For Ian on this parish I think.....

Posted up then removed from Facebook today. What's the score?

Looked like a replacement for the old StoaterFT??

I saw that too...

Nothing to see here...

...yet

I saw it too :)

You guys are all on crack or something. Psychotic hallucinations probably. Bike obsessed nuts, yer brains are playing tricks on you.

Lucky it was on my work machine or I'd go digging through the cache :)

It looked lovely, but I see you've taken down the picture from everywhere

stevenshand wrote:You guys are all on crack or something. Psychotic hallucinations probably. Bike obsessed nuts, yer brains are playing tricks on you.

s'alright, I didn't want to see it anyway...

(damn, I only saw it whilst flicking through facebook between jobs and was going to have a better look later on )

Once the details are released it will be intersesting to see what the tyre clearance and chain stay length is, it didn't look to have anything unusual going on down by the bottom bracket.

When I saw it I was thinking it might be Stainless or Ti

See we do pay attention

Ok, I'll come clean.

This bike is pretty much just a wee itch I wanted to scratch. Geometry, clearances, cable routing braze-ons etc are almost exactly the same as our existing Stoater. The Stoater handling and ride is exactly the way I want it so no rush to change it on that model. The one you saw a picture of has exactly the same rear triangle but has a bigger diameter tubeset for the front triangle. 38 vs 35 for the downtube, 32 vs 28 for the seat tube, the toptube will be tapered and run from 32 to 35 at the front. We'll use a 44mm headtube.

This isn't a production bike (yet, and might never be). We'll build a couple and see how we get on with them. We get a lot of people who love the Stoater but for one reason or another feel the need for a carbon fork. With 1-1/8" carbon forks getting harder (more expensive) to make, it makes sense for us to explore a tapered fork compatible frame.

Ian is going to get one to test out for us. We pulled the picture after posting it as we felt that without any context, the picture might lead to confusion amongst customers currently on our build list. If we do end up with a production version, it will sit alongside our current range.

Oh, and it's still steel, and not stainless.

Happy to answer any specific questions anyone has either here or off-list.

Cheers

Steven

And that is the kind of customer peer pressure and response that I like :)

It looked ace BTW.

The Stoater finally arrived yesterday:


Shand Cycles Stoater by Ian Barrington, on Flickr

Looks lovely, and can't wait to get it built up. Though the build would be easier if I could decide what spec I want

At the moment I have a Thomson stem and seat post, Luxy bar.
Wheels - probably dynamo front for winter duties, and a CK rear I have knocking about (like you do...), laced to Stan's Grail rims.
I figure gears would make it more versatile (yes, you read that correctly )
Swithering somewhat on groupset - Sram Force CX1 looks nice, 1x11, hydro brakes etc, but £££.

The fork is a TRP carbon prototype jobbie: http://road.cc/content/news/138884-new- ... s-fork-trp

That looks lovely Ian. I wouldn't spoil it with Sram though

What's wrong with Sram..?

Their CX1 offering looks significantly more advanced than anything Shimano have on offer. 1x11 appeals too, save having two shifters, front mech etc. Cleaner, lighter, quieter.

Open to suggestions though, as I'm not exactly experienced when it comes to using gears

Sram is made of cheese and it will have avid brakes too, which are a pain to set up. Shimano is much nicer, the 105 had been updated this year and feels very nice ( I've just put it on a £2500 carbon frame). Just change the front chain ring to a single and you're good to go

Do Shimano do a clutch mech that is compatible with a road shifter?

In terms of shifter action, I prefer the double tap of SRAM to the rotating brake lever of Shimano

If i was speccing a bike like that now I'd wait a few weeks for the xt 11 speed cassettes to be available, there are 11-40 or 11-42. 105 hydro levers and an mtb clutch mech. narrow wide chain ring. jobs-a-guddun...

Interesting, thanks Ian

But, does a 105 shifter play nicely with an XT mech?

You've got me on the clutch, my friend raced CX with a normal Di2 shifter/derailleur without any issues and I guess reliability is key there.

If you prefer the action of sram, then stick with that. After twelve years of shimano, I couldn't get on with Sram but that's personal preference

Ian wrote:Interesting, thanks Ian

But, does a 105 shifter play nicely with an XT mech?

I've haven't used road 11 speed myself but am sure I'd spotted a blog about that set up, a quick search can't find it now though. so long as the cable actuation id the same it'll be fine. I do know that road 10 speed shifters work perfectly with MTB 9 speed rear mech (as I run that set up) but then obviously you would need to go the cable disk route. I have TRP spyres and am pretty impressed by them.although I 'd guess you could have 105 hydros for not too much more.

this - http://www.cxmagazine.com/shimano-xtr-m ... -questions - seems to say that Shimanos official line is that mtb 11 doesn't work with road. IF that's the case I'd be quite happy with a narrow wide ring (especially as it will be on the large side and have more links wrapped and will stay on even better) and a NON clutch mech. I've run a n/w 1x9 with a 30t up front on my commuting bike, a rigid 29er and never dropped the chain. despite some quite rooty and rattley fun between home and work ;-)

in my experience all a non clutch mech really results in is more chain slap.

I've often used road rear mechs way over their stated cassette size. And worst case would be a longer B screw


To stick up for sram, i do have xx1 on my best bike. its worked flawlessly even though i fitted it and maintain it. its just the reputation of avid brakes that would put me off... and the cost of sram cassettes. ouch! although theres no reason not to use a shimano 11 speed cassette.

Ian wrote:Interesting, thanks Ian

But, does a 105 shifter play nicely with an XT mech?

Yes - pull ratio is the same.

I'd personally keep looking at SRAM offerings though. Shift action is nicer, hoods feel better, mechs are more dependable in my experience. I only have one Shimano setup anymore - my 9 speed commuter - which I am working my way through two cassettes and mechs on before I switch it to SRAM.

I've tried both the SRAM and Shimano hydro options - the SRAM ones feel great and are fast to engage, the Shimano felt a bit slowed down - which from what we were told was done on purpose. How easy either are to bleed at a later stage... this I don't know. But they feel far better than anything TRP have on offer, and comparable with the Hope V-Twin.

GregMay wrote:

Ian wrote:Interesting, thanks Ian

But, does a 105 shifter play nicely with an XT mech?

Yes - pull ratio is the same.

for 11 speed?

Ohhh...now that I am not 100% certain of.

Being Shimano I'd expect the pull ratio for the road and MTB 11 speed to be the same as they are both using the same space as a 10 speed setupd.... but that is leading into guestimations.

GregMay wrote:Ohhh...now that I am not 100% certain of.

Being Shimano I'd expect the pull ratio for the road and MTB 11 speed to be the same as they are both using the same space as a 10 speed setupd.... but that is leading into guestimations.

10 speed road levers with 9 spd Mtb rear.

As my post above says - shimano claim that road and Mtb 11 speed aren't compatible. Don't they use a different free hub body on the road ones?