The Light Blue 'Darwin'

[gairym]

Morning all,

I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely sunny Sunday morning accompanied by a nice long lay in*!

*it's father's day in France - UK too?

Anyway, this thread follows on from my recent thread about putting drop bars on my Solaris in order to have a gravel bike with increased tyre capacity.

After further investigation, measuring, reading and head scratching I've decided that I shouldn't bother putting drops on the Solaris but instead I'm thinking that I'll sell my Carbon road bike, convert my Cotic Escapade into a flared drop, 32c sick tyred road-ish bike and put all the components from the Escapade onto a new frame/fork that's suited to the job and will take a nice volume tyre.

I perused the list posted of all the drop bar'd 29er MTBs on the market and after eliminating options based on compatible component requirements, cost and evil corporate whoreness I think I'm heading towards a decision to get a Darwin frame/fork made by The Light Blue.

So.....anyone got one? Heard much about them? Any good? Nice company?

The geometry all looks within the parameters I'm after and I like the idea of the skinnier tubing creating a nice compliant ride feel etc... but keen to hear any real world experience and opinions before taking the plunge.

Thanks in advance, Gairy.

[FLV]

Morning, fathers day it is. And im under the weather (stomach bug of some kind) so its no fun

The dawin looks nice, does it have enough clearance though at 45c ?

[Mariner]

There is a Rohloff Darwin one over on ebay at present.
Claiming 50mm tyres at 650b.

[gairym]

The website says 45c but the bikepacking.com article claims 29 x 2.1".

A phone call on Monday is needed to clarify things I think

[Pirahna]

The website says 45mm, 2.1 on the front with the optional fork.

As a business they're fine, they've been in Cambridge forever. I've bought from the shop, nice people, I think the business suffers a bit as Evans opened up across the road.

Have you looked at the Bombtrack Hook EXT and Beyond 1? More expensive but have the tyre clearance you're looking for.

https://www.keeppedalling.co.uk/bikes/b ... /beyond-1/

https://www.keeppedalling.co.uk/bikes/b ... /hook-ext/

[gairym]

There was a review on the advntr.cc website and the one they had was fitted with 2.25" tyres and so it looks likely it'll be fine

https://advntr.cc/review-light-blue-darwin-one-by-mt/

And yeah, Bombtrack stuff is nice but it's enough more that it'd set off Mrs Gairy's 'spend alarm' and require months of painful negotiation, brownie point earning and in general would become a bit of a bugger (think Brexit negotiations without all the reasonableness and common sense).

[jameso]

I think I'd go for the Darwin over the Bombtracks anyway tbh. It looks like a good frame with more sensible main frame tube sizes and the adjustable dropout is a sound design - not too pretty but better than those long sliders that punt the axle way out to the rear. Frame weight is impressive if it really is 2100g for a M. Good company too, part of Ison Distribution co.

[wriggles]

Looks good that Darwin. Like the geometry. Doesnt say how much extra the mountain forks are though? If its an extra £100 then that takes it to £699. Can usually pick up a Fargo end of season for £750-£800 as another option if can wait?

[FLV]

At 2.25 then it looks cracking.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Shame the All City Gorilla Monsoon costs as much as it does - clearance for 650 X 2.4" and lovely looking.

[gairym]

That looks nice Stu but a bit spendy!

I've gone and found a (slightly) cheaper price on the Velo Orange 'Piolet' frameset and I really, really like the look of it all built up like this:



Damn it, nothing is ever simple!

[Bearbonesnorm]

I've gone found a (slightly) cheaper price on the Velo Orange 'Piolet' frameset and I really, really like the look of it all built up like this:

Yep, always liked those but always above my budget.

[adjustablewench]

is it my eyes or are they different sized wheels?

edit - its my eyes, I just 'measured' them with a coaster

[gairym]

The humble coaster, the aficionados wheel measurement tool of choice

[Bearbonesnorm]

We have square coasters ..... I see a problem.

[gairym]

I've only gone and ordered the Velo Orange beauty!

The Darwin was £599 and needed a different fork to take 2.1"s whereas the Piolet I found from Germany was £699 for frame/forks incl. delivery so in moment of wild abandon I went for it!

