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Nashar Cross frames any good?
Nashabr has some great deals on cross frames and carbon
forks Anyone build up a bike form this? |
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Nashar Cross frames any good?
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Nashar Cross frames any good?
On Oct 3, 10:36*am, Tim McNamara wrote:
In article , wrote: Nashabr has some great deals on cross frames and carbon forks Anyone build up a bike form this? Not specifically the 'cross frame, but a friend built up one of the Nashbar road frames as a travel and bad weather race bike and ended up liking it quite a bit. The way these things work, those frames could be built in the same factories that build the major label frames. I had a Nashbar cross frame I built up and rode on dirt roads, paved roads, and a little light single track. Nice enough bike. It was reasonably light, and had plenty of clearance for big tires/fenders, though it wasn't quite 29'er clearance. The slack head tube made the bike handle a little more like a MTB than a road bike, but it did eliminate the TCO I had on other cross/touring frames. Check the geometry info closely, it can be a little confusing the first time you look at it. The TT was a little long for my tastes, but that's all a matter of preference. If you're looking for a decent frame for a cheap price, it's not a bad way to go. Jason |
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Nashar Cross frames any good?
On Oct 3, 7:08*am, wrote:
Nashabr has some great deals on cross frames and carbon forks Anyone build up a bike form this? I've got one of the X-Frame cross frames that I built up this spring, mostly as a rain-safe commuter. http://www.bikejournal.com/images/hankamanianashbike[1].jpg It's unspectacular, but pretty fun to ride. Mounting fenders is kind of rough, because there is barely room for a nut between the chainstay bridge and bottom bracket, and no room at all to get a wrench on it. I wound up using a zip-tie down there. The seatstay bridge is drilled vertically, so you can just drill the fender and bolt it on, rather than using a bracket. I like the under-BB cable guide, which has the RD track elevated half an inch above (below, actually) the FD guide. This means that you can more easily cross the cables under the DT so the housing is cleaner and doesn't rub the head tube. I didn't get the Nashbar fork, though. I got one of the Bontragers that Wheel & Sprocket had for $70-ish on ebay, before Trek made them take them down. |
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Nashar Cross frames any good?
On Oct 3, 7:56*am, Jason wrote:
On Oct 3, 10:36*am, Tim McNamara wrote: In article , wrote: Nashabr has some great deals on cross frames and carbon forks Anyone build up a bike form this? Not specifically the 'cross frame, but a friend built up one of the Nashbar road frames as a travel and bad weather race bike and ended up liking it quite a bit. The way these things work, those frames could be built in the same factories that build the major label frames. I had a Nashbar cross frame I built up and rode on dirt roads, paved roads, and a little light single track. *Nice enough bike. *It was reasonably light, and had plenty of clearance for big tires/fenders, though it wasn't quite 29'er clearance. *The slack head tube made the bike handle a little more like a MTB than a road bike, but it did eliminate the TCO I had on other cross/touring frames. *Check the geometry info closely, it can be a little confusing the first time you look at it. *The TT was a little long for my tastes, but that's all a matter of preference. *If you're looking for a decent frame for a cheap price, it's not a bad way to go. Jason Agreeance on the long TT. I've got a 9cm stem to compensate. |
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Nashar Cross frames any good?
