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Anyone preorder the Ti Rove?

39K views 78 replies 19 participants last post by  micah356 
#1 ·
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#6 ·


I built my Rove Ti up last Sunday and did a 65 mile gravel grinder. Yesterday I did the Cedar Cross which is 115 miles of gravel and some singletrack. Muddy as hell, so I was loving the disc brakes though I may already need new pads.

The geometry on these are so different from my old La Cruz Ti that it's going to take some getting used to for me. The actual top tube length is only 57cm on my 59. I really with it was a smidge longer, but it felt perfect on both rides so I guess I've already adjusted.

Anyway, just under 200 miles in one week and many more to come. Now to clean this muddy beast up.
 
#7 ·
Tires are Specialized Renegade Control 29x1.8 if anyone is wondering. Roll fast and have great grip in mud. Also shed well and didn't seem too heavy. 2bliss.

I did have to dish my wheel over a bit to the plate side for clearance, but I think the dish was off anyway because the dish on the front is off too. These are Iron Cross wheels
direct from Stan's.
 
#8 ·
What Fork are you running? Is it the Kona Carbon fork?

Would be interested in seeing pictures of your Tire clearance. Was Looking to maybe get this bike. I am really looking for a CX bike that has discs and can fit monster CX tires.
Right now running a KinesisUK CrosProDisc that can do 40mm tires. It is a Aluminum and neutral handling.
 
#9 ·
Would be interested in seeing pictures of your Tire clearance. Was Looking to maybe get this bike. I am really looking for a CX bike that has discs and can fit monster CX tires.
Right now running a KinesisUK CrosProDisc that can do 40mm tires. It is a Aluminum and neutral handling.
I'll post pics for you in a day or so. The fork is an E-hongfu tapered full carbon fork I bought for $75!!! Plenty of clearance.

I just finished the Dirty Kanza 200 on it this past weekend. That's a DK200 and Cedar Cross in the books. Both with no issues, no flats, no mechanicals no nothing... just giving me everything I asked for and translating the effort I put in, into output.

If I actually did any training I would be better, but struggling through these things is good for the soul. It makes you feel alive (by killing yourself and rebuilding).

:p
 
#11 ·
i have one but no parts have come in for it yet. very, very excited to get it together and start riding!

on the plus side, this comes a month after i bought another kona (kahuna 29er) and raced it 90 miles in a 24 hour relay race. i also upgraded to everything the big kahuna has cept the wheelset and frame, so while my ti rove is still a frame i at least have a great bike to go play in the woods with while i scrape some more parts together.
 
#12 ·
Dang. I really want one of these. Problem is, I can get a steel Rove very cheap. Trying to justify to my wife (and myself) why I really need to spend the extra for a Ti bike.
(Would be a lot easier if I hadn't bought a used Epic last month, lulz).

OTOH, if you compare to a titanium Seven CX, this looks pretty affordable!

Edit: Anybody get a weight on the Ti frame??
 
#19 ·
Indeed!
I test rode the steel version today- liked it a lot. But it was a tank w/ slow steering.
Test rode a Jake (base version) after that. Much lighter, but not a good "all-rounder" or commuter as it was harsh as hell. (Esp compared to the Rove).
Now I just gotta decide if my "need" for a rain bike for team rides in the winter and a commuter is worth the upcharge for Ti.
If it was *just* a commuter- steel, no question.
But since I want it for rainy team rides, gravel rides, hopefully some gravel races, etc... Titanium looks to be the answer.
(Granted, a titanium Rove is a bit overkill as a commuter, but I can look past that. :lol: )
 
#22 ·
no, the p2 carbon tapered fork is not yet available(soon?) ...

but are you really complaining?

this is a made in usa titanium frame. 2000 and no fork is peanuts compared to anything else this rare, even if it's a production run made in the lynsky factory.

they're doing this run for the few that want in... it's not like they were intending to bring titanium to the masses in every shop in every town.
 
#23 ·
Just finished riding 3,000km from Toronto to St. John's on mine, and it was perfect. The stand out for me was its ability to absolutely rail fast downhill corners. I've never felt that secure, and encouraged to push my speeds higher, on a road bike before.

If you look at the price compared to what Lynskey would charge to build the same thing as a one-off, its a significant discount.

