Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

@Hobbers

Pomp would be the most functional (and cheap). But if you want something a bit nicer and more traditional maybe look for a secondhand steamroller + braze ons and a respray. If they still made them, one of those TFG frames like ed used for his fixed tour would be good.

If you want new I'd have a look at Pearson as they have some very nice frames. Don't be put off the graphics until you've seen them in the flesh.

Also if you're happy without track dropouts then Condor do a very sensible frame with all the braze ons.

This thread might also be useful

http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/239243/?offset=25#comment11751723

Understand this isn't quite finished yet but looks like it will be a great little commuter once fully built up. The loop wheels intrigue me, look much better small like this...

1 Attachment

Dem wheels.

[citation needed]

Utterly stupid design if I remember the counter arguments. Paging tester!

Hello functional fans,

I was chatting with the chaps from Genesis bikes this weekend and for 2016 they will be dropping the god awful forks they currently have on the CdF and Croix de Fer and replacing it with a lugged fork. Which will look like this:

I did ask if they'd consider a fork more suited to front loading but they said that it would involve change the Geo too much.

My main gripe with the CDF 931 I'm building to be my commuter/winter trainer is exactly this^.

A great looking and finished frame coupled with a fork they dug up from bargain basement.

They are also doing a carbon disc fork with mounts for guards and racks IIRC.

This one... not sure if sold w/out frame though.!

Thanks @hugo7 good thread....

Urgh, the UK Soma distributor needs to be less useless so I can try this...

Also...

Both clicky for the source

Oh snap, I just picked up my CDF 931 F+F from my LBS. Lovely frame but agree about the fork!

What's your build going to include?

^^want that soma so badly

That soma sure is awesome. Wish they were easier to acquire here in Europe.

did ask if they'd consider a fork more suited to front loading but they said that it would involve change the Geo too much.

The thing is, not everyone ride with a rack, a very few minority does, so if Genesis made a low trail (or closed enough) fork, it will feel very nimble without a front load, and not in a good way, even the Specialized AWOL have a high trail fork for off road stability (they could get away with mid-trail thought).

The downside is that the high trail fork often felt sluggish compared to a road bicycle on the tarmac as @skinny found.

The CdF's current geometry is great fun off road, the high trails is always useful for this reason, take a low trail bike off road and it's pretty difficult to ride without a front load.

The Thorn fork with the 55mm rake is a perfect alternative, it make the Croix de Fer feel exactly like a road bike (mid-trail) with it's slack head angle, but then again, that mean it feel more like the Equilibrium with slightly more tyres clearance.

Unfortunately, the 2015 model have a standard CX length fork (395mm) meaning that the Thorn fork will be too short, fortunately it mean those who wish to have a carbon fork, can do so.

Still no luck with the forks then?

Nope, going to ask LBS to leave it.

Dawned on me how much time and money can easily be spent on these projects. Partial frame bag and a small top tube bag is ample storage for my road/audax needs and doesn't require any new stuff/affect the handling of the bike.

Bought some knee warmers and entered a handful of perms instead.

That's a fair point, forks + rack + bar bag would add up to a couple of hundred on its own. Maybe I'll explore the framebag route.

Not to mention some ingenious solution to mount lights so they're not too high and obscured by the bag but not too low to cast crazy shadows, drilling mudguards to mount onto the rack and stop them rattling, hacking some sort of decaleur for the bag, realising the bag's too large or small and getting a different one and then finally maybe deciding it was all a good idea but dammit, I have a disc hub, I should save my rims! Oh balls, that means having a fork built... Over-exaggerating a bit, but it's way easier for me to just use what I already have right now.

I also bought a nice wool hat that covers my ears. Mmm toasty ears.

I managed to order one of the low trail forks directly from Soma, for my cross check. Ended up being pretty costly with shipping and taxes though.

Yeah, I did consider that but figured I'd likely get caught on customs or something. Have you got them yet? Are they all they're cracked up to be?

@spotter - sneaky! Didn't see you take the snap :) I've now increased offset to 50mm for all sizes - to give a medium trail of around 65mm. It'll also aid toe-clearance especially on the smaller sizes (esp. with tyre size increasing to 40c next year). @edscoble is bang-on regarding low-trail specific geo - they really are designed to specifically allow for front load carrying. Which is fine if it's a tourer/randonneur - with the CdF being such a versatile bike we wouldn't want to pigeonhole it too much. Have also added high-mount barrel eyelets (Nitto/VO spec) to give further front rack mounting options (the smaller rando style racks seem to be a popular option atm). Anything missed that you guys would like to be incorporated?

Ahhh my espionage is rumbled!

(thanks for being so helpful in answering questions though!)

No problem - nothing revolutionary and if it was top secret then I wouldn't have brought the drawing along. Glad it was useful.

Does that mean I can work for you?

@edscoble - can I pay you in innertubes?