Oxford platinum steel frame



amazinmets73

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Aug 11, 2010
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A little insight into my intended usage of the bike: I do not drive and cycle as sole means of transportation. During the winter I plan to use the the bike to commute to work and for daily errands. This is why I leaned towards the Oxford, as I wanted the comfort of steel. I also plan to use the bike for light touring-exploring, and begin competing in my first cyclocross races. Intending to equip the bike with Ultegra 6800 or Force22
 
IMO, if you are planning on riding the bike in the Winter -- presumably, in all types of weather -- then you may want a bike which can accommodate fenders (i.e., YOU will need to decide if you want fenders) ...
  • A CX frame may-or-may-not have eyelets ... A CX frame may-or-may-not have clearance for the desired tire size + fenders.
 
How would one go about finding out if the frame can accommodate fenders? I'd thought about fenders before. So practical, yet so unsightly!
 
Originally Posted by amazinmets73

How would one go about finding out if the frame can accommodate fenders? I'd thought about fenders before. So practical, yet so unsightly!
Post-2000 Road frames cannot typically use "normal" fenders ...

  • there ARE clip-on fenders for those frames

A "real" CX frame will not have EITHER water bottle bosses OR fender eyelets ...

A bike with eyelets on the droputs may not not have clearance for fenders ...

Typically, if the frame uses LONG REACH (49-59) brake calipers then I would presume that it can accept fenders ... in other words, you probably need to see 10+ mm of visible clearance between the tire & the underside of the crown of the fork and/or rear brake stay ...

  • some Road frames which have clearance (e.g., older, steel "racing" frames) but may not have eyelets in which case you would use the fore mentioned clip-on fenders or P-clamps to hold the ends of the fender's stays.
 
I'm willing to sacrifice the prestige of having a real cross bike, given that I plan to use this bike for far more than racing. Fenders are probably a must, much as I hate to admit it. It's hard to see the amount of clearance from the pictures, so I suppose my best bet is to e-mail the sellers.
 
Originally Posted by amazinmets73

I'm willing to sacrifice the prestige of having a real cross bike, given that I plan to use this bike for far more than racing. Fenders are probably a must, much as I hate to admit it. It's hard to see the amount of clearance from the pictures, so I suppose my best bet is to e-mail the sellers.
FYI. This may be stating the obvious, but for the frames you posted links for, the typical rider is probably TALLER THAN 5'10" tall ...

BTW. REDLINE makes a very popular frame used by BOTH non-sponsored CX racers AND by riders whose types of riding include the other types which you anticipate using your bike for.

I think that 8-speed drivetrains are still popular (for the slightly greater cog separation) amongst non-sponsored CX riders ...

  • I know some people will think I am beating-a-dead-horse, but a 10-speed Campagnolo shifter + 8-/9-speed Shimano rear derailleur EQUALS 8-speed Shimano indexing.
 
Just delivered! [ATTACHMENT=527]image.jpg (257k. jpg file)[/ATTACHMENT] Now, for the build.... I'm thinking Ultegra 6800
 
FWIW. Unless you are someone who likes to upgrade components on a regular basis (nothing wrong with THAT!!!), if you are compelled to building the bike with a "group" then I think that you will be much happier with Campagnolo Chorus components OR a pre-PowerTorque Athena-or-Centaur group.
 
Athena and Chorus are out of my price range. The groupsets I had in mind were Ultegra, Rival22, and Centaur. There's also a guy in my area selling a used 10 speed Record group. What makes you recommend Campagnolo? I've never ridden it
 
Alfeng, what cassette, rear derailleur size, and crankset would you recommend for this build? Also, how do I find out which bottom bracket and front derailleur clamp size my frame requires?
 
Originally Posted by amazinmets73

Alfeng, what cassette, rear derailleur size, and crankset would you recommend for this build? Also, how do I find out which bottom bracket and front derailleur clamp size my frame requires?
Regardless of the BRAND of components & regardless of the gearing that you choose, I would always prefer a medium-to-long cage rear derailleur ...

  • because I am not racing, I don't mind dragging a few extra links of chain around as I pedal
  • so, the longer the cage better.

  • the EXCEPTION would be if you are racing & using an 11-23 Cassette

THAT means, that if I were equipping the bike with Shimano shifters, I would probably use an SGS cage XT rear derailleur ... specifically, a Rapid Rise rear derailleur if I were using Shimano shifters.

If I were using Campagnolo shifters (almost any generation & model), then I would prefer a 9-speed XT-or-XTR rear derailleur (because it's what I have -- by my reckoning, the old XTR 950 is essentially an 8-speed 105 rear derailleur with a longer cage & different cosmetic finish) ... but, that's more of a cost issue vs. a Campagnolo rear derailleur. If you get a Campagnolo rear derailleur, then I recommend you get one which has a "medium" or "long" cage (I think that Campagnolo's medium cage rear derailleur is a little shorter than Shimano's long Road cage rear derailleurs ... it is easily long enough for use with their Cassettes which have a 29t largest Cog).

Now, the Cassette & Crankset that YOU choose really depends on the type of riding which you are planning AND how strong a rider you are.

MOST steel frames use an English threaded BB ... the exceptions are Colnago, De Rosa, Olmo, presumably Pinarello ...

I think the choice can be as much as an aesthetic choice as a budgetary one ...

