[Closed] What ‘Road bike frame’ ?? I know, I know but help required.

Some bargain Cubes over on the German discount site (riding unbranded carbon and it's not broken yet...)

If you just don't like it then OK, but I bet there's nothing wrong with it.

I would imagine there would have been plenty of threads on here by now with people complaining if they failed on a regular basis (unless all the victims were killed in a fiery ball of death and so no-one ever reported it).

You could just wear a neck brace and ff helmet just in case..

Been wearing the full face helmet, pads and back protector but it’s really warm on the club rides in this weather.

So back to wanting a new frame

What's the budget and do you want a bike or a frame?

What do you want it for?

I have a CAAD4, and would probably replace it with a CAAD12 if it ever dies.

Trouble is that buying a frame only often seems very poor value, a CAAD12 is £900, the full ultegra bike can be had for £600 more.   If you could sell the PX then that might actually result in a better bike.

Some bargain Cubes over on the German discount site

I'm sure cubes are great, but as he wants a new bike rather than needing a new bike, I really struggle to 'want' a Cube, it would be like wanting a Skoda or a Dacia, they just don't have that sort of appeal. On the other hand I really want an Allez Sprint, but I know it would actually be really horrible to ride on anything other than really smooth tarmac, not the horrible rough stuff they seemed to have used round here!

Hmmmm, maybe £400? The PX has been upgraded so the only rubbish bit is the frame. Its full 6700 Ultegra 10spd now with some half okay carbon(ish) Shimano wheels (RS81)

I'd be well happy with a Cannondale or a Trek or a Spesh that I could just transplant everything. (inc std BB) Maybe that's moon on a stick.

5'11 and the PX is a Large which says 52cm and fits okay. Don't know how it compares to modern road geometry.

Gets used and abused

[img] [/img]

Very different to modern geometry, I ride a 52 Trek, I’m 5 foot 8 and prefer small frames.

Frames new are expensive, at least from value point of view.

Over budget, but I would save, beg, borrow and do the dishes for a week to get one of these...,

https://bowman-cycles.com/products/bowman-palace-r-frameset

http://road.cc/content/review/222693-bowman-palacer-frame-fork-headset-2017

Hmmmm, maybe £400?

Doesn't get you much I'm afraid! Not new anyway, and 2nd hand most people are selling whole bikes rather than splitting a low-mid range carbon frame for parts...

Maybe a ribble frameset for that sort of budget?

But it's sort of the same thing really, direct retail far Eastern manufactured stuff...

Your budget would probably get a decent used TCR frameset, but if you have trouble trusting a new bike from a budget brand I can't imagine a used one is going to assuage your worries...

TBH I think you might be better off switching to something metallic. Carbon anxiety is mostly triggered by too much reading the interwebz. But once people have it, they're probably better off accepting and extra kilo or two and having a steel frame...

This is sort of sexy For £440.

The planet x may be the flexiest bike I've ever ridden, but there are thousands of them out there and I'm not hearing of many breaking.

At that money new you aren't getting much better. Some of the cube frames just about sneak into budget.

Some shops have Kinesis Aithien frame sets around £530?

Although looking at that pic, if it's representative of your intended use I;d maybe look at something like aRibble 525?  It'll take bigger tyres, propper guards, and it's steel so should last forever (or the internet says it will in the same way it says carbon won't).

If you're loading it up for bikepacking and weight 90kg yourself, I'd guess a racy-road frame is not ideal... Perhaps something like a Genesis equilibrium? You can pick one of those up for under £400 new, much less on Ebay

e.g.  www.paulmilnescycles.com/genesis-equilibrium

Lots of "big names" have had frames and forks break. It isn't in any company's interest to have an item with their brand on it that's poor and all will avoid it, it's good business-sense after all

The house wine in most restaurants will be perfectly good too for exactly the same reason, it's cheaper than the well-known bottles and works just as well 🙂

Unless you shell out on a UK-built steel frame, 99.9% of your bike choices will be produced in the far east, whether it's Giant, Trek (made by Giant), Specialized (made by Merida) unless you're spending serious money (£2k+ frame-only) - the pricing differential between big brands and the likes of PX and Ribble is more likely down to the money they spend on branding and promotion and nothing to do with the quality of the product itself.  The PX frame, whilst having a reputation as being flexy, has been around a long while. For example, I know more people who have major problems with high-end Treks breaking than P-Xs

Get yourself one of these:

https://bowman-cycles.com/products/bowman-palace-r-frameset

Lovely stuff and the reviews are top notch.

If you geniuinely don't trust it then think about how you'll feel on a lighter frame?

No manufacturer can afford to sell frames that have any chance of breaking under normal use.

I'd go SH btw, I'm getting rubbish money for some lightweight frames I've sold recently.

Just, as with any frame, keep a close eye on it for any damage. And obviously, limit the hucks to flat you do on it 😉

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">I have one, there must be thousands out there, you don't hear about them falling to bits. I'd worry more about  an aluminium frame failing, tbh.</span>

At the price you're willing to pay, you're not going to get anything more fancy, and even at top dollar in the bike industry, the QA (in terms of things that are going to ruin your day) doesn't really change - you don't get NDT done on bike parts - and even if it did a knock in transit could result in a weakened frame.