650B Elephant National Forest Explorer

So much want (for myself) but no need .. the only thing I will gain is superior braking .. should I? Dunno .. need to sort missus' bike first

Ed was that £250 on top of shipping? They are using shipto this time

AND DAT LOW TRAIL THo

Are Orlowski/Rytcharski experienced in such matters?

i bin scobled. am feeling tempted by one of these (though there is no need)

I assume one of the more difficult things for the NFE is getting the fork right (strong yet responsive tubes, position of caliper, large bend etc.). A low-trail straight fork (e.g. https://flic.kr/p/pQBRBP) shouldn't be that hard to put together, all you need to do then is work out your frame angles/tube lengths, find $$$ and let the framebuilder work their magic...

...and tubing dia, grade, thickness and butting. Tweek the geo to fit a tiny man, translate all this into Polish and hope it all just happens to work first time.

What's the worst that can happen?

I dont think so; you get what you paid for I guess .. its about €900 max for frameset painted and delivered.

With Orlowski/Rytcharski you have to tell exactly what you want up to the BikeCAD level which is fine by me but no way you can get something like NFE given glen's experience and expertise. They are more than fine to use for simple road/cx bikes.

For the missus I'll most likely go with Orlowski; I've already discussed the geo and mid trail fork with Jacek (sent him links to thorn and rawland forks) Columbus SL front triangle, Deda Zero rear, Max forks, Disc. (sorry for highjack)

DO IT; you can take my place and you will have it by March!

Superior braking that make your DA centerpull feel like a poor compromise.

Yeah I agree but too much dollar ..

though there is no need

Surely your new extension/conservatory/bikeroom needs christening with a new bike build?

my bank balance needs restoring first

also would like to install shimano hydraulics brakes and mechanical 11spd on commuto x bike as my bike stuff for this year. will also need a new 11spd rear wheel as well - my hope evo hub is the one before the ones with 40t engagement so it can't take the 11spd freehub body

You can do all that on NFE ;)

It would just duplicate what the commuto x bike does.

Yeah I agree; only big diff would be 2.1" tyres (or 42mm slick)

A quick glance at the Orlowski/Rytcharski builds that have popped up recently all seem to be pretty positive. I know "work out your frame angles/tube lengths" is over-simplistic but it's not outrageous to think you could spec a low-trail rando bike for either to produce.

They might, I don't know if they've got much experience of that type of bike.

There is a dangerous middle ground when going custom - if the customer is too specific and CAD-happy, rather than using the builder's knowledge.

That's basically what I was getting at :-)^

Good point. I hadn't considered it like that.

Please rename thread to "post your reasons not to order an Elephant NFE"

Please rename thread to "post your reasons not to order an Elephant NFE"

1. Not scobling yourself
   

The RS685 is postponed yet again to Early Feburary.

Find out if it's possible to run shimano MTB 11spd with road derailleur, the cassette work on 10 speed hubs, unlike the road one.

Edit - only in 11-40t at the moment.

That is a pretty wide range, how much is the cassette?

Only £200.

Bargain compared to buying a new hub and a reasonably priced cassette.

Oh indeed.

Sell the wheel and buy a new one might be easier.

I'm sure shimano 11spd MTB stuff will be cheaper and common soon, but I don't know if they'll go as low as 11-32 to allow mixing it with road derailleur.

Gut feeling that knowing them, they probably only sell 11spd cassette as low as 11-36 to prevent mixing it with road.