I'm looking into getting my first dedicated road bike, coming from a background of mtb and cx. I do not road race and probably will not get into it, would prefer steel, and am looking for tire clearance for at 25c or 26c tires. Fender and rack mounts do not matter to me as I will not be using them. The two frames I am looking at are the Surly and Soma. Although I am not writing off the Jamis Quest. I would really like a Gunnar, but would be too tempted to bling it too much above my $1600 goal. Open to other suggestions as well, but would appreciate those owning the Surly or Soma chiming in. Thanks in advance.

I'd opt for the Surly or Gunnar... More CGP's(cool guy points) at the local Starbucks.

i own a surly crosscheck which i also use as a road bike. i think you'd be hard pressed to get a better steel bike new for less than a grand. i love mine. or are you looking at the long haul trucker?

Gunnar. You'll wonder why you considered anything else. Seriously.

I had a Pacer for about 6 months: all Ultegra, decent wheels, but it was one size too large for me. The ride was great and as expected tig welded cromo - smooth and similar to steel as it gets. Great frame price wise, would buy another if I could find in my size. Never ridden any other cromo frames, but many people ride Surly bikes and all are happy with them..... cant go wrong with Pacer.

I'd post this in the singlespeed/fixed forum as well. I'll bet you get a more statistically significant data set that way. I own a Gunnar Rockhound (mtb) and absolutely love it for what its worth.

The Smoothie or Gunnar have a nicer tubeset than the Pacer. You might also check out the Salsa LaRaza, or maybe the Co-Motion Espresso.

You should be able to get any one of those with a build kit for less than $1600.

I have a Pacer, built up with a Campag Veloce/Centaur mix. I like it. Its a very practical frame (in terms of clearance, eyelets, pump peg etc) and is a very smooth and stable ride. FWIW I'm about 6'4" (192cm) and went with the 62cm frame. I probably could've gotten away with the 60cm though. I've got the 2006 frame which is black but I really like the look of the new silver one! Having said that, the Soma Smoothie also looks very similar and its the other frame I considered when getting the surly as well.

timely post;

i'm looking at those 2 frames as well.....(also the voodoo rada, but the distributor said they haven't been able to get new rada frames into the u.s. for 2 years now).

i looked at gunnar and would love to go that route. however, i decided that, if i'm going to spend close to $800 on a frame, i'd just go with the habanero ti.




you have a lot of frames you can look at that will fit the tires you'd like. i'd imagine more frames would allow for up to 28mm. i want to be able to put cx tires (sort of) on the bike, so the 3 frames i listed are about the only ones available (for $400).

i'm 95% sure i'm going with the soma smootie es. if you go to bikemania.biz you can get that frame with a cf ird mosaic 57 fork for $410 (if you use a coupon). that fork can accomodate larger tires and caliper brakes (long reach).

I pondered Gunnar, Surly and Soma last year and went with the standard smoothie in 62cm. The smoothie has been excellent so far, but I doubt you'll be disappointed with any of these frames. The Smoothie handles well and is plenty stiff while still being comfortable. The Smoothie is slightly lighter than the Pacer, while the Gunnar is the lightest of the three. I guess the bike is still a little heavy, but I could shed a pound or two by switching to a carbon fork and lighter wheels.

Looking back, I probably should have gone with the Surly Pacer or the Smoothie ES to have a slightly longer top tube. The Pacer and Gunnar Roadie/Roadie Sport also have pump pegs, while the Smoothie and Smoothie ES do not.

In terms of tire clearance, the Smoothie handles 28c with room to spare, but finding a fork to handle a 28c tire safely was difficult. I ended up ordering a Surly Pacer fork at my LBS, and the combo works great. The ability to handle 30-32c tires with the Pacer, Smoothie ES, or Gunnar Sport would be nice.

At this point, I honestly can't see myself buying a frame/bicycle from anyone beyond these three companies. Reputation, quality, durability, affordability, comfort and tire clearance...they have got it all covered.

My next bike will be a Surly Long Haul Trucker complete.

I hope this helps.

does anyone know of the msrp of the smoothie or smoothie es? I understand that they do not come w/ forks, but I'm sure a pacer for is probably only $50 or so. And I am buying from my LBS, just can't find msrp for these. Just with Thomson made forks and handlebars too.

The highest price I have seen for the smoothie and smoothie ES is through Soma's website ($375.99). There are better prices out there. bikemaniz.biz has the lowest prices I have seen on the these frames, but I have never made a purchase from this outfit.

I paid $80 for my Pacer fork at my LBS. New steel road forks with a 1 1/8" threadless steerer seem so rare these days. I thought it was a fair price.

SOMA is the better frame.

Soma over Surly. On the other hand, I've got three Gunnars and would recommend the Sport or Roadie if they were in your price range. Roadies come up on eBay quite often (I recently got mine for $170), or you could check out the message boards at Gunnarbikes.com. People occasionally put their bikes up for sale there.

I've got the 2007 silver Pacer and really happy with it as a commuter (105-triple). It's a solid everyday bike.
I also purchased the Smoothie and looking to build it up as a racing bike for club rides (105-double).

Depending on your usage, these two frames are what I've got them intended for: Pacer for everyday commuting; Smoothie for more weekend club rides (lighter, carbon fork, etc.) .

-Vinh

The Surly Pacer is the most aesthetically pleasing off-the-peg road bike I've seen lately. I would have bought one without a moment of hesitation if Surly just used nicer tubing. As it stands, you can get a lighter frame for less money new from Soma, or buy a used Gunnar, like I did, for the cost of a Pacer frameset. I like Surly, but I can't shake the feeling that $400 is too much to pay for 4130.

I'm a big fan of Salsa's La Raza, although for some reason they've dropped it for 2008. There's a 56 cm on eBay right now you might want to check out, and the Casseroll is getting good reviews as well.

Jason