steel 29er frames? // offroad on an all-arounder

[thendenjeck]

so i've been riding my Karate Monkey with 2.35 Panaracer Rampages, and I'm kind of in love with it that way, really a different, and more appropriate beast than the way I had it setup before. but there are some things about the frame I would like to be a bit different. so I'm wondering, what are other options out there for steel geared 29ers? Anyone ridden the Niner MCR? is there another 29er frame that has fender mounts? also, I would really prefer that it have vertical dropouts, I'm not super stoked on all the futzing necessary to change wheels, etc. on track dropouts with discs and a derailleur, and I really don't have much desire to ride single speed these days.

on the other side of this, anyone have experience riding singletrack on something like a Rawland (my drakkar seller has retracted, so I'm still looking)? is off-roading on an all-arounder solid enough for it to be a good idea? I suppose I could go custom, although not anytime soon.


thanks! :beer:

[DRZRM]

My answer is theoretical as I don't have the bike yet, but I just met with Mike Zanconato for measurements on my steel 29er. He is great to work with, a custom might be the way to go. Off the peg, those Chris King Cielos are lovely, but I don't know about fender mounts.

[thendenjeck]

hmm, didn't know zanc was doing 29ers. but that would be a ways off, like a year from now. i'd kind of like to pick something up to ride right now. aren't the cielos priced close to custom?

[thendenjeck]

re: cielo. no fender mounts, but god those things are beautiful

[thendenjeck]

hmm, singular peregrine seems like a good option.

[Steve in SLO]

The Niner MCR is really nice. Rides like a big, grown up steel hardtail 26er, just like it should. Pretty traditional mountain bike feel. It would make nice all-rounder with some drops.
Salsa Fargo might be close to what you are looking for. I was just talking to a fellow forumite on a ride today and he really likes his.

[gdw]

The Niner MCR is a nice frame and liked by the riders I know who own them. There are a number of other production steel 29ers worth checking out although most don't come with fender eyelets since very few riders use them with disk brakes.

Salsa El Mariochi
Vassago Bandersnack
Jamis Dakota
Haro Mary
Raleigh XXIX
Rocky Mountain Hammer - older ones have eyelets
Voodoo Soukri

The all-arounders like the Rawlands, Salsa Fargo, Vassago Fisticuff are versatile and popular with folks who spend more time on dirt roads and fire trails than singletrack.

[csm]

my Fargo is definitely more suited for fire roads and double track.I have done some single track on it though.

[thendenjeck]

.....

[msl819]

My Cielo mtb is great. One day I will move to a 29er f/s and move the Cielo to a fully rigid daily rider. It does not have eyelets but I am not a fan of riding in the rain anyway. I cant think of what else I would want on an all arounder. Paragon sliding dropouts for gears or ss. They are not cheap but they sure are pretty. It is more than competent as it is set up now as a XC rig, but definitely not racey geometry. Here is a link to a review that I fully agree with. Actually I bought this exact bike from Cielo as it was one of their demo fleet. I still ride it as you see it in the pic with the exception of saddle and pedals. If you have the money I highly recommend them.

http://twentynineinches.com/2010/08/19/cielo-cycles-29er-final-review/

[that guy]

Help us help you - are you looking for a mountain bike with fender mounts? Or more of a crossover like the Fargo or Vaya? Or a monstercross? What kind of riding do you want to do with it?

[A1CKot]

I recently purchased a Waltworks frame set. $1250 for a custom frame and fork with no additional costs for braze-ons. I think the price went up by $50 but communication was great and the frame set looked really good. I added couplers and sliders and stayed right around 2k. The lead time was shorter than advertised and he offered follow up support to help put the bike together.

Great guy and he is all about the bicycle. Check out his blog and his other pages.
http://waltworks.blogspot.com/

[thendenjeck]

Monstercross or crossover i suppose. a 29er allarounder

[gone]

Another option would be to put gears on your KM and when time and/or budget allows transfer the components to a frame set that suits you better. That solves your single speed problem sooner, you still have a bike that'll take fenders and you're not spending money on throwaway components since they'll move to your next bike.

I converted my KM to a 1x8 speed.

Just a thought.

[thendenjeck]

Km is currently 1x9, and parts will be transferred. it meets most of my needs, just have some things about it i would like to be dif: namely vertical dropouts and not suspension corrected goofiness. and rack mounts. i guess im left with rawland or singular, although ideally i would like to be able to do singletrack too. i guess maybe i keep the km for the single track

[Mtmooradian]

K Bedford
Beautiful steel and Ti custom 29ers. I love my race bike he built me.

[Mr Cabletwitch]

I ride a Surly Cross check with 700x44c Mutano Raptor tires on pretty much everything, from the road to singletrack, while its really not good at single track, and I usually avoid technical riding it gets the job done. I do have a MCR for that type of riding.
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/392231_2406385471323_1001751655_32060602_191756380 7_n.jpg

[Ken Robb]

I'm not sure where the dividing line is between a road bike with clearance for FAT tires and a 29er lies but I have ridden my Rivendell Allrounder off-road with 700x42 tires (I think it can fit 700x52). The Riv Atlantis is the production version of this bike and they come with eyelets for fenders and racks. New price for f/f is $2000 but they come up on various sites as used bike.

Does a bike have to have a sloping top tube and tabs for disc brakes to be called a 29er?

