mvanderk

Headed out this weekend for my first tour on the new build. Four day/three night south Florida meet up of fellow tourist at a regional park. Plan on staying at a commercial campground in Arcadia the first night with a wilderness area. 2nd night @ the meet up, and the last night stealth camping somewhere on state road 72 in the Myakka state Park area. Took a short 25mile test ride today and was surprised how well bike handled and how smooth the ride was for an aluminium bike. Quite frankly the ride was smoother than my carbon road bike which I assume is a result of the load and possibly the longer wheel base?. In any case the weather forecast is great so should be a great four days.

Carbonfiberboy 

Nashbar is doing something right. I've been riding one of their aluminum Frame (accented e) road bikes for years. Nice smooth ride, goes where it's pointed, great durability. I think the ride is so good because the tubing is heavy wall and small diameter. So the frame is heavier than is popular these days, but the thick-wall tubing makes a nice stiff frame and dampens the vibration. I go almost as good on the Frame as I do on the carbon Trek.

skilsaw

[QUOTE=Carbonfiberboy; the thick-wall tubing makes a nice stiff frame and dampens the vibration. .[/QUOTE]

I don't understand. I thought a "nice stiff frame" would transfer vibration well, and a flexible frame would absorb vibration.

sstorkel

More likely a result of the high-volume, lower-pressure touring tires... Swap the wheels from your road bike over and see how it rides. My guess is that with high-pressure 700x23 or 700x25 tires, the ride is a quite a bit less pleasant.

NoReg

Th frame has to be stiff enough to do what it needs to do, but not harsh. This is basically the story of oversized tubing. Start with a given tube like a one inch top tube, go up one size, and drop down one size in the wall. Since stiffness varies to the third power or diameter, and strength to the second, you can gain more by moving wall thickness to diameter than you will loose. So you can start with a frame that is stiff enough, and move to a frame that is a lot stiffer. Tires are still key.

Carbonfiberboy 

I ride my Frame with 23c at 140. It rides fine. I do have a cheap carbon fork on it. I use ordinary Open Pro 32H wheels. When I first built it up - $125 for the frame - I thought - OK, this is insane. People are paying way too much for their frames! So you save, what 1.5 lbs. on some fancy frame that costs $1500? Or you could just diet for 2 weeks and buy a Frame. I did build it up with 105 brakes and Ultegra drivetrain, but with bar-ends to save weight. The Nashbar plastic headset failed after a couple of years. I'm going to put in a CK, now that I've finally extracted the stem from it.

Carbonfiberboy 

There are many ways of being "stiff." Not all stiff frames transmit vibration. I've ridden carbon racing frames where you don't even feel the difference between smooth pavement and chipseal. You can have a stiff frame that still has vertical compliance. In the case of the Nashbars, I think it has something to do with the small diameter, thick tubes. I also have a CAAD 9 that have very thinwall big tubes. It's a lighter frame and probably stiffer, but it's the worst frame I've ever ridden for vibration. It's a pogo stick. OK for short climbing rides, not OK even for a century. I haven't ridden a double on the Frame, but I think it would be fine.

2Fer

Enjoy the ride. I finished my Nashbar build in late August, and my first tour was also a 4-day, 3-night ride (along the Oregon coast). Be careful, it's addicting..........Good job on the build!

BigBlueToe

I would love to do a project like this. I like the looks of the Nashbar frame, and the thought of an all-Nashbar build (or mostly anyway) appeals to me. Unfortunately, I already have an LHT and my wife wouldn't like me spending money on a project like this. So I'll have to enjoy it vicariously through you.

I hope you'll report back after the trip. I'd like to hear about it - especially how the bike performed and any tweaks you might consider afterwards.

megalowmatt

mvanderk and anybody else who has built up one of the Nashbar touring frames - would you mind giving me the specs of the components you used? I'm looking into doing something similar and have found some great deals on Shimano LX components and was wondering if those would suffice.

I have been commuting on an internal geared hub bike for a few years and pretty much know nothing about the quality of traditional components.

mvanderk that bike looks awesome by the way.

Thanks for your help!

matt

2Fer

Megalowmatt,
Hope I'm not hijacking this thread, but here's a link that includes a list of my Nashbar touring build components.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=#post11589469

I've since put a triple Sugino mountainbike crankset on it, with 42-32-22 chainrings, to give me better climbing gearing. They shift just fine with the Ultegra road brifters. I also swapped the tires out for some Panaracer Pasela Tourguard 700 x 28mm. They seem to roll better, and are a "cushier" ride, plus I really like the tan sidewalls.
Hope this helps
2fer

megalowmatt

2fer - thanks for the link. It was a big help. You got some great deals at swap meets! I wish we had something like that around here - maybe we do but I just don't know about it.

Your overall cost is right around what I have estimated. I already have some panaracer paselas and decent rims. If I don't use brifters I'm pretty confident I can build it for under $600.

Thanks again,

matt