On Oct 3, 10:14*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In article , wrote: Nashabr has some great deals on cross frames and carbon forks Anyone build up a bike form this? Yes. I have a CX bike built from their frame and fork. I race it every weekend at this time of year, and am largely satisfied with it. Here's what they did right and wrong: Right: -price -not too heavy. It's aluminum, and the weight seems within reasonable parameters -cables all routed in the proper way (you think this is a joke, but for a while Fetish Cycles was heavily discounting its first-gen CX frames on eBay because the brake cable was routed along the underside of the top tube). -bitchin' matte-black finish with only one "X" head tube decal. -fork has a metal steer tube and carbon legs and metal dropouts, including the disc mount. That means it doesn't commit the fussier sins of all-carbon construction. Wrong: -135 mm rear dropout spacing, which is odd for a CX bike, since you usually want to borrow wheels from your road bike, not your MTB. There are arguments that 135 is a good choice because the wheels build up slightly stronger, but I didn't want this "feature." In practice, I just put my 130 mm wheels into the back, use the QR skewer to squeeze it together, and nothing has broken. -chainstay bridge is a weird thing on a CX bike. There's still lots of tire clearance, but mud will get caught there. -this is a compact-ish geometry frame. The top tube on my 50 (or 52 or whatever it is) is definitely sloped, though I have had no problems shouldering the bike in practice. OTOH, I also tend to carry my bike off-the-shoulder a lot in races, and I also don't ride a very large frame size. The compact geometry may make bike-carrying very annoying in larger sizes. -The fork is not terribly heavy, but in retrospect it would probably be possible to make it lighter and cheaper if it was all aluminum. There's some pretty good deals on forks out there, so you may be able to do better elsewhere. Hmm: -disc mounts, mounts for 2 bottle cages, and fender/rack mounts (including threaded mounts on the sides of the seat stays) which are great for versatility. -under-the-BB derailer cable routing; in practice this doesn't cause me problems, but a lot of CX bikes use a down-the-seat-tube routing for the fder, with a pulley mounted on the back of the seattube just below the fder to U-turn the cable back up. -The frame includes nothing but itself, the derailer hanger, and a few bolts for the bottle cages and rack mounts. You'll need a seatpost collar and a rear brake cable stop (if you use canti brakes). Nashbar sells one that attaches to the seatpost collar. It works. As an aside, I envision a glorious future in which some component company or another offers a CX-specific derailer: designed for top-entry of the cable, but pulling road-correct amounts of cable. Shimano makes top-entry (top-swing?) fders, but MTB-only. As another aside, I can't believe the UCI banned disc brakes. That's lame. Conclusion: I'm happy. If you want to build up a new CX frame from parts you have on hand, this is probably still the cheapest decent entry point. The other super-cheap CX frames out there are the Redline Conquest, the Planet X whatever, and the NYC Bikes Crosspeed II (some versions of the Crossspeed I have under-top-tube rear brake routing; if that doesn't matter for your purposes, they have 'em for $39 in their clearance section). As a racing bike, the "X" has been most satisfactory, especially for the price. As always, building a bike from parts is very close to a mug's game: if you actually value your time at a non-negative per-hour rate, you may not be able to justify the process. The small bits and pieces on these projects (cables, pedals, bar tape, whatever else you forgot to buy) always seem to add up remarkably fast. -- Ryan Cousineau / "In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls." "In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them." 135mm spacing is good given the presence of disc mounts. There is a dearth of disc-compatible 130mm hubs. FWIW, I stole wheels from my touring bike. Then aagain, you're racing with yours and I'm commuting with mine. Maybe go with 132.5, like Surly does? As for shouldering it, get a WTB PureV saddle. Its hooked nose will rest nicely on your shoulder. |
#8
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Nashar Cross frames any good?
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
Wrong: -135 mm rear dropout spacing, which is odd for a CX bike, since you usually want to borrow wheels from your road bike, not your MTB. There are arguments that 135 is a good choice because the wheels build up slightly stronger, but I didn't want this "feature." In practice, I just put my 130 mm wheels into the back, use the QR skewer to squeeze it together, and nothing has broken. -chainstay bridge is a weird thing on a CX bike. There's still lots of tire clearance, but mud will get caught there. -this is a compact-ish geometry frame. The top tube on my 50 (or 52 or Nashbar description now says 130mm rear hub spacing I want 135, ha. I am now trying to decide between the X frame and a motobecane,(for on and off road commuting) the motobecane already has the seat clamp, fork and headset installed for $200 shipped. The X is $129, then I have to add fork, seat clamp, headset plus shipping. I do like that the X says less toe overlap. Off for more measurements. dan |
#9
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Nashar Cross frames any good?
Tim McNamara
wrote: The way these things work, those frames could be built in the same factories that build the major label frames. Agree That's why I'm attracted to the low prices of the Nashbar frame and fork combo I've never built up a bike before tho..... although have done all my own maint in past Does there exist a web page that provides step by step instructions for building ones own bike? |
#10
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Nashar Cross frames any good?
Hank wrote:
I've got one of the X-Frame cross frames that I built up this spring, mostly as a rain-safe commuter. http://www.bikejournal.com/images/hankamanianashbike[1].jpg Nice! |
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