[Fixed]

Ken I think it is just easy to go in a shop and ask for a 29er
Cheers imho : :beer:

[that guy]

There is a lot of navel-gazing on the internet about "what is a monstercross" in its true form. I dunno.

There are some cool options out there in the Fargo-ish monstercross/crossover game: Gunnar Rock Tour, Singular Gryphon, Voodoo Nakisi, Vassago Fisticuff, etc.

[veloduffer]

I recently obtained an Origin 9 CX 700 (http://www.origin-8.com/?page_id=91&short_code=Origin-8+CX700+Steel+Cross&cl1=FRAMES+%26+ACCESSORIES) monster cross bike as an all-rounder. It's a rigid 29er or can be used for loaded touring.

It's a dirt cheap at $160 new, and is made of triple-butted 4130 steel frameset that can be SS or geared. Moreover, there are tabs for discs and mounts for canti/v-brakes, eyelets for racks and fenders.

Lots of tire clearance to fit 29x2.1 tires. The frameset weighs about 5.7 lbs (lighter than its competitor - Surly Karate Monkey) and set up as as a single speed, mine is about 26 lbs with fairly heavy Sun Rhyno wheels (36h) and v-brakes.

I can't comment on the ride yet, as I finished it late yesterday and only spun it around the block a few times. Feels stable and solid. It is a horizontal top tube, which might be an issue for some when doing trails. For my part-time use, it's a heck of a bargain. :beer:

[aoe]

I recently purchased a Waltworks frame set. $1250 for a custom frame and fork with no additional costs for braze-ons. I think the price went up by $50 but communication was great and the frame set looked really good. I added couplers and sliders and stayed right around 2k. The lead time was shorter than advertised and he offered follow up support to help put the bike together.

Great guy and he is all about the bicycle. Check out his blog and his other pages.
http://waltworks.blogspot.com/
+1 on Waltworks....I like ByStickel - http://bystickel.com/index.php
There was a really nice Wolfhound on the classifieds a few mos back too.

[buck-50]

Voodoo nakisi frame is pretty nice- handles itself well on singletrack and on the road, somewhere between a monstercross bike and a mountain bike. It's pretty cheap and fairly well designed. I like mine.

[thendenjeck]

wow, those by-stickels are beasts.


to clarify, by 29er i meant able to take 2.0 or wider rubber, and hopefully able to handle trails, but with fender mounts and hopefully one rack mount. after reading this thread i'm thinking maybe one bike wont do it all. i'm just a bit of a minimalist and don't like to own more things than necessary, but sometimes too much hybridization just doesnt hit the mark on anything. ideally, I wanted to have one bike for my 22 mile round trip 6 day a week commute with tools, plus also be able to do occasional trails, and the other bike be my road race bike. but as i said above, maybe i'll keep the KM, as it was relatively cheap, rides well, fits me, and takes huge tires and fenders. started thinking today about building racks for the canti mounts since i switched to discs and aren't using them. unless anyone knows of canti mount racks that will fit a suspension corrected fork.


will check these suggestions in the meantime, thanks! :beer:

[msl819]

http://caletticycles.blogspot.com/2010/05/monster-cross.html

This is still my favorite monster cross. It has a nice write up about the bike and its use as well. I can only imagine it is pricey, but sure is great looking bike.

[thendenjeck]

that caletti is sweet! except those damn track dropouts with a der hanger. i hate that. such a pain to get the wheel out. if you have fenders, you have to undo the fender struts to get the wheel out.

[markie]

Monster cross=/=flat bar cross bike.

Monster cross should be a cross bike with bigger than normal tires. More like a rigid 29er with drop bars.

It is difficult to get one bike to do it all. Look at some of the great divide set-ups for inspiration.

If you want to ride off-road trails with friends you really want some kind of MTB. I have a riv quickbeam and a IF cross bike and I can ride a trails OK. But I cannot keep up with others for very long. On tougher trails they are questionably entertaining.

The closest sounding bike might be the salsa fargo.

[thendenjeck]

Monster cross=/=flat bar cross bike.

Monster cross should be a cross bike with bigger than normal tires. More like a rigid 29er with drop bars.



yup i know. that's what i thought when i looked at that caletti.


thinking more and more maybe i just need three bikes :banana:

[Ken Robb]

a couple of years ago I rode our cyclocross course with a kid on a hardtail. I had my fs bike and couldn't begin to keep up with him. He was an ex-BMX racer with bike-handling skills beyond my imagination. "It isn't always about the bike" or whatever Lance said.

[ZakFerris]

Is there a thread for this or picture section?

[that guy]

The Jones bikes can do a little of everything (http://www.jonesbikes.com/?option=com_wordpress&lang=en&p=2692&Itemid=58):

http://www.jonesbikes.com/components/com_wordpress/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3_red_noborder.jpg

[monkeybanana86]

The Jones bikes can do a little of everything (http://www.jonesbikes.com/?option=com_wordpress&lang=en&p=2692&Itemid=58):

http://www.jonesbikes.com/components/com_wordpress/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/3_red_noborder.jpg

That thing is sweet!

[Ken Robb]

12 years ago before 29ers were "invented" I rode a Rivendell Atlantis with 700x54 tires (Nanoraptors maybe?). I was surprised how comfy the ride was at 35psi while the rolling resistance didn't seem excessive. The only negative was that I did feel it took a bit longer to accelerate. OTOH once up to speed it really rolled. I guess it was the flywheel effect. :)

[bluesea]

Practical setup on the Jones, but big question mark for adapting to the saddle set back concept.