job is with drops, fork was repainted. Seat tube is not aligned, so you need to add some material inside or it twists while tightening. Steerer tube also is not perfectly parallel, front 0,2 mm space back 0,5 mm. But again, ist was 750€ incl paintjob, and stem allinone handlebar. Don’t expect too much QC ;)

Takiyaki

Re: Any guidance on how to select a road frame
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2024, 04:39:17 AM »
To be honest it's a bit of a crapshoot. Main thing is figuring out your fit. Then getting a frame with appropriate geometry (with changes to address any fit issues you have). And from there it's all fun and games. I would honestly just go with whatever frame fits well and looks cool to you. Only tip I would offer... personally I still don't trust proprietary seatposts, so go with something that has a regular round one. Beyond that it's up to you.

If I had time I would love to set up some kind of Chinese bike database. To a degree I guess that's what this site is.