After an agonizing two month wait, my Waterford frame has arrived. It was built up today and I just rode it for the first time this evening.
BACKGROUND
I was in the market for the ultimate commuter bike, a perfect all-around ride. I ride every day and I wanted something that fit me just right. At 6'4" with some odd proportions, standard geometries left me reaching across a long top tube. My wife and I are selling our car and both bought new bicycles (although I think I got the better end of the deal to her Volpe). My main requirements were disc brakes for wet Seattle winters, a lugged frame, 177.5mm road cranks/gearing, and mounting options for fenders, racks, etc. I wanted something strong and bombproof that required very little wet weather maintenance but was still fun and lively on a weekend ride or solid enough for a light to moderately loaded tour.
COMPONENTS
Frame: Waterford custom based on their RST-22 geometry. The frame is their lugged OS frameset. As for my colors, I went with lug masking. Black metallic on the TT, HT, ST, downtube and fork, and charcoal gray metallic on the lugs and stays.
- Vicious XC disc fork
- Shimano road disc brakes – BR-R505
- Dura Ace triple (177.5mm, 52-39-30), front derailleur, and BB
- Campy Ergopower Centaur shifters & rear derailleur
- Shimano 10 spd. cassette (12-27)
- JTek ShiftMate
- Chris King headset
- Ritchey Comp Streem drop bars and Pro stem
- Salsa Shaft seatpost
- Phil Wood disc hubs laced to DT Swiss TK 7.1 700C rims (36 rear, 32 front)
- DT Swiss Alpine III spokes
- SRAM chain
- Brooks Swift
- XTR SPD pedals
- Continental Grand Prix 4-Season tires - 28mm
- SKS Chromoplasts fenders - 35mm
My first quick ride was tonight, it fits like a glove and was buttery smooth, I couldn't be more excited.
Footnotes: A miscommunication with Waterford means I didn't get braze-ons on the front fork for my fenders/racks, hence the very inelegant p-clamp. A problem soon to be remedied, but c'mon, would you send it back right away? I'm waiting and riding it awhile before I cut down the fork/stem, hence the huge stack up there right now.