H.S.Clydesdale

I am bringing this thread back to life for an update on my experience with the 747. I have had two nearly full seasons on it now, and recently decided it was too big. I have the smaller 65cm version, and am 6'7" with a 37" biking inseam. I started to get lower back pain when I would ride a lot, and I think this is because the top tube is too long for me (620mm effective). I swapped out a smaller stem, moved the seat up, and that helped a lot, but it was still a bit of a stretch. I dont think I have a short torso, I might have short arms for my height. In any case, i recently had the opportunity to ride a 60cm Fuji Roubaix (600mm effective top tube), and it was great. That sold me, and I was on the hunt for a new frame. I found this on CL and the build was on:

Turns out, the Giant TCX has remarkably similar geometry, though I think different where it needs to be for me. It has a 605mm effective top tube. But more interesting to 747 fans, Cyclocross bikes tend to have slightly higher BB than road bikes, so you get a bit more clearance to run the longer cranks. After swapping all the parts to this frame, my pedal is 1cm lower than it was on the 747. Not too bad.

There is more trail, and so the steering is slower, but that also adds some stability over rough terrain. The wheelbase on the TCX happens to be the exact same as the 747. But with more trail, the wheelbase is achieved with longer chainstays. This has the effect of moving the rider forward on the bike, and putting more weight on the front tire. This forward movement of the weight distribution has helped a great deal I think. I always felt my weight was too far back on the 747, and would have to lean forward to get the bike to really carve into a corner. Not so with the TCX. Plus, it is 5lbs lighter than the 747 (20lbs, with all the same parts off the 747)

In any case, for those tall folk out there looking for a good bike, its worth it to consider some of the larger cyclocross frames. You'll get clearance for the longer cranks (which are critical IMHO)

dr_lha

I assume this isn't a completed build as you don't seem to have any brakes on the front wheel! What are you running on the rear? V-brakes?

bassjones

Selling the 747 frame? I may know an interested party... Not me. Buddy of mine at work is 6'8"

H.S.Clydesdale

Dr_Iha
Yes, still waiting on the front brake to arrive in the mail. I bought some tektro 927A mini v brakes, but they dont fit on the front fork. I may post about this in the Cyclocross forum. Tektro rx-5 is on its way, hopefully will have better clearance. The mini-v in the back so far seems to work pretty well.

H.S.Clydesdale

Bassjones, yes, I am selling the frame. Its in pretty good cosmetic shape and i just installed a new FSA headset. Please send me a pm and we can discuss.

dr_lha

Ah interesting. I was considering replacing the cantis on my cross bike with Mini-Vs a while back (as I never use it for cross riding and cantis are a pain).

H.S.Clydesdale

Dr_Iha, I went with the mini-v for the same reason, this is primarily a commuter, or possibly a gravel bike, but mud is not going to be a huge issue. That said, there seems to be plenty clearance for mud, at least with the 28c tires.

dr_lha

So what was the issue with the 927As on the front fork?

H.S.Clydesdale

The problem with the 927 is hard to explain without a pic, but basically, the pad mount is too far behind the arm. The pad mount interferes with the fork, and the brake is not able to rotate the proper amount around the mounting post. Essentially, they are too thick, and rub against the fork.

Thattalldude

Dying to know how much the 747 frame & fork weigh (separately).

Guessing the fork is 3 or more lbs, and the frame alone something like 4-5lbs.

If you just stand a scale holding each (then weigh yourself and subtract that weight) that would be freaking awesome!

I'm 6'5" with a 35" inseam and and thinking of doing a similar thing to a cross bike; also considering trying to get a 747 frame set.

Thanks,

Jesse

dr_lha

Holy moly, that would be a heavy fork!

Thattalldude

I've seen a few steel touring forks around 2.5lbs, so with that long steer tube(maybe thicker too) figure it should be a little more....



that aluminum cross frame & carbon fork had to weigh ~ 4lbs, so that would put the 747 frameset at 9 lbs, if it dropped 5 lbs just swapping them out...

i cant amagine that 747 fork being 2 lbs and the frame 7lbs...

Hopefully he'll weigh it and we'll find out

Thattalldude

Dying to know what the 747 frame & fork weigh; also interested in getting 747 frame, PM me to discuss.

H.S.Clydesdale

Sorry, been away from the forums for awhile. I will try and measure the frame and fork tonight. I think you're right about its weight. I noticed when carrying the frame around that the center of gravity is closer to the fork than I would have imagined.

PhotoJoe 

You need 50 posts to get PM privileges. Get busy!

Thattalldude

Well you don't need 50 to get a message, but apparently you need 50 to respond... That's unfortunate...

H.S.Clydesdale

weighed the frame and fork, though they still had quite a few attached components.

