My new dream gravel bike

[efuentes]

Looks and reads so nice!! :cool:

http://www.calfeedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/RBA-Project-Gravel-Bike-Calfee-Dragonfly-and-Race-Report.pdf

[jmoore]

Yeah. That bike would do just fine.

[LesMiner]

There is one advertising statement I really question.

Craig Calfee has been in the carbon frame business since the late
’80s. From the Tour de France stage-winning frame he built for Greg
LeMond in 1992 to our Dragonfly Adventure, his designs remain
among the most distinct and forward-thinking in the industry.

I do not recall Greg Lemond racing in the 1992 TdF. Besides was not Indurain the GC winner in 1992? Some other connection?

[jr59]

There is one advertising statement I really question.



I do not recall Greg Lemond racing in the 1992 TdF. Besides was not Indurain the GC winner in 1992? Some other connection?

details...details... who cares about details! :cool:

It's a nice bike anyways!

[mercretas]

The advertising doesn't say that Lemond won a TdF stage in 1992, but rather that the frame was built for Lemond in 1992. I think Lemond raced in 1992 and 1994, but withdrew both years without winning any stages. Any way you cut it, the claim does seem questionable unless one of his teammates rode Lemond's bike to victory.

[Fixed]

Fourteen grand it should be great
I have friends that ride his bikes and love them
One is a womens world half ironman age group champ
Cheers

[54ny77]

Wow, that is NICE!

But that blue stem is like a giant pimple on the nose of a beautiful model, as it were...

[tuscanyswe]

wow, that is nice!

But that blue stem is like a giant pimple on the nose of a beautiful model, as it were...

+1

[robertt8883]

That bike is in the Oct issue OF Bike Mag

[mhespenheide]

LeMond started the '92 tour but withdrew in the Alps. He writes about his '92 tour preparations here, via Cyclingnews. (http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/greg-lemond/the-art-of-peaking-for-the-tour-de-france-1) I can't cite a specific source for it, but I remember reading in VeloNews or Winning that Greg loved the Calfee bikes.

Wish I had the money for one of their "adventure" frames...

[mistermo]

How 'bout this ti Firefly!

Needs some propah tahrs though.

[mhespenheide]

Digging deeper, I was trying to find out the "stage win" claim. The .pdf magazine article implies that the Calfee bikes were built in '92, with a stage win. Calfee's own site lists 1991 as the year they started working with Greg and the "Z" team, and refer to "1991: LeMond Alpe d'Huez".

Wikipedia, however, lists Gianni Bugno as the winner of the Alpe d'Huez stage in 1991. They do, however, list Thierry Claveyrolat as the winner of stage 18 from Le Bourg-d'Oisans – Morzine, another mountain stage. Claveyrolat rode for "Z" in 1991 and would presumably have ridden a Calfee in the stage.

Clarity seems a little lacking here, but it looks like "Z" rode Calfee bikes in the Tour, probably for at least two years (and possibly more), and likely garnered a stage win on one.

[mhespenheide]

That firefly is gorgeous, though. I have to admit, if I were building a dream bike for gravel, I'd lean more towards Ti than carbon. I guess I just feel safer with scratches or small dings in Ti.

[JeffS]

I don't know... As soon as you put a wound up fork on a bike, any bike, I lose all interest.

Even without it though, that calfee is an aesthetic nightmare. Sure, I'd ride it, but it certainly doesn't make me want to order anything from them.

Then again, what do I know. I don't even know where a single gravel road is located, so this genre remains a mystery to me.

[efuentes]

Then again, what do I know. I don't even know where a single gravel road is located, so this genre remains a mystery to me.

You should try it, lots and lots of fun :banana:

[Vientomas]

Less motor vehicle traffic is one reason I have been gravitating toward dirt road riding.

[MrDangerPants]

How 'bout this ti Firefly!

http://drool.popey.com/droooool.png

[Aaron O]

+1...that is just...WOW. Especially love the Pauls.

[jpw]

less motor vehicle traffic is one reason i have been gravitating toward dirt road riding.

+1

[jpw]

Gravel bikes are great, but the lugs here are a bit ugly.

[mhespenheide]

Less motor vehicle traffic is one reason I have been gravitating toward dirt road riding.

In my area even the "paved roads" are in lousy condition, and there's ten times as much dirt/gravel road as paved. Rural Utah. The infuriating thing is that the mountain biking isn't that great, either, unless you want to drive 1-2 hours first...

[killacks]

That bike looks awesome, aside from that blue nub on the handlebar/stem.

[christian]

I don't know... As soon as you put a wound up fork on a bike, any bike, I lose all interest.
This. It's like a lady with a beard. No matter how hot she is otherwise, she still has a beard.

[Fixed]

Gosh now we bashing bearded woman :)
Cheers

[Gummee]

Yeah. That bike would do just fine.

For $14k I would hope so!

edited to add: I'm a cross and track guy. I'll race road/crits if my teammates are going, but I'd rather do something else. The gravel racing stuff is lots more interesting to me than riding around in circles waiting for the field sprint. I think next spring's goals are going to be centered around the Devil's Backbone ride, then training for the Hillybilly Roubaix. THEN I'll get fit(ter) for cross in the fall.

