Romanceur, Lightning Bolt, or other?

[acoffin]

I am in the market for a road plus bike that is suitable for short quick all season commutes, and long full days in the saddle. Would like to run 650 x 42 through 47 with fenders. I know there are endless options out there now, but I like slack seat tubes with less slack head tubes. Everything I have seen outside of the crust options are the opposite. Is there anyone who has ridden both of them that would like to comment on how the ride compares?

Here is what I like about each of the crust models, besides the fact that they both have proper fender mounting points and Dynamo wire routing.

Lightning Bolt: love the thinner gauge tubing and the size large looks to have slightly better reach and stack for me than the Romanceur.

Romanceur: love that it takes a quill stem. I mean seriously, quills look so good and I like some flex in my handlebars.

Are there options out there that I am not seeing? The closest other option I have seen in terms of geometry is the midnight special, but it's still not quite there and probably overbuilt for my needs. Plus I am not too keen about thinking of that ccr song everytime I get on my bike.

[icepick_trotsky]

Have you looked at the fog cutter Anthony? Pretty normal road bike angles and BB drop.

It can be run 650b easily:

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16105820_1193450764066757_3961191251671399376_n.jp g?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=78d0b410aaead2df6f9896155dd0f084&oe=5C4DE5E5

[austex]

"Masi" has several versions of the Speciale Randonneur:

https://masibikes.com/collections/adventure

[Tall]

Black Mountain Cycles Road+? Angles change a bit depending on frame size, but they look pretty "normal" to me. http://blackmtncycles.com/frames/road-plus/

https://i.imgur.com/6ePbCn3.png

[hummus_aquinas]

This is my vote for Romance followed by my bike in two flavors. I've never ridden a Lightning Bolt so I can't speak to that but my Romanceur looks and feels great.
I've never had fenders on this one; I'm sure it would clear 42c but for 47c it's kinda tight at least on my generation one frame. I'm not sure if this changed after my run of frame. Switchback hills on blunt SS was pretty tight and close to the frame. I have a different fender bike (Boulder All Road ayyyyyy) and didn't have the need to fit a fender, especially not on this current iteration of build (go to the store, sleep in the dirt- bike).

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/596/31661321480_f2a48189d5_b.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1959/44407576305_de9464776d_c.jpg

[spoonrobot]

The Masi speciale randonneur is way over built - frame is 5 pounds for a 53. Rides like a loaded touring bike. Would not recommend.

Soma Fog Cutter is awesome but there's no way mine can fit a 650x47 in the rear with fenders. There's not enough room to get reasonable clearance. I run 42 in the rear and 47 in the front. I think it's a great frame, I run mine with the Soma low trail conversion fork.

IMO unless you know the tubing specs I'd avoid any production bikes designed around 650x47 - they're all over built to some degree.

[zacstanley]

Plus I am not too keen about thinking of that ccr song everytime I get on my bike.

Midnight Special is an old American traditional folk song that was first made popular by Leadbelly, then Creedence. Technically not their song. Just sayin'.

[Clean39T]

I came across this: https://feltbicycles.com/products/breed-20-gravel-road-bike

And it has me intrigued. Felt is well-known for making performance oriented bikes with a smart spec, and I have to think they hit the mark here.

The Breed 30 actually makes the most sense to me from a spec standpoint. You get a Praxis sub-compact, nice R7000 shifters/brakes/ders, and the same frameset as the Breed 20. All for $2k.

https://feltbicycles.com/collections/breed/products/breed-30-gravel-road-bike

Good looking color too.

[acoffin]

The felt looks like a lot of fun, but it got pretty standard gravel geometry (steep st/slack ht). I am looking for the opposite, or something on the other side of classic road geometry (I would consider 73/73 classic), so 72 st/73 ht for example is kind of my ideal. Standard road geometry would probably be fine though, I tend to be too picky for my own good sometimes.

I will give the black mountain road another look. I had their canti monster cross and found it fine but never fell in love with it as most owners do. I might also give some consideration to an Elephant NFE.

[doomridesout]

Midnight Special is an old American traditional folk song that was first made popular by Leadbelly, then Creedence. Technically not their song. Just sayin'.

Either way it's about winding up dead in a ditch so...

[slowpoke]

I might also give some consideration to an Elephant NFE.

I have an NFE and I really dig it, but it is low-trail, so not your typical road geometry. The waitlist is also no longer not as insane as it used to be.

There's also BDB Pelican on sale in the classifieds if you're around a 56cm.

[R3awak3n]

yeah I would probably not do NFE if you want road geo. Low trail is not for all, I thought it was awesome, even without a front load. I loved my NFE great long day in saddle bike and great commuter.

[Cornfed]

Either way it's about winding up dead in a ditch so...

It's exchanges of knowledge like this that keep me coming back here. :)

[acoffin]

I have an NFE and I really dig it, but it is low-trail, so not your typical road geometry. The waitlist is also no longer not as insane as it used to be.

There's also BDB Pelican on sale in the classifieds if you're around a 56cm.

The lightening bolt and romanceur are both low trail, so I think I am good with that. What I am specifically looking to avoid is typical gravel geometry. With that in mind I would prefer a relaxed seat tube. It seems there are not many optionswirh those specs in 27 plus off the shelf outside of Crust.

[charliedid]

The lightening bolt and romanceur are both low trail, so I think I am good with that. What I am specifically looking to avoid is typical gravel geometry. With that in mind I would prefer a relaxed seat tube. It seems there are not many optionswirh those specs in 27 plus off the shelf outside of Crust.

I think the reason you don't find that is tire size vs having too long of a chainstay to be considered quick or performance oriented. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but...

[rcnute]

The lightening bolt and romanceur are both low trail, so I think I am good with that. What I am specifically looking to avoid is typical gravel geometry. With that in mind I would prefer a relaxed seat tube. It seems there are not many optionswirh those specs in 27 plus off the shelf outside of Crust.

You could try a Stooge Cycles and run drops.
http://stoogecycles.co.uk/

Ryan

[Clean39T]

The felt looks like a lot of fun, but it got pretty standard gravel geometry (steep st/slack ht). I am looking for the opposite, or something on the other side of classic road geometry (I would consider 73/73 classic), so 72 st/73 ht for example is kind of my ideal. Standard road geometry would probably be fine though, I tend to be too picky for my own good sometimes.

I will give the black mountain road another look. I had their canti monster cross and found it fine but never fell in love with it as most owners do. I might also give some consideration to an Elephant NFE.

Well, I went ahead and bought one (Felt Breed 30 with upgraded RX8000 [sic] components throughout), so we'll see how I get on with it. Mine's a 61cm though, so the longer chainstays and overall geometry seem like they will be appropriately proportional. I guess that's an advantage of being in the bigger sizes - easier to get a sensible geometry for fat tires...

I have no idea how I'm going to like the bike, the huge tires, etc. - but the price was right, and my worse case is I use the RX8000 group on a custom build down the road..