The frame + fork + seat + seatpost + front and rear brakes + stem + headset spacers + front derailleur = 10.5 lbs
The fork + front brake = 2.5 lbs

Thattalldude

Super awesome; thank you!

So the frame + seat & seatpost + stem + headset/spacers + rear caliper & pads + front derailer = 8 lbs

Figure those components weigh about 3 lbs (will verify spec'd weights tonight), so that might put the frame at ~ 5 lbs...

XXLHardrock

I'll ask this here, hoping I'll get more traffic than on a separate thread.
There are a handful of 2014 2xl 747's for an amazing price on EBay and I want one but can't decide if I need a 2 or 3 XL.

I'm 6'3.5 but have a 38.5" cycling inseam. (Against a wall with a book a high as it will go between my legs, measured to the floor). Arm span is 6'8". I'm on a Giant Defy in XL with a long setback seat post and a steerer extension. When I ride my bike, I'm constantly trying to push myself back on the seat but I have no place to go. Hopefully the longer cranks will help with this.

According to Zinn's calculator , I should be looking at the 3XL because of the 210 cranks, but it's not on sale, it's 11 speed and I prefer 10 because I have lots of spares and it's a big pretty big bike. I don't want to get carried away. I asked Zinn's sales department and they figured 2xl.

From what you owners have experienced regarding inseam and general fit, what size would you recommend I go with? Does the 2014 take 28mm tires? The price for the 2xl alone is hard to resist.

Thanks

Thattalldude

My inseam Is about 36" by that method and am 6'5"... seems like the 2xl is would be right... you might need to play with it a bit, maybe different stems etc...

If you have never ride anything bigger than 175s or 180 cranks, this is going to be a big change; I think you'll appreciate the 200s mostly out of the saddle, and less monkeying downshifting to stay spinning all times.

With the longer arms your cadence with slow a bit... don't try to get up to your old cadence on smaller cranks... it's just the way it is... if you went with shorter cranks like 165s you would spin faster; the circumstance is smaller so takes less time to go around at the same speed (165s came on my 63cm '77 gitane I got for same reason; spin fast on it, but out of the saddle is a joke and almost never do it). With the big arms it's a bigger circumstance so takes longer to go around and makes a lower cadence... hearing affected a bit and you would run taller gears then you do on 175s to correct for it...

H.S.Clydesdale

From my experience, I would recommend the smaller frame (2XL), the longer cranks shorten the required seat post length, which, in turn, shortens the required top tube length. The whole geometry changes due to the larger cranks, making much smaller frames fit well to tall folk, so dont be afraid of going "too small" on the frame. It is better than going too big.

Juan Carless

Does the 2014 take 28mm tires?
Yes it will. I'm running 28c Schwalbe Marathons. When these wear out, I might try 30c Marathon Racers./media/john/01lexar32/BIKES/ZINN/MY KHS Flite747/IM000474.JPG

XXLHardrock

My 2014 came in and I put it together last night. I used some H+ Son Archetype rims with 105 hubs I had and was pleasantly surprised that 32mm file tread Gravelkings just fit!
Actual mounted width is 31.9 mm at 105psi. I just used this psi for initial mounting. (The tires are rated for 95max psi. ). There's about 2mm on either side of the chainstays. Clearance everywhere else is ample. The fork can probably accommodate 35mm or more. Thrilled.

BTW: glad I didn't get the 3XL. This is a big bike!

mattiastomas

Hey guys, newbie here. Been reading up a lot on the 747 and am keen for some input. Would the 747 be overall a good road bike?

Some background about my question:
I'm 6'7" and for the past two years been riding a REI hybrid bike XL bike. Recently this year I've gone for longer rides up to 60 miles and on those longer rides I've realized the the bike is really too small for my frame.
My shoulders start aching because my grip is narrow, only having one hand position also fatigues my arms quicker. Also feel that the cranks are too short and when I climb my legs feel constricted in a way (if that makes sense).

All this has led me to research a bike that would fit me and most of what I hear is that the Flite 747 would be a good fit. Also seems sturdy enough for me (currently pushing 300lbs).
I'm in New York City, and I've been around to the KHS dealers here but of course none of them have it in stock where I could test ride one. They can of course order one, but then if I didn't like it I would not be able to return it as it is a special order.

So I guess my question to you guys who own it is would it be worth to get the 747 without being able to test one first? I get that it would fit me, but I worry what if I don't like the feel of the bike? (if that makes sense).
But then again I guess riding a bike that actually fits the but I don't like the feel of would be better than riding a bike thats too small for me? Or would anyone in NYC have one that I could check out?

Any insight would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

DMC707

Wow-- i just googled this bike -- Its huge! 😀 Nice to see KHS at least making an effort to make a proportional road bike