This is a new model from Raleigh for 2012

https://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/steel-road/furley-12/

It's basically a single speed cyclocross bike, with disc brakes, and stops for derailleur cables. I think it'd make an awesome commuter, for either everything, or especially crap weather. I'd probably put in an IGH, maybe 8-speed Nexus. Whatever, if I was in the market for a new all-around commuter, this would definitely be at the top of my list, it just seems so full-featured and perfect, and I think it retails for only $850. What are your thoughts?

So a single speed with a derailer drop out rather than a track set up. Deal breaker for me. Otherwise good.

Oh, i forgot to mention, it has an eccentric bottom bracket to regulate chain tension.

OK, good deal.

Looks pretty nice (I love the paint,) though I wonder if there aren't better options in that price range.

Probably the ideal bike for riding to the Regal Beagle...

Maybe if I could get the bar up to saddle level...

I'm digging the orange though.

They also make the Roper. Wonder if they'll rename their touring bike The Tripper?

Love this bike. I want to commute on it year round, and race singlespeed cx in the fall/winter. But being in SF, I want gears for when I'm commuting. Does anyone know the rear dropout spacing? I''d like to swap between the ss set up and IGH for which I would need 135mm or very close to it.

I'd assume it was 135, both because it uses disc brakes, and Raleigh probably knows people would wanna put on IGHes. They made it with versatility in mind.

No fender mount holes on the fork. I like my front disc/rear canti flip-flop Bianchi San Jose better. The EBB is nicer than track ends though. I hate having to readjust my brakes every time I switch the number of rear teeth.

And a BB30-based ebb at that, so that when you decide that gears are a good thing afterall, you can fit a nice crankset.

The Roper appears to be the exact same bike with gears and less color. I always did prefer Mr. Roper to Mr. Furley.

I thought that was a nice feature. I have a BB30 on my 'cross bike, and it really lowers the weight, and, from what I've read about maintenance, is relatively easy to work with. Despite being a new standard, a few companies have BB30 cranksets already. FSA has a bunch.

Looks like there are fender eyelets on the fork, although mounting with disk brakes can be difficult either way.

I like it.

It is almost like Raleigh pulled the idea straight from my head...

Have been starting preliminary design work that is very much like this... and it is even orange.

Want to build a steel, disc equipped, drop bar 29'r with options for IGH and single speed... and fatties. Do not think that I would ever buy or build a bike that did not have some provision for fenders / rack and even my hand built Moulden has these in the rear as someone was thinking when they built it.

Now I get the joke! Raleigh is pretty witty and like you I preferred Mr. Roper.

The question for me is how big of a tire can you get with fenders. It might make a great winter bike but I would need to put studded tires with fenders. Anyone actually seen the bike in person?

Your eyes must be better than mine; I don't see them.

I drilled holes in either end of a 3"x.5" piece of steel, bent it into an "S" shape, and screwed one end into the eyelet and the fender into the other end.

Yes!
Here's what I've put a deposit on for Fall delivery: Singular Gryphon NON-suspension corrected, drop bar, Phil Wood EBB, fits 29x2.4's, nice geometry. The new model has the requisite braze-ons for rack and fenders.

I'm building mine up with a Nuvinci N360 so I can get some firsthand experience with it on and off road.

That Raleigh looks pretty well thought out. I do like the dropout design.

With Psychedelic color scheme. That would sell very well.

I have been a fan of drop bar mountain bikes for a very long time and my Moulden leans toward the CX end of things as it runs road bars and with 26 inch wheels and is basically a monster cross that does double duty as a commuter.

Am currently running it in it's MX version sans rack and fenders which is a blast as it curbs out at nearly the same weight as my steel road bike.

Oil_LOL I just saw this on Ralieghs site and thought the same thing. Cool. I am a little concerned about not being able to put a front fender on, the back seems OK and would probably want to get a second rear wheel with an IGH. $850. sounds like a fair price.

Depending on the tire clearance (which I assume is substantial), this could make an excellent monster cross rig with the addition of dirt drops, or even with normal road bars.

The Singular Peregrine looks pretty sweet too. It is almost exactly what I was thinking of having custom built. I think it is the only lugged frame/fork I've seen designed for disk brakes. The only real issue is the rear disk mount is on the outside of the rear triangle rather than inside for better fitting racks/fenders.

My eyes are nearly 50 years old... can see the eyelets on the front fork from here... with my glasses.

Unless a bicycle was a pure racing machine I cannot see why a designer would exclude a few grams and not include fender / rack eyelets on a bicycle and even then, many old road and mountain bicycles did come equipped like this.

Both of my mountain bikes are high performance machines but can both take a rear rack and fenders which really adds to their all round practicality.

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. If they think it'd detract from the looks or some crap like that, there are clever ways to include those features without making them be seen - the All-City Nature Boy did it well. I mean, they have the one set of front eyelets, why not include a second one? Lazyness? Some weird assumption about the purchasers of this particular bike? Maybe they have a bunch of leftover steel 29r forks with only one set of eyelets. idk, it makes no sense.

Raleigh is making a big push with their CX racing models and the Furly/Roper are first year entries into a new market (as far as UCI is concerned.) They just opened up the field to disc brakes this season, while dropping the max tire width from 35 to 33mm. A lot of companies are now looking to bring disc equipped bikes into their CX lineup and it doesn't necessarily involve a nod toward the heavy commuting scene who want mid-fork mounts, fender mounts, rear rack mounts, etc.

I'll get a chance to check out a Furley up close tomorrow at the SCCA/Starbucks GP because one of my teammates just bought one. I'll check out the tire clearance and other features then. My guess is that it's a very similar setup to what you can build on a Vassago Fisticuff (my bike), just without the canti studs. If I had to guess, it probably clears 37 or 38mm without fenders and 32mm with.