M

[sc53]

Hahahah re. bearded women!--see my post on the recent "mustaches" thread.
My new Bedford is called a "sport tourer" but I will be riding it on gravel and dirt roads in rural VA. I have new HED C2 wheels with 32 and 35 tires to use for these rides. Didn't go with knobbies, though, Vittoria and Schwalbe tread is just fine. It will have Paul's brakes too--touring canti's. And no wound up fork--Enve cross fork, very smooth and stylin'.

[G-Reg]

Nice ride but I'm not a fan of the webbed lugs. Makes them look dated to me.


14K for a Fn Bike!!!!?

@ almost 50 y/o, my house is the only purchase I have made above that amount.

The extreme upper end of the cycling market is going to come crashing down at some point.

[54ny77]

Somehow I doubt that. Slow, yes. But crash? That's debatable. Consider what some folks spend on golf, which for many cycling has become: a pricey hobby. Golf costs can make cycling pale in comparison, between lessons, clubs, memberships, greens fees, apparel, yadda yadda.

And hey, more power to ya if that's your gig. Besides, it helps keep people employed in the bike biz, and none of us have any right whatsoever to deny someone employment if it's there, particularly if the pricing of bike things only offends one's sensibilities.

I f'ing hate golf (even though I have to suck it up and play it now & then for biz) and welcome more folks taking on cycling as a form of business-related social interaction. I have an el-cheapo set of sporting good store clubs (steel woods & irons) I've used where I've played the best games of my life, and I've played with my swank set (the driver of which I call my microwave-on-a-stick it's so damned big), and sometimes I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and just end up walking the course.

Myself, I cringe at today's pricing for bike stuff, and just shop creatively. Great deals can be had with a little patience and flexibility.


The extreme upper end of the cycling market is going to come crashing down at some point.

[mistermo]

I don't know... As soon as you put a wound up fork on a bike, any bike, I lose all interest.

I don't disagree that the Wound Ups lost lots in the aesthetics dept. That Firefly is not mine.

I know of no other good options since AlphaQ stopped making forks. If anyone has an AlphaQ for 57mm brakes, I'll take it! Other options?

[djg]

That firefly is gorgeous, though. I have to admit, if I were building a dream bike for gravel, I'd lean more towards Ti than carbon. I guess I just feel safer with scratches or small dings in Ti.

Yeah, me too I think. CF can be tougher than people give it credit for and I don't want to diss what might be a great bike offhand, but if something were going to hit actual gravel roads with any regularity, I'd think Ti would be a safer bet in the long run. And you can get a darn nice Ti frame made-to-measure for the price of the Carbon dragonfly.

[efuentes]

For me a dream bike shouldn't really be practical, practical is what we buy, dreamy stuff is a 14k bike that will peel its pretty carbon tubes if it it falls on its side or god forbid somebody uses it !

[JeffS]

You should try it, lots and lots of fun :banana:

I'd have to move.

NC started an initiative about 20 years ago to pave every mile of dirt road. They've just about gotten it all. While other states are reverting asphalt back to gravel, we're spending hundreds of thousands to pave .3mile stretches with 3 houses on them.

I wasn't kidding when I said I don't get out much. The idea of being able to ride around a state on mostly gravel roads is nothing I have ever seen.

[mistermo]

I'm one hour from New York City. Gravel roads prevail. Gravel is the new black, errr pavement. Cheap to maintain, makes you drive more slowly, keeps taxes low.

I'm originally from the Midwest. I've never seen so many gravel roads as I do here in New England and I love it!

[jet sanchez]

what is the difference between a gravel bike and a cyclocross bike? Or is this just the new term for cyclocross?

[jpw]

Yeah, me too I think. CF can be tougher than people give it credit for and I don't want to diss what might be a great bike offhand, but if something were going to hit actual gravel roads with any regularity, I'd think Ti would be a safer bet in the long run. And you can get a darn nice Ti frame made-to-measure for the price of the Carbon dragonfly.

That's why I chose alloy crank arms over carbon.

[FlashUNC]

I'd have to move.

NC started an initiative about 20 years ago to pave every mile of dirt road. They've just about gotten it all. While other states are reverting asphalt back to gravel, we're spending hundreds of thousands to pave .3mile stretches with 3 houses on them.

I wasn't kidding when I said I don't get out much. The idea of being able to ride around a state on mostly gravel roads is nothing I have ever seen.

Amazing really. I was looking at NC DOT maps of the state, and the closest gravel road that the state identifies near Charlotte is something like two counties over to the west.

Course, just riding down across the border into SC is like riding on gravel full time the way they maintain their roads.

[Vientomas]

I don't disagree that the Wound Ups lost lots in the aesthetics dept. That Firefly is not mine.

I know of no other good options since AlphaQ stopped making forks. If anyone has an AlphaQ for 57mm brakes, I'll take it! Other options?

I think Co-Motion makes such a fork.