Fairlight cycles - any opinions?

You want to borrow one? :)

Thanks for kind offer but not in London and have sorted borrowing one. Will put one on the birthday list/when bank balance recovered, certainly not buying cheap again.

First outing for my new Strael today. Ordered in June last year.
Absolutely lovely to ride, soaks up everything.

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Strael owners - how well does it cope with the odd bit of bridepath/towpath riding?

I'm about to pull the trigger on a 3.0 but having last minute "should I buy a secan/equivalent"anxiety.

Realistically 90% of its duties will be daily workhorse and winter road bike but would like the option for a bit of fair weather gravel nibbling.

Lovely. Is that an R or a T frame?

Totally fine for fair weather gravel stuff. My Strael 2 had 35mm front 33mm rear and was fine off road but not much mud clearance.
I moved towards doing more off road riding so got something with bigger clearance in the end.

Get the secan, I may have gravel wheels for you with tyres n all

I have the secan with 2 sets of wheels (road and off road).

On the road it’s very good. Won’t be as punchy as a race bike over short sharp climbs but more than capable if being used for weekend club rides.

I just look at the secan geo and think "slack".

I think the new strael has even better tyre clearance so I'm more inclined to go for that.
All bike purchases are a compromise to an extent and I think it probably makes more sense to compromise on the type of riding I will do least often. If I suddenly decide I love gravel riding I can always buy something more specific later.

without mudguards you can get really good clearance. i think it will be fine for dabbling with a bit of fair weather gravel

Go for the Strael imo. Have taken mine off road and has been fine, plenty of room for wider tyres and if it's 10% of your riding you'll be underbiked for maybe 25% of that. So you'll be happy almost all the time. Far better than finding the Secan a bit relaxed for the road. Plus, being underbiked is fun

I've ordered a Strael but thought I was in the minority due to the amount of Secan posts. I'll be looking at roughly 20% fair weather gravel nibbling duties and am pretty confident in its ability.

I have been wondering if I've made the right decision recently though. But it will end up being my main dedicated road bike.

This is the kind of self-help chat I need!
I went through exactly the same buyers remorse after pushing go on a Strael.
I came to the conclusion that it will work for 90%+ of my riding and will be my only road bike.
Also, the fancy plum-coloured paint has a better chance of staying in good nick if only used on the road?

Are all of the Secan posts because they are the ones being shipped and built at the moment?

It won't be my only road bike, but it will be for 70% of the year - replacing my winter bike/commuter. I don't need it to be a rocket ship, but I do need it to not feel like a slog when out on the road.

100% go for the strael over the secan then

Definitely the Streal. Mine copes with Spanish gravel fine, and it soaks up all the bumps and noise... And it got another 5 star review this week from Cycling Weekly, so you've got no excuse really.

61R - was close for me between the t and r recommended fit wise, but it fits perfectly

Loving my strael, definitely fine for the odd bit or more of gravel and bought to replace/supercede the cx do it all bike with realisation bulk of riding near me roads

Anyone else with a Faran on order get a somewhat irritating email from Fairlight yesterday?

Was it about the new colours?

Yep. Wasn’t super amused by the way the email was phrased…even worse arriving when I’ve been particularly sleep deprived and questioning my decisions!

What was the gist of it?

new colours, would you like to swap? OR

new colours, you have to swap!

New colours. You’ve been assigned this colour.

They badly managed the new strael colours with me also. Having chosen putty and placed deposit a couple of weeks later told not gonna be an option but I could get this new purple colour (which I didn't want) cue me having a bit of a strop spending another x hrs considering colours for them to then tell me they had found one in putty.
For a company who place so much emphasis on looks they should definitely ensure they can honour the look choice of anyone who has placed an order.

Well

If you have new green and you’re after the previous green in 54t I would happily swap with money

That’s so shit if you can’t have what you originally paid for though