Haven't actually told Mrs Gairy yet (am waiting until later today when I get the cash from my road bike sale - put it for sale yesterday and it went within an hour, clearly should've asked for more!).

New bike build time - yay!!!

[FLV]

Nice!!
Looking forward to new bike pics and hearing of the first ride mate

[Alpinum]

Sorry to jump this, but out of general curiositity
Why would folks want to ride 27.5" on road or gravel bikes? Why not go 29" like Gairy?

Are most road bikes 650 (A, B or C)? Please don't laugh, I'm really not in to drop bar bikes and stuff for easier terrain. But it's bikes, so there's a general interest.

I've only gone and ordered the Velo Orange beauty!

The Darwin was £599 and needed a different fork to take 2.1"s whereas the Piolet I found from Germany was £699 for frame/forks incl. delivery so in moment of wild abandon I went for it!

Grand! Good looking bike indeed and goes with a bunch of wheel sizes (so can given many different characters). Looks like a good investment

[Bearbonesnorm]

Why would folks want to ride 27.5" on road or gravel bikes? Why not go 29" like Gairy?

In many cases Gian, 650b allows you to use wider / larger volume tyres while retaining (pretty much) the OD of 29" / 700c. Handy for those bike with limited tyre clearance.

[jameso]

Why would folks want to ride 27.5" on road or gravel bikes? Why not go 29" like Gairy?

I ask myself the same Q quite often. As Stuart says, largely due to geometry - you get the volume without the OD so you can have a shorter wheelbase, forks etc if needed and / or fit guards over a 50mm tyre and have smaller frames with few or no compromises.

There's also the frequency/amplitude point and how you want a bike to react. My take on it is that 27.5 on a drop bar bike gives you the volume to cope with rapid smaller impacts but you're not expecting it to handle bigger bumps or really high speeds off-road (or you're OK to compromise that aspect) so the OD isn't as important. 29 is better off-road proper as it handles the bigger bumps well via roll-over.
A smaller wheel should be lighter, it has to spin faster for a given speed of course so the radius bit cancels out but all things equal it's ~10% lighter - in performance terms I'd say it counts for almost sod all but it can help a bike feel a bit different if other design aspects the wheel influences are also pulling in the right direction. Load a bike up though and we're not accelerating fast anyway and momentum is crucial so arguably there's not much point in anything but 700 / 29 wheels for off-road bikepacking. 650B works well for me on a bike that is for all-round use on roads and easy tracks, and gets lightly loaded some of the time.

[Scud]

I like the look of the Fearless for the money, came close to buying one, and would have if it was singlespeed-able, but ended up finding a Singular Gryphon in good nick..

https://www.fearlessbikes.com/

[Alpinum]

Thanks for your answers.
Just asked a collegue who's in to road/gravel riding and he too said most likely due to drive train issues at certain geo.

Also see your point, James, about the roll over characteristics. Smooth gravel, Macadam road etc. all likely not rough enough to ask for a 29er.
I can also think of the growing issues with stiffness. Before I tried carbon rims, I simply disliked the feel of every 29" wheelset, coming straight from two 26" bikes with DH capable rims. Carbon rims changed that, but that's a different topic in itself.

Hey Gairy, put some carbon rims on your bike or else it'll be poor show

[FLV]

I like the look of the Fearless for the money, came close to buying one, and would have if it was singlespeed-able, but ended up finding a Singular Gryphon in good nick..

https://www.fearlessbikes.com/

That does look quite nice for the money you're right. Full mudgaurd mounts too.

[gairym]

Why would folks want to ride 27.5" on road or gravel bikes? Why not go 29" like Gairy?

Like others have said it'd have to be about geometry (smaller bikes in particular) or tyre clearance otherwise bigger wheels just make sense to me.

That Fearless looks great but only a sniff more clearance than my existing Escapade.

Gian, I'll see what I can do. Better start saving for those carbon wheels straight away.....

Cheers all, very much looking forward to getting the new frame built up!

Now.....what tyres for a drop bar 29er that'll suit a frame capable of taking 29+ but on rims only 19.5mm internal width....? Fast rolling but with off-road capabilities and not too spendy - answers on a postcard.....

[FLV]

Vittoria terreno 29x2.1