Your latest bike purchase?
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@bluerider 86725 wrote:
My personal opinion is the Straggler is not very good value. You pay a lot of a bike with a fairly low end drivetrain and component group. In the same, I think the Salsa Vaya 2 is a better value or one of the Traitor Cycles bike like the Ruben. Better frame, better drivetrain spec for the same money. Nothing against the Straggler but if I built one I think I would build it from a frameset rather than a complete bike. That’s just my opinion. The brake caliper location on the Straggler is also not ideal.
I agree that the Sora shifters seem sub-optimal. I like the wires under the tape, especially on bikes where I will use a front light. Personally, after experiencing the wonder of upgrading my 105 to Sram Apex on the commuter, I’ll be sticking with Sram on the beater bikes (and the road bike, though Di2 may bring me back to Shimano).
Other than the shifters the spec seems ok, though. It seems like a better spec than the Traitor Ruben, honestly — esp. the brakes (BB7 vs BB5). I am a fan of the CX50/CX70 Shimano cranks & FD that come on the Straggler. But I would choose the Ruben for aesthetics and mounting of the brake caliper. Really, if you are going to use a rack (or fenders) on this bike, there is a lot of value in not having the rear caliper on the seatstay. You’ll likely need spacers and more-creative-than-normal bending to get fender/rack stays to clear the caliper. I would give big +1 points to a frame that did not require this — or if you know that you don’t want to use a rack and that you want to use single-stay fenders, etc. then it may not be an issue. (It is not an issue on my frame for these reasons.)
Ultimately, I wouldn’t choose the Straggler because the frame is too old-school (straight HT — I want a carbon fork) and the dropouts seem unpopular — and there are better ways to convert to SS — like eccentric hub or get a PF30 frame and run one of the EBB options for that. And converting to SS seems like a nice idea but is a pretty big commitment / life decision if you want to do it right (get rid of the expensive shifters, new drivetrain, build new wheel(s), etc.) and I’d almost recommend just getting a SS CX frame if you decide you want to do that. (Yes, you could cut some corners by leaving the shifters on, but cutting the cables, using the same wheelset with a spacer kit, etc. but at that point just “promising not to shift” would be a better SS conversion) The Traitor Crusade is a beautiful SS option. I am constantly tempted by that, but it is probably the least practical bike I could own (under-geared for the road, over-geared for serious singletrack or pulling the trailer, etc.).
But, ultimately, I would take Harry Meatmotor’s advice on this. If you do really want the Straggler, BUY IT NOW.
@hozn 86731 wrote:
I agree that the Sora shifters seem sub-optimal. I like the wires under the tape, especially on bikes where I will use a front light. Personally, after experiencing the wonder of upgrading my 105 to Sram Apex on the commuter, I’ll be sticking with Sram on the beater bikes (and the road bike, though Di2 may bring me back to Shimano).
Other than the shifters the spec seems ok, though. It seems like a better spec than the Traitor Ruben, honestly — esp. the brakes (BB7 vs BB5). I am a fan of the CX50/CX70 Shimano cranks & FD that come on the Straggler. But I would choose the Ruben for aesthetics and mounting of the brake caliper. Really, if you are going to use a rack (or fenders) on this bike, there is a lot of value in not having the rear caliper on the seatstay. You’ll likely need spacers and more-creative-than-normal bending to get fender/rack stays to clear the caliper. I would give big +1 points to a frame that did not require this — or if you know that you don’t want to use a rack and that you want to use single-stay fenders, etc. then it may not be an issue. (It is not an issue on my frame for these reasons.)
Ultimately, I wouldn’t choose the Straggler because the frame is too old-school (straight HT — I want a carbon fork) and the dropouts seem unpopular — and there are better ways to convert to SS — like eccentric hub or get a PF30 frame and run one of the EBB options for that. And converting to SS seems like a nice idea but is a pretty big commitment / life decision if you want to do it right (get rid of the expensive shifters, new drivetrain, build new wheel(s), etc.) and I’d almost recommend just getting a SS CX frame if you decide you want to do that. (Yes, you could cut some corners by leaving the shifters on, but cutting the cables, using the same wheelset with a spacer kit, etc. but at that point just “promising not to shift” would be a better SS conversion) The Traitor Crusade is a beautiful SS option. I am constantly tempted by that, but it is probably the least practical bike I could own (under-geared for the road, over-geared for serious singletrack or pulling the trailer, etc.).
But, ultimately, I would take Harry Meatmotor’s advice on this. If you do really want the Straggler, BUY IT NOW.
Yeah, I forgot that the Ruben was spec’d lower but its also A LOT cheaper than the Straggler. For my build the Straggler was just not the best plus its very CX oriented and I already own a Blue Norcross. I bailed on the Ruben because it would only fit 28C tires with fenders. The Vaya is much more user-friendly and easily fits 35c tires with fenders.
@bluerider 86734 wrote:
Yeah, I forgot that the Ruben was spec’d lower but its also A LOT cheaper than the Straggler. For my build the Straggler was just not the best plus its very CX oriented and I already own a Blue Norcross. I bailed on the Ruben because it would only fit 28C tires with fenders. The Vaya is much more user-friendly and easily fits 35c tires with fenders.
Yeah, hard to find a fault with the Vaya. For a touring bike that is probably a top-shelf option — especially the ti Vaya!
For sure, the Ruben at $1300 is a great value — and $500 for frame + fork is a great price for someone that wants to build it up themselves. For both of these bikes I am skeptical of the wheels. I don’t have much faith in low-end factory-built wheels, especially for disc-brake application. So I would also build these up from frames (of course, that is more expensive).
@hozn 86737 wrote:
Yeah, hard to find a fault with the Vaya. For a touring bike that is probably a top-shelf option — especially the ti Vaya!
For sure, the Ruben at $1300 is a great value — and $500 for frame + fork is a great price for someone that wants to build it up themselves. For both of these bikes I am skeptical of the wheels. I don’t have much faith in low-end factory-built wheels, especially for disc-brake application. So I would also build these up from frames (of course, that is more expensive).
Yep, I agree. I will only do hand built wheels from now on. The extra money is worth it in the long run. If I were building a Ruben I would just get the frameset too. Lots of money left over for a nice build.
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