BikesDirect Strada CM Comp for commuting?
 

UPDATE: I got the bike! Check out posts 7 and 12

Hi all,

So for awhile I've been watching the Strada CM Comp to come back in stock in my size (58 cm) ever since it sold out right as I was ready to order it. Well, now it seems like it's back in stock for pre-order. I'm wondering though, from other more experienced commuters, would this bike look like a good commuter bike?

Right now I am using my first road bike, a 2011 Giant Defy 2 as a commuter. But to be frank, I am getting tired of that bike and just want something new, preferably new frame material (steel) and disc brakes. So that's 2 things the Strada CM Comp checks off right there.

Also, would it be feasible to swap the 105 from the Stada to my newer carbon bike (2016 Roubaix SL4)? The Roubaix has Tiagra 10 spd atm, and it would be kind of ridiculous for my commuter to have a better groupset than my fair-weather machine.

If I did get this bike, I would plan on using these for rack & fenders:
SKS P50 Fenders
Topeak Rack for Disc

Think this would work well? My use case would be commuting around my university campus and a 15 mile round trip to my job.

I like the looks of that bike, but I wouldn't get that rack that uses a long hub skewer. It looks like there's a rear rack eyelet on the seatstay an inch or so above the drop out (pic). I'd get a 'regular' rack that uses that eyelet.

This rack looks similar https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FIE3WI?psc=1 but uses traditional mounting points.

That's actually the rack I'm using with my Giant right now. Reason I would go for the other one is because of the disc brakes; looks like they would need the extra clearance that the disc specific version provides. I guess if I do get the bike I could try to migrate my old rack to the Strada and if it doesn't work, get the disc rack. Also, anyone with experience running tires as wide as the stock (700x40) for road use? Widest I've experienced is currently 700x28 on the Roubaix and those feel really nice & comfortable, but 40 seems... pretty wide for my exclusively road use. Read another thread on here about the Strada CM Comp (http://www.bikeforums.net/recreation...a-cm-comp.html) and one poster says those tires might have a bit high rolling resistance for road use.

Yes, this looks very close to my 2015 Charge Plug in style and form. (My Plug is the last year for steel, Charge went to aluminum for the 2016 Plugs).

Racks can be had for cheap, so if the Topeak rack doesn't work out, get something that will.

Fenders? I have the SKS longboards and mounted the fork crown tab back behind the fork crown to lower the rear edge even more. There is some serious toe overlap at low speeds, but underway, it is a non-issue for me.

Drivetrain swap? Maybe after the warranty expires. And it's not so ridiculous to have a better drivetrain on your non-fair weather bike, no one is thinking about that but you.

Disc Brakes? Not as great an advantage over rim brakes as I imagined, but over two years, the slightly better wet-weather braking, and slightly better modulation are nice.

Oh, and big, smooth road tires make a huge difference over any sort of knobbies if you don't ride in mud, snow or gravel. (I put studded knobbies on my other commuter for snow and ice).

Price-wise the Strada CM Comp looks like a fairly good deal...especially for steel.

Add the usual caveat about Universities and their high rates of bike theft and vandalism and you have my thoughts on the Strada CM Comp.

I think that looks like a great commuter; especially if you have a commute that is largely gravel/trail. If it's all paved, then you would want to replace those knobby tires.

As for swapping with tiagra 10sp, I could be wrong, but I thought that normal freehubs can accept 8-10sp cassettes, but for 11s, hubs were redesigned to make room for the extra gear. So if you wanted to make a component swap, you'd have to swap rear wheels too.

I don't think the width would be as important as the knobbed tires. I went from a pretty mild traction tires (Vittoria Randos) to slick (Conti Grand Prix) and the difference was huge. It feels like I'm riding on butter. In any case, no problem riding wider tires on primarily pavement--it can be very comfortable, since you can run them with lower pressure.

[Edit] I think that bike would be gorgeous with some SKS longboard fenders on it. Hope you go for it!

Update! So I went ahead and ordered & received my Strada CM Comp. I ordered kind of early in the pre-pay period, and BikesDirect shipped past the later part of their shipping estimate, so it was quite a painful wait! Thankfully, it did ship at all and I received it in a week by FedEx in Hawaii. Even with the $150 shipping slapped on for living here, I still come out ahead compared to LBSs here, who don't even offer 105 bikes until north of ~$1500.

The bike came well packaged, can't complain about it. Well, except for a lot of the time setting it up being spent on removing the packaging. The other significant time sink was getting the disc brakes to not rub. Oh, before I go off on that, I apparently got a free upgrade to the TRP Hy/Rds (spec on the site says it's supposed to be BB7). So that was a nice surprise. Anyway, I'm probably a below average mechanic, so it took me a couple of hours of reading & adjusting the disc brakes so they don't rub. Even now still, the front occasionally rubs for god knows why but goes away after reseating the wheel. Another issue was the rear hub was way too tight; loosened that up a bit myself and spins decently now, though it still seems to slow down its spin faster than my Spec Roubaix's wheels.

