What do you have for a front rack? A low rider type rack?

Yes. This one:

http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FRLOW

After all this time what what do you think of the Nashbar frame now?

Joe

It's a good, sturdy, rather heavy, kind of dead feeling frame. Definitely worthy for a budget tourer/commuter. I got a 58 cm frame. I think I'd size down to 56 if I were buying another.

I haven't really got many miles on it. Breaking my collarbone cut into my riding.

Hey guys, thanks for all the great posts, I got all the info I needed about the Nashbar frame. So now that I'm committed to the build, I went to purchase and found that they were sold out of the 56cm, until 2008(ouch). My question is this. I found the Geometry specs, and even though my current bike is a 56 and fits pretty well, should I wait(sigh), or size up to the 58 or down to the 54 and make adjustments? I like the fact that the 58 has a longer wheelbase, good right? here are the specs from Nashbar.http://www.nashbar.com/nashbar_photo.../NB-TRAF.3.gif

I wouldn't size up. The frames run to the large side anyway.

The BB height is about 12 inches, I confirmed it with nashbar, you could almost run it on 26" wheels, I gave that some thought at one time. So I wouldn't get one that is too big and make maters worse.

I'm surprised about the wait. I have seen long waits over winter, but all through summer too?

have you any pictures?

I've been considering this frame as well. I have an Octalink 113mm BB. How is the chainline with the 118mm? I'm assuming since your mechanic commented about perfect shifting that 118 is ideal? I'll be using a 22T inner chainring...would there be enough clearance at the chainstay with a 113? I know FD positioning is another issue...

Also, I'd be better off with the 60cm for seattube height, but the 61cm top tube on that frame is incredibly long. How do you find the 58cm with the near 60cm top tube? Too long? Gone to a shorter stem?

I'm pretty sure Nashbar was selling this touring frame long before there was a Surly LHT.

Why are you so concerned with 'ugly' welds?

a) you can't (usually) tell anything about a weld's quality by how it looks from the outside, painted over, and;

b) it's a touring bike - all the better with ugly (but functional) welds and no decals to attract attention.

There used to be a bunch of pics in this thread. They must have been lost in a server hiccup or something...

The first time I saw this particular touring frame was after the LHT came out. I saw their road and mountain frames before the LHT, but not the tourer.

Dude, these are some UGLY welds. And while the appearance of a weld may not say anything about its strength, it does say something about the care and craftsmanship that went into the manufacture of a frame. The Nashbar Touring frame is functional, but it is nobody's work of art.

If I really cared about how the welds looked, I would have returned the bike. I started this thread to give my impressions of the bike and to describe the process of building it. One of my impressions is that Chinese robots make butt-ugly welds. Anyone interested in buying the frame might want to know that.

Yes, you're right, nashbar jumped on the bandwagon a short time after surly started the LHT.

My neighbor bought one - it looks pretty good for the money - probably as good as a cannondale.

I didn't think the welds were particularly ugly. Those sort of wide beady welds are common on aluminum mtbs. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Also, I think some of the Chinese robots probably weld better than some of the Chinese men. I've had a couple steel chino frames with screwed up dropouts and brake bosses. In fact, many of last year's LHTs had screwed up brake bosses on frames and forks (crooked or uneven height). They use robots on the main triangle, then manually add stays, dropouts and bosses. On my steel chino frames the main triangle welds are nearly perfect.

Cannondales welds would look the same as Nashbars except they file and sand them down a bit.

The Nashbar frames tend to cut costs on the material side (cheap straight gauge tubing), not the assembly labor. Of course they all have nice paint jobs....

Can we see some pics of the build progress? lets have a look at those welds and see how ugly they really are. Seriously, I wouldn't mind seeing how its coming together, even if not finished.

Look at the dates of the posts. :) He finished it in '05. The server dumped the pics during one of the crashes.

However, I'd be interested to see his complete build if he would so graciously repost a couple.

In the meantime, here are some from a listing on ebay (while supplies last).

http://i12.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/a1/d5/acf8_3.JPG
http://i12.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/a1/d5/aed5_3.JPG
http://i16.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/a1/d5/b0a2_3.JPG
http://i21.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/a1/d5/b309_3.JPG
http://i5.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/a1/d5/b4a1_3.JPG
http://i12.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/a1/d5/ba56_3.JPG

I'll have to dig around and see if I can find a pic of the complete build.

Failing that, I'll try to take a new one.

Here it is. The Polished Turd in all its glory.

Hey, that doesn't look half bad. Why did you think a size down would suit you better? The saddle and bars look high...if anything I would think you would want to step up? Or is it the ridiculously long top tube that's at issue?

Top tube is the issue. The bars ARE high. I have a custom Waterford with a crazy tall head tube. I don't think the saddle is that high.

And yeah, I'm real happy with the build. Thanks!

Nice looking bike. That green looks better in indirect light (as opposed to pics in preceeding post).

Very nice build. You weren't able to get fenders to fit?

Gulp, the weld in the BB picture just below the right side drop picture, really looks as though it missed the downtube entirely!!

Thanks for the insight!

The front fender fit fine. Rear fender needed jury-rigged. So, I did without. I may put a front fender on again before my next tour. I'm not really that be a fan of fenders. I think a good raincoat is more important.

:D

Nice looking bike. I remember reading that "polished turd" comment a few years back, and my reaction today is the same as it was back then -- hard for me to put into words, but some reason it leaves me a bit angry.

People--
I bought one of these frames last year. It was on sale and I hit a coupon, getting it for something like $135. Right away, I had to return it--these frames run large. So don't order the same size you have in your regular road bike! Once the smaller frame arrived, I built it up and I've been pretty happy with it. I don't think the welds are ugly--they look like standard alu tig welds to me. I love the dark metalflake green paint. It seems to ride pretty well too. Perhaps because of the butted tubing, or the long wheelbase, or the fat tires I used--it doesn't have that harsh alu ride. I ended up finding a screaming craigslist deal on a lugged steel Schwinn Voyageur touring bike, and I was really looking for lugged steel. But I'm still keeping the Nashbar for off road rides and tours (you can fit some seriously fat tires in this frame) and nasty winter weather. It might not hurt to get a lighter fork, but I found that the Winwood version of Nashbar's cyclocross fork to give an overly harsh ride, so I've stayed with the steel fork that came with this frame. chucksbikes also sells a carbon fork with canti bosses that even has lowrider mounts.

Rich

? Well, you just can't be"angry".You gotta tell us why.Do you think the term to be vulgar?Does the term not do the bike justice?Does a self effacing comment freak you out?I'm not being hostile just wondering why something like this would anger you.( sorry RG but curiosity gets me every time.)

The only turd part, or part that is unlike any other bike is the frame. It's a cheap frame, but I think it looks great in the pictures. I bet it is in the price range of the Novara. The weld problem on the ebay frame would be pretty unusual. Nasbar stuff is a little rough but not structurally a problem. The weld look is a bit sloppy or rushed, may even be MIG as is the case on a lot of production welding, but as long as it locks in nicely I don't care. I don't see what makes this bike have to have fancy joints any more than an aircraft, BMX or MTB. etc...