Down to £799 . I sold my last road bike as I hate road riding with cars and lorries etc, but there is now a network of tracks near me and I can do 40 miles almost all on cycle paths. Plus there is some "gravel" I can access too. So I am kind of waking up to it. Before all you roadies deride 40 miles, I'm 1.5 times my ideal body weight and 40 miles is a goal in the distant future...
I like the steel frame for its comfort, seems like a decent spec, is there a better alternative?
I wouldn’t have thought so TBH, and if there was it would also be from PX.
PX have been selling their new Mujo ? steel cross/gravel bike off cheap recently - that looks very nice.
Yeah I saw that one, but its 1249, so 450 more expensive, I'm struggling to see why it is better?
Same forks, wheels, groupset, brakes are hydraulic, and frame looks sexier, not a huge difference.
Yeah I saw that one, but its 1249, so 450 more expensive, I’m struggling to see why it is better?
Hydraulic brakes are worth a few hundred quid in upgrade costs, then it looks like you've got a triple butted steel frame vs. unspecified on the Kaffenback.
Weren’t they £600 last week? That’s one reason not to spend £700 on one today I suppose.
hydro brakes on drop bars aren’t a cheap upgrade, they’re great, but unless you’re doing big miles in horrible conditions I’m not sure they’re really worth it. Bit more power, but the biggest bonus is the automatic pad adjustments, I was having to fettle my brakes every day when I had cable discs.
The other side of the coin is that I’ve got a horrific honking front brake on my 105 equipped road bike and the power isn’t there either. Could be fixed with a pad swap, or it could be a leak and take a bit of time and cash to fix. Sometimes I wish I’d stayed with cables.
Its 800, not 700!
were they 600? Ok I might wait until the new year sales then.
I like cable brakes for the same reasons. They other one is dead sexy, but I am not, so I can't see how it will make my life better.
Cable discs on a drop bar are fine for normal use. I used some to come down a mountain on gravel, it was terrifying. Can’t wait to do it again.
Just a thought. Everyone bangs on about the nice ride that steel gives. Hmmm. This ma well have been the case when alloy had switched from being all soft and bend to rigid as hell and at the same time we remembered or still had a hand made 531 frame in the shed. That 531 bike will still be as nice although mabe more flexible than is considered good today.
However own brand steel often isn't exactly 531. It will be thick plain gauge stuff and if there is any double butting it will be main tubes only. It will have a fancy anme and a big sales pitch about the smooth ride from steel. Good examples of this would be Planet X steel ( 2 old Kaffs showed me that) The stuff used by smaller branded like Cotic (m Road Rat and X were real gas pipe specials) will be the same stuff. It will be over engineered to cope with modern safety standards which are wa in excess of what is needed.
Finally these bikes come with low spec bits and pieces (hefty wheels for example.
Nothing really wrong with these bikes but they are not a magic carpet either.
Just checked my deleted emails, yeah 12/12 Kaffenback was £599, it was on the 12 bikes of Christmas and there was only 20 bikes at that price so might not be reduced that low again.
I’d have bought one, but couldn’t afford it and don’t need it right now anyway
yeah 12/12 Kaffenback was £599,
Ok, will sit on this for a while.
I bought one about 8 years ago. It's heavy, uninspiring and lifeless. But also solid, sturdy and strong. It's survived literally thousands of commuting miles in all weather with ony two cassette/chain/chainring replacements, brake pads twice, gear cables and BB once. It has a dynamo hub, mudguards and badly fitting panier racks as the only upgrades. During covid lockdown I did over 3000km, the bb7s are fine and never need bleeding.
I thought about buying a new one but actually this one is fine. Don't skimp on tyres, they will affect the feel of the ride.
Over 11 kilos when you add pedals says "planted". The wheels will be heavy. I imagine the triple butted steel frame (if it is that one) is reasonable, but the rest will be heavy. Even the carbon forks will have an alloy steerer and come in at >0.6 kg. Geometry is reasonable and looks like a touring bike. It won't ride like that nice 531 road bike you might once have fancied.
