New ultraracing bike - what are the options nowadays?

After getting very sore hands on the long descents on the TCR this year, I think I finally need to switch to disc brakes - so it may be new bike time.

I do want a road-oriented rather than gravel bike.

An important criterion for me is tyre clearance. current bike will take up to 40mm and I'm reluctant to come down much from that, which I think will rule lots of the big brand offerings out. Minimum is 32mm with mudguards - which would rule out Kinesis based on what they say at least.

Prefer carbon - just because, all other things equal, it is likely to be lighter and I'm slow enough up hills, but other materials an option

To short-circuit my research, what are the best options at the moment (if any are actually available)?

for carbon
focus paralane, ridley kanzo speed, cannondale synapse ? they are carbon gravelly road bikes that have mudguard mounts

I’d have thought material difference at the size frame you ride would be far reduced?

I was looking at Mason Bokeh, Cervelo Aspero, Cannondale Supersix SE, Canyon Grizl end up with the Standert to compliment the Ultimate. Not sure on the clearance for new released ultimate but mine already clears 32 easily.

Focus Parlane doesn’t have huge clearances? Similar for Synapse. Or at least last I looked.

I'd throw Reilly Gradient in the mix if Ti is a consideration.

They dont have huge clearance but they are closer to a road bike geo, as specified ?
Aspero and superX maybe too, but grizl, erdgeschoss, bokeh, those are off road geometries

To me the differences in geo are unlikely to be as noticeable as features will be beneficial like mudguard fixing, mounts, routing, tyre clearance.
I’d focus on geo that fits over genre of geo.

I've a Canyon Endurace I'm really happy with still. I've got 32s on it but I'd be pretty confident 35s would no problem at all.

I think they've become quite a bit more expensive since I bought it but what hasn't I guess...

Maybe worth a look.

Brake less😀
Have you used the red Koolstop brake pads? I really like those.

I don't really have an answer though bikes like Fairlight Secan, Mason Bokeh, Specialized Diverge, Bombtrack Hook EXT and some Salsas seem good. Though I tend to like the more offroady ones more now and more so than those even.

If you can find a Felt VR, they are ace. 35mm fits easily. 32mm with guards. Doesn't have mounts for racks though if that's a thing you need.

Canyon Ultimate takes 35mm that would be more racy geometry and light.
Endurace for a little bit more compliance and also 35mm

Take a look at the Trek Domane. Endurance road geometry, Isospeed compliance stuff and Trek says space for 38mm. Ticks all the boxes. And it has a neat little storage space in the downtube.

https://www.windoverbikes.co.uk/bikes

I'm getting a Bostal soon. These guys will also be at Bespoked.

Have a look at rob quirk at bespoked . Been around for a while now and a great brazer.

I have a Giant Contend. It's proper boring but it ticks all boxes. With wheels and groupset upgrade it's a convincing road bike and clears 44mm.

BMC road machine with the external cables. Or cervelo Caledonia but I'm not too sure how much tire you can fit.
Basso Astra rides super nice and looks good but again tire clearance and no mudguards.
Giant Defy looks unexciting but rides good. Or their gravel bike.

I think I finally need to switch to disc brakes

I look forward to seeing everything you've argued with me about end up on your new bike. :)

#hippyisalwaysright

I have a list but it's from 2016 so most tyre clearances would be too small except maybe the Diverge and I don't really do carbon these days anyway. Steel is real and when you're 92kg who cares about saving a few grams off a frame. Mostly all I care about is durability and function.

There must be a shitload of cx, gravel and "endurance" road frames out there suitable for you. I still like the Kinesis Tripster - even though the geo is MAMIL it can be made to fit my ultra race aero position and with two sets of tyres can do TABR and Badlands. Most of the road frames still seem to max out around 35mm clearances.

May be useful: https://www.reddit.com/r/whichbike/comments/mv67yr/enduranceall_road_bike_with_38mm_tire_clearance/

Thanks for all the comments! Some good options to think of.

There seem to be more than I thought with reasonable clearance. Mudguard mounts is probably going to be harder to find.

@GoatandTricycle I hadn't heard of stander before but I'm going to be in Berlin in a couple of weeks and will be meeting someone in the same street as their showroom!

@Samuli I'm going the other way, I'm afraid! I don't know if it is age, becoming a parent, not doing any crits, hardly ever riding in mountains or a combination of all, but I've lost a lot of confidence in descending and go slower than ever.

On the TCR this year I was dreading the descents because of the pain in the backs of my hands. I don't think different blocks would fix it. Disk brakes might not either, maybe it's just the weight on my hands descending for an extended period.

@hippy why no carbon? Is it on environmental grounds? Maybe I should go that way...

@hippy I thought it was you that was catching up with me! I was using MTB gearing on road bikes 12 years ago, and tubeless 8 years ago...

I'll enjoy looking through a bunch of the suggestions. And getting passed off when I see they all spec the wrong groupsets, wheels, etc!

I really like the look of the Basso Palta and seriously considered buying one. It is a gravel bike but right at the road end of the spectrum. Not sure about mudguard fixings though.
I needed a stopgap between breaking my old Stoemper and the delivery of a new custom steel frame. I didn't want to spend too much and so bought the cheaper alu/carbon Basso Tera - although it's a very different bike to the Palta it's fun and rides well after a few mods.

Frame only for the win!!

No, it wasn't although I've read some more and do think they're better in that regard - you can much more easily recycle a dead metal bike compared to carbon which is basically useless unless it can be repaired (which you can also do with steel)

I just seemed to veer towards metal bikes for cost and durability reasons and then away from alu for some other arbitrary reason I don't recall (maybe the Kinesis snapping) and don't think ti is worth it so steel it is. For most riding there's very little point with carbon - makes sense when aero stuff is a concern (hence my Shiv) but ultra racing the bike ends up covered in bags rendering any aero shit redundant and off-road I hate the sound of rocks pinging into carbon wheels and frames - metal rims and frames ftw (often bend rather than cracking so you can fix your tubeless seal too)

Saying all this, I did resurrect my 2005/06? Tarmac and it's so nice having such a light bike (mostly for stairs but it also has 404s and fast tyres so it's generally pretty rapid compared to everything else I ride). It's twitchy as fuck compared to the Tripster with 1kg of aerobars hanging off the front though :)

I realise it's somewhat ironic that I've broken way more metal bikes than carbon.

I got quite into the tripster but the BB is high.
Then I got into the domane but discovered its a purely theoretical concept as none available.
Passed an hour at least!

High compared to what? I thought it was pretty low. But maybe I was comparing MTBs or something as it was in gravel mode when I gave a shit about BB height.

I was thinking about selling my Mason and the Tripster and consolidating them into one steel do-it-all road/gravel bike with two wheelsets. Basically what the Tripster is now, but sexier. Mason Exposure looked cool, but I don't like their colour options and it might be a bit too gravel and not enough 'road'.

Tripster is 70 drop vs 80 for domane.

I've got a spreadsheet with all this stuff on at home, which I update every couple of years when I think about getting a new bike (then decide not to when I see nothing better than current frame).

What difference this all makes I don't entirely know.

Basso Palta

Good clearance and low BB, but can't see any mudguard mounts. Don't expect to find them in an Italian bike!