I think that the ONLY (?) type which I would recommend against are BBs with an ISIS spline only because there seemed to have been an inconsistency in the quality of the bearings.

Some/Many people have had a disappointing experience with FSA's MegaExo BBs ... if you choose an FSA crankset, it is apparently a safer bet to opt for Shimano Hollowtech II BB cups (they are NOT perfect ... some have thread which were machined to NASA tolerances which means that they are too tight to thread into a frame without knocking down the threads).

The front derailleur for most steel framed bikes will have a 28.6mm clamp (or, be a braze-on front derailleur).

  • if you are CX racing, the trend in Europe has been to only have a Single chainring for over a decade ...
  • and, THAT setup is become more in vogue, here, too.

Originally Posted by amazinmets73

Athena and Chorus are out of my price range. The groupsets I had in mind were Ultegra, Rival22, and Centaur. There's also a guy in my area selling a used 10 speed Record group. What makes you recommend Campagnolo? I've never ridden it
As one might suppose, despite what the marketing people and/or professional reviewers would have you believe, there isn't a perfect component group ...

Campagnolo is handicapped by generally HIGH prices + an incorrectly presumed lack of compatibility with components from other manufacturers.

IMO, Shimano is only handicapped by a design legacy which involves an eccentric take-up spool for its shifters, The shifters ARE a bit porky.

SRAM is handicapped by terrible customer service in North America and, although elegant-AND-clever, its Double-Tap shift mechanism.

IMO, despite the cost of the disposable components, Campagnolo shifters are the most economical because they are NOT disposable ...

  • one of the so-called selling points which others like to mention is that Campagnolo shifters can be rebuilt Campagnolo Record/Chorus derailleurs can be rebuilt too ...
  • the other Campagnolo derailleurs have rivets instead of bolts

  • for me, the MAIN selling point of Campagnolo shifters is that they work better regardless of the brand of derailleurs which are attached to them clean shifts without the chain skating on the tops of the teeth
  • or the chain being thrown however, a chain catcher MAY be necessary with a Triple
[*]regardless of the load that the drivetrain is under
[*]secondarily, the 11-speed Campagnolo shifters can be used with 11-/10-/9-/8-/7-speed Shimano/-compatible components with only minor fiddling ...


What's not to like?

BTW. I think that the dodgy Campagnolo PowerTorque cranks were designed/spec'd/released to make the UltraTorque cranks more desirable! I would recommend AGAINST a PowerTorque crankset, so if you do opt for mostly Centaur components (for example), then choose a non-group crankset OR an UT crankset from an earlier iteration of the group.

The Athena-and-below shifters now have the Xenon-based mechanism ...

That's "okay"; but, the UltraShift (Record & Chorus AND older post-2009 V3 shifters) are better -- the UltraShift shifters have a more-familiar-mechanism AND (AFAIK) actually lighter than their PowerShift brethren.

SOME people love SRAM ...

  • some people thought the Emperor's new clothes was good looking, too!

This past weekend, I was just talking with someone who had set up (about a year-and-a-half ago) a CX frame with a SRAM Red group ...

He prefers to ride his OTHER bike which has 9-speed Shimano Dura Ace components.

He still can't wrap his head around the fact that Campagnolo shifters work VERY WELL with Shimano drivetrains even though he knows that I have been using the mis-matched components for over 10 years.
 
Alfeng, I consider myself a strong rider given my lack of experience, especially climbing. I've stated what kind of riding I intend to use the bike for. Ribble does not offer XT rear derailleurs with their 6800 package, so I'd have to buy them separately, which would most likely lead to me going over budget. I will not be getting an FSA crank, make no mistake about that. So, is there any way to discern what bottom bracket I need by looking over the frame? Or shall I just assume I need an English?
 
I just won a Super Record 11 mini group on EBay. I get shifters, brakes, and front and rear derailleurs.
 
Alfeng, what kind of crankset would you recommend? I was thinking about using an Athena to save some coin
 
Originally Posted by amazinmets73

Alfeng, what kind of crankset would you recommend? I was thinking about using an Athena to save some coin
There is certainly nothing wrong with having components which have different group names emblazoned on this-or-that component.

  • as I mentioned before, I think you should avoid PowerTorque cranksets ... so, look for NOS-or-whatever-you-prefer on eBay.

I do NOT know whether you will have a slack chain in the small-small combination when using a "Compact" (50/34) crank and a SHORT CAGE rear derailleur ... THAT's more of a cosmetic issue on a Road bike.

FWIW. It's blasphemous to say this as far as ALL of the crank manufacturers are concerned, but with Campagnolo shifters more-than-with-any-other-brand, the crankset really, REALLY DOESN'T MATTER ...

IMO, after sorting out the BB choice, it is a 99% aesthetic choice ...

  • you can always change cranks at some point in the future

FYI. Several years ago, when I was testing the limits of how well-or-not Campagnolo shifters could function in a "real world" test, I put some OLD, comparatively THIN, unramped-and-unpinned 7-speed (?) chainrings on a Dura Ace (Octalink) crankset ...

  • the result was that there was NO balking-or-hesitation when transferring the chain from the inner to the outer chainring (Ultegra 6500 front derailleur / 9-speed Shimano chain)...
  • in other words, the Campagnolo's shifting was vastly superior to a 9-speed Shimano all-Ultegra setup with ramped-and-pinned chainrings!