Originally Posted by
Hiro11
The fork is steel and likely plenty strong for discs. I like the reverse entry drop outs, that's a good idea with discs.
This looks like a very compelling bike for $1k. If you're looking for a steel gravel bike with huge tire clearance it's going to be really tough to beat at that price. I also like that it has a full set of rack and fender mounts making the bike that much more versatile.
A few fairly minor reservations:
- It's not going to be a cross race bike and it's likely pretty heavy. 520 is heavy stuff.
- Cable discs + QR = a bit of a pain to refit the wheels without disc rub.
- I have a bike with those wheels (Turino Pro) and the Joytech hubs are, in a word, crap. Lots of LBS brand bikes use them too so this isn't a knock on BD. But they are crap.
- WTB Nano tires have fairly high rolling resistance on pavement when compared to some other tires. Great for rough gravel though and they work well tubeless.
- That Biomax bar is really weird. I actually like it but it's not for everyone. There's a reason Ritchey stopped making them years ago.
Great observations, thanks. For $1699, they have a similar Ti framed bike that is open for preorder which will have thru axles and presumably a lighter frame, but again, not sure how big of a priority those things are for me personally.
Another reservation is that BD says clearance for up to 45mm tires (a statement they seem to make for several bikes having a variety of different frames). That's about the minimum I want...so if it means any 45mm tire and still room for mud, that's great. If it means there exists a few 45mm slicks that won't rub when the bike is in the bike stand, I'm not so sure.
Hiro11, I think you're turino pro is one of those bikes BD says will clear 45mm tires. Does that seem accurate?