They do if you are an NFL team and have to play them this year. :D

The Soma Valhallen Tange 27.5+ mountain bike frame lists for $540 without fork or framebag.

Salsa Fargo Frame + Fork = $900.

So how is $350 for Reynolds frame + fork + frame bag not a good deal?

The next most low price steel frame for a 27.5+ I have found is a closeout on a Surly Instigator (no fork), 4130 chromoly, for $409, and I would have to drive 1400 miles to get it.

I suppose it depends on the quality of the frame. $350 seems like a pretty good price if it is a decent frame. But why the huge price difference between the flat bar frame and the drop bar frame?

There do seem to be some weird pricing discrepancies on that website. I'd order it before its sold out or the price changes.

Few people want to ride drop bars through the places where 27.5 x 3 inch tires excel.
Make a guess, they ordered to many drop frames, and sold to few.
Flats a safer than drops in the rock gardens and rutted roads. Drop bars are made for speed. Aero dynamic riding position is something for young people with stop watches


count the drop bars in the race
what type of roads will those + tires be rolling on

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...r_1889.svg.png

I agree with you chrisx, about flats vs drops -although not everybody does. Its a huge price difference $350 vs $999.
The Advocate Seldom Seen page lists both frames at $999
Seldom Seen

If you click the shop now link, it takes you to the Krueger Outdoor page that lists the individual bikes.
https://www.kruegeroutdoor.com/colle...dvocate-cycles
Click on the bike you want and it opens the page where you can order it. The small print at the bottom lists the frame at $999, but the large print at the top says $350.
https://www.kruegeroutdoor.com/colle...et-medium-sand
If you add it to your cart it does come in at $350.

Yeah, that is why I thought it was potentially a good deal.

I do worry about committing to drop bars on the bike. However, I currently find mountain biking on my drop-bar "adventure road" bike with 35 or 40mm tires to be more comfortable than my current mountain bike (a 2007 Trek Fuel EX7).

If you're happy with it, that is all that matters.

A buddy took an old Kona mountain bike and converted it to drop bars for off pavement touring. He loves it. It wouldn't be my choice.

Of course I didn't help. If I had one I wouldn't help you with that attitude.

Bike forums disagreements often? I feel like probably so since there have been a few just in this thread. Maybe others aren't the issue...

Well, I just placed the order. Thanks to both of you who provided valuable input.

I shall display the head badge with pride.

Salud!

as opposed to this attitude?

How about posting the exact weight of the frame and fork when you get it?

Sure. I will take some pictures too.

I realize it is a bit of a crapshoot, but for $350, I felt like it might be worth the risk. (I've wasted more on pedals and shoes that wound up being torture devices.)

Ideally I would like to be able to swap between the stock rigid fork and some sort of decent suspension fork, and to be able to ride this (and hopefully tour) on unpaved roads that are too rough for my gravel "adventure road" bike, like White Rim Road in Canyonlands Natl Park.

You really can’t go wrong for that price. Like to see it when you are done. Take the opportunity to apply Framesaver before adding all the components. Power to the people!!

Might as well continue the thread, as a build thread.
What kind of 148 mm hub are you going to buy for the rear?
Is the fork 110 x 15?
Are you ordering light bicycle carbon rims direct from China? 27.5 x 40mm internal?
What kind of drop bars, dirt drops, with flared ends?

The diplomatic solution was to have my wife get it for me for X-mas, so ain't nothin' gonna happen for awhile. (I will unbox it and check to see if it is ok and weigh it and take some pics when I get it), but beyond that, it will need to wait until then...

It depends on if you are going for days or weeks on this bike.
Hand pain is nothing to fool with.

Not sure yet. Any suggestions? Maybe Chris King?

Looks that way. I should have added some of the other options weren't thru axles.

I'd get the wheels pre-made. I need to start looking around at the options. I wanted to try Santa Cruz wheels, but
they don't yet make them for the plus size. If they do, that might be an option. They are assembled in town -- I went and watched, and was impressed.

I ride the hoods a lot, so I am worried about having flared ends, but I also see the attraction.

Sorry to be so indecisive. Maybe I could start spin-off threads on each of these topics and we can all argue about whether the parts endorse the behavior of various war criminals, Donald Trump's mating behavior, or climate change.

i love the idea of a reynolds framset for 350.00. its not the style of bike i ride but the fist looks cool to me!

Thanks.

This is sort of the trap I fell into. Briefly, I haven't felt very comfortable on my old aluminum full-suspension mountain bike in the last few years, and have been riding my road bike off-road with 40mm nanos on it, and enjoying it more. I have to pick my way though technical stuff and fall off more easily. At the same time I kind of like the plus-size tire idea. I test-rode/demoed a Santa Cruz Hightower with 27.5+ tires for a few hours a couple of years ago and liked it a bit more, but never pulled the trigger. I found myself holding onto the bars fairly close to the stem, especially on long climbs (where you pay for the tire fatness). Meanwhile my 14 year old seized control of the mountain bike and updated it with better brakes (XT replaced avid jucy), which is great, and really wide flat bars with a short stem, which I can't get used to. So this got me thinking maybe I need a nice steel Fred-bike with drops. Everyone else here (Santa Cruz) has a bright–colored Santa Cruz $8K carbon bike.

The faux-outrage-provoking head badge of course is an added plus.

Thanks for that suggestion.

I've never used this before, and all my frames are steel. Sounds like $5 well spent for this frame. Maybe I should on my other bikes, too. My oldest one is from 1987 (a Bianchi SLX frame), and although I got caught out in the rain with it a few times, I've never had trapped water or rust. My new one is custom and has Di2 hoses, battery, etc inside the frame, so I am a bit worried about taking that apart and what it might do to the internal cabling. What is the thinking on this? Maybe my frame-maker did it. I should ask him.

I had the shop apply Framesaver to both of my steel frames prior to picking up the frames, so no personal experience with the stuff. I could have easily done it too, but they didn’t charge extra, and also installed the headset cups, cut the steerer and chased/faced. The peace of mind knowing my frame is not being eaten away by rust on the inside is well worth it. If you do it yourself, try to keep it out of the BB. Pretty sure you wouldn’t want anything inside the frame when applying.

Plus the short TT with drop bars puts your weight forward, making downhills sketchy (especially without suspension). But if you're not doing much downhill you could put a long stem + flat bars on the short TT bike.

We have lots of hills here (they go both up and down). I'll probably get a suspension fork for this at some point as well. What about other types of bars, like Jones or trekking (including mounted "backwards")?

My current on/off road bike has an effective TT of 543 mm and a 110 mm stem, and a 400mm rigid (Enve CX) fork.
The frame I just ordered has an effective TT of 565mm, and the fork is about 100mm longer.

snicker

Why not do all that on this thread? What if I go out and ride my bicycle down the -- -- ------ and do not see all the spin off threads when I get back. Cradle to grave, or is it box to rusted out all in just one thread.

Donald Trump would frown on this idea. Der Kaiser would stop you before it is to late. It is a bad idea. I have a 135mm titanium stem for sale, if you want your new bike to be uncomfortable and wrong. Only cost me a couple of hundred dollars to fix that mistake when I bought the Fargo back in 2009.

I think I just read that thread, when I found myself Jonesing for potentially compatible drop-bar alternatives), but if you don't mind a bit of a rehash, I'd be grateful to learn from your mistake. (From what I recall, the Fargo also has a drop-bar version, so I am assuming it is a similar situation.)