Originally Posted by
seedsbelize
Anxiously awaiting your thoughts on the breakaway. I've been thinking of getting one myself. Vacillating between that and s and s couplers.
Were you thinking of getting the Road or Cross model? Being used to riding fairly racy 80s road bikes almost exclusively, I'm perhaps preoccupied in my first impressions with some of the 'cross' characteristics (and should also note that I have no S&S experience upon which to base comparison there)...
I've only had the chance to ride it on the short jaunt pictured in this thread (where it did very decently over some varied terrain) and for 6 or 10 miles of pavement back here in Vancouver yesterday. The main triangle is constructed with quite a light gauge tubing, whereas the stays are quite beefy (not in terms of diameter, but solid); I was relieved, as a big guy at 6'2 1/2" and over 250lbs, to find that it hasn't so far given the impression of being inordinately flexy.
Geo on the 60cm model suits me very well. I thought about buying a size smaller, but suspect that would have been a problem in terms head tube length and implications for saddle-to-bar drop. I do notice the high BB, which has obvious advantages (including the fact that a hanging toe clip stays off the pavement when I miss the flip at a stoplight
, though more pertinently keeping everything above the fray over rough stuff) - might prefer the Road version w/lower BB and shorter wheelbase if exclusively riding on pavement, but this one is much more versatile. In that vein, I will note that the nominal 33mm Clement LAS tires I have on, measuring almost 37mm fully inflated, are about as wide as the Breakaway will accommodate (with the chainstays being the point of limitation - you could put a bigger tire up front on the Comp Carbon fork, as some 'cross folks like to do). Good enough for my purposes. Can always swap wheels/tires for different applications (noticeably quicker with road slicks, of course).
Simple to break down and assemble. Clever design, and the quick-detachment cable setup makes this aspect of things a cinch. It fits in the Ritchey-designed suitcase, which is easy to wheel around and looks like it would provide adequate protection for airline travel if you pack carefully and make liberal use of foam pipe insulation in addition to the provided pads. Plenty convenient traveling by ferry and bus from the Olympic Peninsula to Vancouver via Vancouver Island this week.
I will definitely be making use of the fender eyelets and rear rack mount, big pluses for the Cross model given my plans. I may also swap the carbon fork for an All-City Nature Boy steel one for actual travel, saving the carbon one from getting marred/nicked up as is probably inevitable when journeying. With the carbon one, and a relatively heavy Selle Anatomica saddle, the bike is about 23lbs fully built with solid 36h rims (Mavic A719s at ~560g), STIs, compact double, and wide range 10sp cassette.
I'd be happy to share further thoughts when I've had a bit more time in the saddle on this one, but my first impressions are good. Fairly relaxed geo drop bar bike with a relatively (but not terribly) high BB and lots of nice features that lend themselves to varied use as passable roadie, capable commuter, light tourer, awesome gravel bike, or for-real 'crosser (though I'm no competitive type) - and it happens to fit in a suitcase for convenience. Pretty much as advertised. And, IMHO, it's a pretty slick looking rig, too (perhaps even to the point that a more low-key alternative might be preferable depending on where one might be leaving the bike unattended):