On the maiden voyage today, the characteristic steel springiness came out to dampen the rough roads we have here in Hawaii. The bad side of steel also showed when climbing the many hills we have here too; quite a bear to climb with, even with a 32 largest cog! Might have to downsize my chainrings sometime soon.

Only thing left to do is get the fenders on, which I think is typically the most irritating part of setting up a bike for commuting. Also, anyone know what the smallest chainrings I can fit on there?

https://i.imgur.com/qq2JlV0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0ug2ldE.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cNwja0P.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ms8uB0r.jpg

It's a 110 crankset so the 34 low is already as low as it goes. Other cranksets make a plausible option but you have to go a little off-spec.

Probably the easiest: FSA is offering "adventure" cranks in 46/30, you can find the Tempo square taper version on eBay for <$100.
Mountain double cranksets have a chainline that's offset 2.5mm outward of a road bike so there's a wee bit more cross chaining once it's adjusted, but they are offered in smaller ring sizes, as low as 36-22.
You can get a MTB triple (42-32-22) or hybrid triple (48-38-28) crank and remove the outer ring. The result is near the correct chain line but it's not attractive because the outer ring is where they do all the styling.
You can get a road triple, but you'd need a different shifter and maybe a longer RD.

Cassette options.
There's a rare orphan SRAM cassette that goes 11x11-36. Your RD might make it. Not guaranteed.
You can get an XT cassette in 11x11-40. But you need a widget to space your RD far enough out to shift it. https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/roadlink

All these options may involve a change in chain length.

And that's what you get when Dan can't sleep :lol:

Adventure/gravel road bikes make excellent commuters. They can take fenders with 35c tires and their stable geometry allows one to haul heavy loads on a rear rack even on the roughest of roads.

They're reasonably priced and are much better suited to the commuting role than traditional road bikes were.

Nice lookin bike! Love the orange, it's about the same as my moto hardtail.

As for disc brakes, I also had some trouble. I found that the recommended method of loosen bolts, squeeze brake, tighten bolts, was not sufficient. I had to enlist a third hand and also nudge the caliper in the desired direction, and tighten very slowly & carefully, trying not to let the force of the bolts disturb anything.

gorgeous bike, and looks perfect for what you are doing. Looks like you already changed the tires?

After much finangling for a few hours yesterday, including the use of a drill and some creative adaptations to the mounting points on the Strada, I finally got the fenders on. I think I learned my lesson from my last 2 fender mounting disaster attempts on my old bike, and just didn't cut the stays short in case I ever wanna upsize from x32c tires. I just had to trim the top 2 stays on the front a little bit to prevent them from knocking into the cables that run on the downtube. Also a pic of the Hy/Rds that were supposed to be BB7s

https://i.imgur.com/OxEDQw9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WopXbqP.jpg

Yep, the x40c stock Nanos were the first thing to go. To be fair, I tried them out a little on a test ride after getting the basics set up. You can definitely feel and even hear the high amount of rolling resistance those monsters have. So I put some x32c Vittoria Zaffiros on there instead. Actually, it was quite a biotch to mount those; very tight to get on and I only had spare tubes of size 20-25c available, and the two that I attempted to use got pinched... :mad: But when I used the huge tubes that came with the Nanos, they apparently worked no problem. Now I bought 28-32c tubes from the LBS and keep those in my bags in case of flats

Pretty sure mine is the same color as yours too! Yeah, my main method was that squeeze & tighten, with a little bit of wiggling thrown in, and now it seems to be mostly good.

Wow, thanks for the info overload on that. Seems like it would be more of a pain to try to swap out the crank and/or cassette, since I forgot you also need to adjust the chain length too. Figure I'll just need to get my fat sack into shape; at least that's free! :rolleyes:

I agree. The Giant Defy I was using, while certainly lighter than the Strada and decent-ish at commuting, really wasn't made for that role. Using fenders with the caliper brakes really limited my tire sizes to not more than 25c, and I had to swap out the derailleur just to get good gearing.

You'll be climbing hills more easily before you know it.

Man that is a sweet ride. Looks pretty much like the perfect commuter setup. I love seeing bikes with plenty of bosses to mount whatever-the-heck-ya-wanna mount on it. :)

I like it! I am looking at this as a possible second bike well 4th bike but second for commuting/ gravel grinding adventure biking.. thanks for sharing


you know how much it weighs? any complaints or things you don't like?