Titanium touring / audax / adventure / do it all bike. (Assistance appreciated!)

doh. newpagefail.

I wouldn't worry about going through Aliexpress too much, if you can find more/better choice through that portal. It's one of the world's largest e-commerce sites and I think you can use paypal...

That Litespeed from Evans is a great deal for someone

So the frame arrived last week, not as good condition as stated but it came up lovely after it was de-stickered and cleaned up. It seems pretty burly and quite compact which I guess is what you want in a CX bike.

Parts have been arriving throughout the week, the kinesis forks look better than expected, headset was a rip off for what it is, loving the planet x cages & bars and have gone with some low level semi-ironic purple anodising.

I've temporarily stripped some bits from the stable to get it rolling. Pleased with how the 32c tyres work.

And this is where I'm at now, the mudguards were/are be a bit of a bodge to fit, borrowed cheapo wheels, loving the feel of the bars and the big brooks doesn't look as bad as I thought. I reckon it's coming together nicely, sort of a medium weight tank vibe.

I took the middleburn cranks from one mtb and the ring from another. The saddle, tyres and ill fitting guards are from the old tourer with a new condor carbon seatpost and clamp. The engraved bell obscures multiple headset spacers but there's no shame when it's a tourer.

There's still no dynamo which was the point of the build and the gears are rudimentary to say the least. I'm temporarily looking to use an old 7 speed thumbshifter on the wrong diameter bars, with a 9 speed mech and a standard tooth front ring. Just got some tektro levers coming from ebay and will probably get some bb7s while I work out what to do about hydraulics. I'd really like some sexy carbon brifters as the project moves on and maybe some of those hy/rd calipers.

Kinesis has just launched the new tripster which would be just what I'd be looking to get. I'll probably keep it in mind for a year or so to see how the price is.

Looking to use something like these now, just missed out on some on ebay last night. Then all I'll need is some HY/RDs and I should be good to go.

Which kinesis forks are they? Thank you

@fredtc Kinesis Crosslight CXD Fork from Merlin Cycles

What speed bar ends are you after?

just 8/9 at the minute maybe 11 in the future...

Normally a lurker, but I have a tripster ATR so here are my thoughts...

It's fecking amazing IF you want a bike that is primarily for rambling adventures, dirt roads, light tours and so on.

I ride it mostly on road for long distances - up to 600km so far - (I am an audax rider) and it is super comfy, solved my tingly hands problem. On road it is fine - very stable as you would expect - but a little uninspiring. I think of it as a Range Rover - smooth, capable, comfy - and when you need that it is perfect. Once you hit dirt roads and mild tracks though it really starts to make sense and you can bowl along on that kind of terrain at speed forever, it's really really nice on that kind of thing, so much better than my Kinesis 4t. It's also a great commuter as it soams up crap london streets and it's easy to pop it over curbs and such. You know when MTBs went long, low and slack but still managed to handle ok? The ATR is like that, but on a drop bar bike and no where near as extreme obviously.

However, if I had my time again, I would get the GF ti. This is because I like my bikes to feel a little bit more sporty. I picked up the ATR second hand, so not complaining and I will use it for very long rides, comutting and fowl weather days but I am looking for a new steel road frame of the 73 parallel kind with mudguards and sidepull brakes for shorter audaxs and summer fun.

So it's all a question of whether that extra 0.5kph on road speed of a GF would be useful to you? Also be aware that the head tubes on the ATR are really long - if you need a more traditional fit or lower bards the GF will be better.

Hope this helps - it's a nice problem to have :-)

thanks