I was told by a Kona rep that their fork would not be ready until spring of 2014, so I went with the Whisky one.

Bicycle tire Tire Wheel Bicycle wheel rim Bicycle frame


Note that this max speed is only for the last day. A few days earlier we hit 83.8!
Finger Bicycle accessory Thumb Bicycle part Gas
 
#28 ·
micah356 said:
If you look at the price compared to what Lynskey would charge to build the same thing as a one-off, its a significant discount.
While I think this is a very cool bike (must be- I just ordered one!), let's not delude ourselves- this is VERY similar to Lynskey's own Cooper CX, which is on sale for nearly $500 less!:eekster:

Just finished riding 3,000km from Toronto to St. John's on mine, and it was perfect. The stand out for me was its ability to absolutely rail fast downhill corners. I've never felt that secure, and encouraged to push my speeds higher, on a road bike before.
I was told by a Kona rep that their fork would not be ready until spring of 2014, so I went with the Whisky one.
[/ATTACH]
Thanks for the info. I am ordering a Whisky 7 to put on mine as well.
I am really looking forward to this. I have never had a titanium bike, so was very hesitant to order one without having ridden it. I did test ride the steel version and I'm hoping the Ti version is like that, only lighter!
(BTW- I'm still considering buying an addt'l *steel* frame to build up as an actual commuter, lol)
 
#35 ·
I measured the chainstay and seatstay spacing with a caliper last night. Both are about 62mm!

Unfortunately the Whisky 7 fork is little bit smaller. I couldn't get the caliper in to the narrowest center part of the fork, but it seems to be about 10mm less, I would say 53mm or so.
 
#36 ·
62mm is impressive. there are not too many titanium cross/all around frames with that much clearance. unless ordered custom of course.
I measured the chainstay and seatstay spacing with a caliper last night. Both are about 62mm!

Unfortunately the Whisky 7 fork is little bit smaller. I couldn't get the caliper in to the narrowest center part of the fork, but it seems to be about 10mm less, I would say 53mm or so.
 
#41 ·
any wheel build's durability is a function of build quality(trueness in all four aspects), spoke quality, rim quality, incidence angle, nipple quality, hub quality, and tire choice more than anything else, in that order, given the riding conditions and use/abuse as constant. that's my personal opinion based on nothing more than a rudimentary and inexperienced knowledge of wheel building and mechanics, but... i would like to hear sound reasoning to refute my claims.

the incidence angle of the spokes is the only thing you're absolutely, de-facto, inherently changing by changing dish... but you're also re-truing tension, round, and lateral true when doing this... so the real answer is that it depends on how its done, and the closer to 90 degrees that incidence angle, the worse the durability, exponentially. so as long as the other three aspects of true aren't thrown out, or the temper of the spoke's metal is compromised in the re dishing process, or the nipples threads becoming worn, it shouldn't do anything but make the wheel stronger. however, it matters solely on how well it's trued in the redishing... because redishing isn't as easy or linear or low-risk as people make it out to be... especially if the wheel parts aren't top-quality. redishing for fitment seems like a silly thing to me... i don't think it's as important and having good tires that fit the bike... how many of you are putting 50+ c tires on that are higher quality than some really nice 35's? i'm not sure they're even made, to be honest. 35c's are perfect on this frame.

really when it comes down to it, it's better to have a perfectly dished wheel with a small, high quality tire ran at good pressure(not too high, not too low) in asymmetric stays than it is to have a wheel dished to maximize tire clearance that's off the centerline of the hub, but with a bigger tire. tires acting on the wheel can't make up for a good quality wheelbuild.

basically what i'm trying to say is that it all comes down to evenness of tension per side, and given that, it doesn't matter where you dish it... your hub is the problem if the tension is too drastically different from ds to nds with a perfect dish, and your tire clearance is your tire clearance... work within that constraint.

here's a picture of a very aggressive fat biiiiiig tire in my rove ti, for comparison. i'm really pushing the limits of this frame's clearance.

i wouldn't recommend running a tire that's even barely larger than this, or you'll have huge, insurmountable problems that will likely culminate in you losing your job, morgtgage, family, car, and best three physical features or attributes. not to mention wreak havoc on your sex life... these are all real outcomes of running any tire larger than this:


 
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