Are all the alloy winter bikes the same cup of of tea?

[Ugo51]

Hi guys,
What I want to say in the subject is: is it worth upgrading a winter alloy frame for another?

I have a Boardman SLR8.6, which despite the somewhat limited tire clearance, has mudguard eyelets and rack mounts. I find the frame reasonably comfortable, albeit a bit stiff, and a good fit, but the building quality is not very good.
I heard good things about the Kinesis T3 frame. Would it offer a better riding experience and building quality than my current frame?

Ultimately, I know it's a difficult question to answer, but I thought it might be interesting to have a chat and hear what you have to say.

Cheers!

 

[Captain Stupido]

Re:

Interesting question, I have also wondered about the difference in "feel" between modern alloy frames given that I assume many of them come out of a similar factory, using similar materials and construction techniques.

I've been thinking about replacing my alloy framed Trek 1400 with a more recent budget "gravel" bike (maybe a Planet X London Road) to gain some mudguard clearance (and disk brakes) on a lightweight and still racy machine. Vintage steel is more my comfort zone (no pun intended) but new alloy bikes often look good value all things considered.

FWIW while I quite like the Trek (it's stiff, but in a good way) I have ridden plenty of alloy frames that I didn't like, most recently a Kona Dew which was perfect on paper but seemed geometrically opposed to climbing hills.

I also really like my alloy framed tandem, a Circe Helios.

Most of the discussion on here re modern bikes tends towards stuff that's pretty exotic to me (lots of titanium) I'm sure it's all nice but I'm more interested in the good value stuff. Mass produced aluminium has got to be the cheapest way to make a decent bike these days, and there's no reason why a sub £1000 bike shouldn't be worth owning.

Oh and by the way you've got your idioms muddled up - "kettle of fish" would be better than "cup of tea", e.g. "Modern bikes aren't my cup of tea. My old Claud Butler is a completely different kettle of fish".

 

[Ugo51]

Re:

Thanks for the contribution!
And thanks for pointing out the wrong use of idioms! I kind of knew that cup of tea wasn't the right one to use, but I couldn't come up with anything better.
In case it wasn't obvious, English is not my 1st language

Yes, I've also always been a fan of steel but my pockets are not very deep an, as you say, alloy offers great value.
Of course the word "value" is very personal, but wanting a bike to use for commuting and the occasional weekend ride, there isn't much in the world of steel that satisfies my needs.
I've been hunting for a frame on eBay for a while, but the vast majority of good steel frames don't offer mudguards eyelets, let alone rack mounts. Or if they do, they are fully fledge touring frames. A bit over the top for me.

Incidentally, there is a beautiful steel Raleigh Randonneur 708 frame for sale on eBay now, but I suspect it's going to sell for well above £250.

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

People seem to really rate the Sonder frames and they seem huge value. Planet X are Planet X so expect weird geometry, quality control issues or missing features but bargain prices to go with them. My pal has a Vitus and he likes it, the finish is pretty good and it's quite light.

Again, from reading people's opinions on modern alu there are plenty of variables so don't assume a cheap frame will be as nice as a more expensive one but by the same token, do your research with a list of things you want from a frame and there's no reason you can't get that from a cheaper one.

 

[drystonepaul]

Re:

I have a Kinesis T3 and it's a very good 'budget' frame developed from the Kinesis T2 which had a great reputation before it.
It currently retails for about £300.

Be aware it's available as a frame only so you'll need to get some forks to go with it. Kinesis do the RL01 and RL02 alloy forks for around £75 but I run mine with the Kinesis Tracer carbon fork which costs £200.
The fork contributes much more to the ride quality than the frame. In my experience alloy forks aren't that pleasant in terms of comfort.
Being a fairly basic, albeit very nicely designed, aluminium frame it rides as well as an aluminium frame can be expected to.

I'm a bit spoilt though.
I've always been a fan of the products that Kinesis produce. I like them so much that I gained Kinesis Pro Shop status for my bike shop a few years ago.
As a result I have ridden and/or owned several bikes from the Kinesis range including my current favourite the titanium Gf-ti which also has the Tracer fork.

I also have a few Planet X bikes, a couple in carbon, one alloy and two steel. Their Holdsworth Professional frameset is built from Columbus Spirit tubing and rides very nicely.

But if I was to choose an aluminium frame I would definitely go with Kinesis. They specialise in aluminium frames and have invested lots of resources into getting the very best from the material.

 

[Ugo51]

Looks like I just missed out on a nice T3 frame...
Oh well, another one will crop up at some point.