Custom steel road bike (Rychtarski !)

After the fun of my Surly Crosscheck thread I though it was time for another.

Over winter I've been without a 'proper' road bike. The long term plan was to find something nice in steel, and a few on here mentioned I could look at custom. Last week I sent an enquiring email to Rychtarski and things have moved fast, they've suggested they could start building for me next week!

The plan is currently to have the geometry based on my previous road bike, which I have been Scherrit-fitted on, with some slight tweaks. I sent the attached bikeCAD to Rychtarski.

Details-wise, I really like this one which has been a big influence:

I will be initally building it with a Sram Rival group that I have, and probably a placeholder shimano factory wheelset (I want nice posh wheels but am considering moving abroad for work within the next year, so will make my mind up on that in a few months and then probably splash out on wheels anyway, then regret it when it comes to shipping my possessions...)

1 Attachment

Other thoughts:

-Clearance for 700x28 tyres (or should I go 700x32 and add mudguard eyes? I want to run shallow drop road calipers. I plan on running 700x25 as a standard tyre)

-Straight blade steel fork, but with geo to match modern carbon so I can swap out in the future if I want to shed weight

-Columbus max tubing? I am a hair under 70kg and want it to be OK for rides of 4-5 hours, but light-ish and stiff enough to climb well. It won't be a crit bike, but I have a winter/ touring bike already (the crosscheck)

-External 1,1/8" headset, 27.2 seatpost, possibly a removable seat clamp? I want simple details

-British threaded bottom bracket. Press fit isn't for me

-Colour TBC, probably black though as I like black. But I could be persuaded otherwise.

-DT cable stops - I want them on the downtube, not the headtube

-Rear cable routing: I really like the internal cable route detail so I'll allow that concession to fancy-ness

Sounds good. What about considering disc mounts at the rear? Leaves it adaptable, a disc fork could be added later. I'd go 32mm and guards, always regretted my Equilibrium wouldn't fit em.

Great start. Exactly what I want too. Frikking love the one you posted above, so very subtle.

Agreed. It's got about a million miles of seatpost and I assume the rider has equally long arms for the drop to the bars, but the frame itself is lovely.

My first Rychtarski took 28mm + guards or 32mm without which was about perfect. Chainstays could've been shorter but whatevs. It had some of the features you ask for.

Cheers @psee your Rychtarskis have been a big influence too, I've enjoyed seeing all three of them.

Did you opt for mid-drop calipers on the one above, or did the tyres and 'guards squeeze in under a shallow drop? Also, I am curious why you went for a lugged seat cluster rather than brazed as the other joints in the frame. Just an aesthetic preference?

DT cable stops = helicopter tape on the headtube or oval scratches/rust.
HT cable stops = happiness.

Seriously, HT over DT every single time, unless you want to run DT shifters?

Good point - my main reasoning is to avoid what happened on psee's second bike (the awesome pink one) where the stops were HT-mounted but a long way from the DT.

I could just specify where I want them on the headtube, I guess.

...and DT shifters do win points with me, but since I have them on my Surly I will be running modern 'brifters' on this one. I hate that word, though.

I'm tempted to drop down to 32+PDW guards on the cross check, as 38s feel like overkill (although it's a comfy type of overkill so it's not all bad)

Can't find any other pics, but HT stops on this look awesome.

I'm tempted to drop down to 32+PDW guards on the cross check.

I believed lightweight 32mm is the best in term of comfort and performance, my only advice on this build is to go full disc, especially if you wish to run brifter (Rival hydraulic).

Yeah I'm well tempted by light 32 on the Surly. I need to badger @amey for a go on his Rychtarski so I can get a feel for what those tyres are feel like (I know they're wider and 650b, but I mean feel in terms of suppleness).

Why would you say disc on this? I don't want hydro, can't be bothered with bleeding and giant brake hoods. Granted if I had something built to replace my surly I would go with discs.

Thanks, I will be able to use that to communicate what I'm after. Out of interest what are the cable stops? I know they've been discussed before but can't recall where.

Why would you say disc on this?

Difference is night and day, I'd highly recommend going to a decent LBS and ask if they have any full hydraulic disc bike in stock for you to test ride.

It also mean more clearance with mudguard without the calipers getting in the way.

They may be specific to Serotta, not sure - they are Serotta "Split Head-ons"

But you can do exactly the same thing (in terms of placement) with off-the-shelf cable stops.

Like this:

BTW how short is the headtube? it might be idea to have the cable stop a little lower than the headtube (or back to the downtube stop), otherwise you'll have a rather short cable housing running between the handlebar and cable stop.

like this;

Dat head badge!!

What do you want out of the bike? Fast paced training/racing, "gravel"/rain bike or something else?
I've had Rychtarski build me two very different frames, and the difference was big!

My first (now Amey's) was build like a do it all bike, but the geo with room for fenders and the general setup was just too "woobly" and felt very slow on paved roads. The long reach brakes was also a big let down, the braking was really not very good. But it felt great when i took it off road. (Full Max tubing, english BB, build with lugs and brazed 1 1/8 headtube)

The second one, that i ride now, is damn great! I choose to stiffen up the front and got a more race like geo with normal brakes. It still has room for 28mm, I ride it with 25mm with a lot of clearance. This build feels a lot better on the road and still handles gravel/forrest riding like it should. (Max rear and Spirit front, Columbus Fel fork, BB30, 44mm HT (can be used with both 1 1/8 and tapered forks), fully brazed)

Everything he said.

Braking is even more of a letdown (something we discussed) with even longer drop brakes now but its mega fun to ride and an ideal trainer/audax setup IMO. Have a test ride on mine. It has 42c tyres.

I am not sure going disc is the greatest idea for your purpose given you have a cross check. And if you want to go disc just get one of these: http://road.cc/content/news/143362-first-look-mason-progressive-cycles

Maybe centrepull or direct mount .. as both of them will offer tyre clearance without any braking compromise and need to go disc .. i'd say aim for 32c without guards and 28c with guards anything above that wont stay true to its nature of 'road bike'.

Also @Captain_P are they Ritchey neo classics in both pics? And you can count me to buy the second rychtarski if you've had a change of heart ;)

No, the first are Rotundo.

I really wouldn't recommend anything other than normal road brakes - unless you plan on mainly doing offroad-ish riding. Again, I think it's important for you to specify what you want out of the bike/frame.

Discs > rim brakes

all day erry day... next project will be a roadie and discs obv. does not matter it will be ridden on tarmac.