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I commute past Swinley so looking for something that can do 50miles comfortably on the road (drop bars being essential then) and cope with the blue/red (with a bit of sphincter clenching anticipated due to drops/geometry/fixed gear, but not a cross bike with fragile wheels or spindly forks).
Looking for something that'll take 29er tyres and wheels, designed around drop bars, disk brakes, be singlespeed-able (or fixed). Ohh and 2nd hand, haven't got the £££ for a new Swift frame, but not had a huge amount of luck searching. And would rather stick with bigger purpose designed frames than sizing down a 29er and adding drops to keep the front triangle open for frame bags and/or hike a bike.
Gryphon, Fargo (alternator version), anything else I've not looked for? I'd like a Vagabond, but there's no way of running it fixed.
The new ALU tripster?
AWOL has 'swinger' dropouts.
Not sure about Bombtrack Beyond
Plenty of CX bike type options, but I'd rather something from the drop bared MTB end of the spectrum than a CX bike. More suited geometry, bigger tyres, tougher frames etc.The new ALU tripster?
Original Mk 1 Escapade has horizontal drop outs, but probably fails your list of requirements on tyre clearance - tight squeeze with 40mm on hope xc 29er wheels.
Was about to suggest a 29er mtb frameset. Then thought of a Kona Unit with drops. Then saw this on [url= http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kona-Unit-Monstercross-Drop-Bar-29er-mountain-bike-Custom-XT-Thomson-Shimano-/132295386856?hash=item1ecd6b66e8%3Ag%3A%7EHAAAOSwY99Zkc4e&_trkparms=pageci%253A36eb4cdc-81a0-11e7-a167-74dbd1808065%257Cparentrq%253Ae5540e1015d0abc01eebbf70fffef859%257Ciid%253A1 ]Ebay[/url]
would rather stick with bigger purpose designed frames than sizing down a 29er and adding drops to keep the front triangle open for frame bags
I sized down a Karate Monkey for this job and still have plenty of space for frame bags, although the bars are perhaps a bit low for what you require (I came from an XL Gryphon with Luxys which was never quite right and I wanted a more roadie / CX position). Have ridden around some rocky places like Portland Dorset with a little extra *ahem* foot faults 😆
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Yea, maybe I'm overthinking the frame size issue, I'd still be on a medium and I'm not too proud to put a stem 'up' rather than flat. There's a medium Swift on ebay at the moment too.........
+1 for the Swift.
Loved mine in MX guise. Ticks all the boxes.
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Ps first time around Swinley I rode this...much fun but much bum clenching!
I think a [url= https://www.cxmagazine.com/review-raleigh-stuntman-drop-bar-dropper-post-29er-gravel-adventure-bike ]Raleigh Stuntman[/url] would be great for this sort of thing, if only you could get them over here 😥
Pipedream ALICE? Looks like a great do-it all bike!
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That pipedream looks nice, although well out of my budget!
You can probably set a vagabond up as a fixie, i have alfine on mine, just used a chain tensioner. Might be more suitable options out there though.
You can probably set a vagabond up as a fixie, i have alfine on mine, just used a chain tensioner. Might be more suitable options out there though.
Can't use a chain tensioner with a fixed gear. An Exzentriker might work, but would push it up to Swift prices.