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Kinesis gravel / touring bike
 

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

4/17/17 1:50 AM

Kinesis gravel / touring bike

I finally finished putting together the Kinesis Tripster Ti frame that I purchased. Took it for its maiden ride today - about 40km with a few km of unsealed road to see how it went - in a word, or two words, very nicely. There doesn't seem much speed penalty in running the 48mm file tread tyres: they're pretty light for such a large tyre at 480g, feel wonderful on rough roads, and do a great job of smoothing out any road surface. I'm running them tubeless on DT Swiss 27.5 MTB wheels at 25psi front and 35psi rear.

Component list:

Kinesis Tripster V2 frame and ATR disc fork - both thru axle
DT Swiss XM 1501 27.5 wheels (27mm wide rims)
Compass Switchback Hill 650bx48 tyres
SKS 60mm wide MTB fenders
SRAM Force hydraulic shifters with flat mount calipers
Deore XT FD / SRAM X9 RD
Deore XT 11-40 cassette
SKF square taper bottom bracket
Sugino XD cranks, 38/26 chainrings
Speedplay SYZR pedals
Berthoud Aspin saddle
Ritchey WCS stem and seatpost
Syntace Racelight bars
Saddlebag rack and bottle cages are both Nitto

The frame takes a 68mm threaded BB (hurrah), but on the downside it uses internal cable routing, which I think is a stupid idea on a frame that is intended to be taken well off the beaten track. If you need to replace a gear cable out in the field, it's a simple job if the cables run externally and a total PITA if they run internally. There's a third bottle cage mount on the underside of the down tube, but I haven't fitted it as the Thule bike carrier that we use for bikes with fenders clamps around the down tube at that location.

Click on any of the images below to see them full size:

<a href='https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNTosesPxe6E5aAQYkxXoU7gebJ4f7TkKrpCRoUpgbYUslA0Pe2sRchCt3Xtd3Cdw?key=czRSelJweE1hODV0bkt3a0dsdmh6a1BsbFRUYnNB&source=ctrlq.org'><img src='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/v2XxXHCuViwzd2n9mFQfJP7M_WHIicvM5csGk7fy7xU7AdPJAnUZ_I3obdSpoRDLmEjMwiSAE24Z7oKZwvy0fpE6APlUs6j-uVZ_t13UIIQQDTHfYU1iycgj_-4QKPcvn3YiAg' /></a>

<a href='https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPvUHKA-V53sdy0oCHH276-uqTE8JxiNR2GHoyLJqcGTcAX84bWg4eKlps4PPZcWQ?key=Zy1QQ1ROTy1XOWFxcEhTVEFsdnVETW4xbHpWZVBn&source=ctrlq.org'><img src='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Af-DDbEhFJSXA5CPdg7boTY6KhPrTSdKB8u8GUuG4rxDUL0xVRGoFAaWEwtPyRq4LmwKNmdr4kVSDtaGQ1CkJcfKASfrsMT87egMrYzeotxXOh5KHWgkPtD1-RmJ8S5z0s78YQ' /></a>

<a href='https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOBh_m-89jE6MVyqp4keasivxlCIEtpxK5kGEoS_gSYj_zSeQCSY4Kx6esJaIk9ow?key=dlZjVzd6dE1JN3Atc0tXcGd1OVFJYWxjQjNpRUhR&source=ctrlq.org'><img src='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/c6cxDn1znqBusT7TfEBRxLHYmi6Zg_DJYZt5f9nXIf7cTJaX6jzLekR4uiFAhadddQXFTnjQeUgD5-1U3ECyS7I9NDf-aAQRkuF7lJvA2U6u8QTXWCBvmLk6xmBVGyIgUgOYgA' /></a>

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

4/17/17 9:54 AM

I'd love to feel that wheel and tire set up. Bike looks wonderfully purposeful and comfy.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

4/17/17 10:55 AM

Very nice

And I must say the Berthoud saddle is an elegant touch.

Whenever I see "Tripster" I think of the "Family Truckster" of the National Lampoon Vacation movies, but I think the bike is a bit slicker...

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

4/17/17 10:58 AM

"Family Truckster"

LOL

Nick, what is the skinny on the ride and wear of the tires?

Did you setup tubeless?

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

4/17/17 9:47 PM

Well, from my one ride so far, the tyres give a wonderful ride. As for wear, I can't answer that yet, but there is a useful thread on the 650b forum: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/650b/switchback$20hill$20impressions%7Csort:relevance/650b/6oCtsmTEEl0/9YPBZO3_AQAJ

Yes, I'm running them tubeless - said so in my initial post. The DT Swiss wheels are for tubeless and the tyres are "tubeless-compatible". There's also a version of the tyre with a lighter casing that saves about 60g over the standard version that I purchased, but at about a one third increase in price: https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/components/tires/650b/compass-650bx48-switchback-hill/.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

4/17/17 10:26 PM

I have not worn thru the Panaracer Col de la Vie 650B x 38s. I want to do tubeless next when these get [retired] gone. I don't use that bike much though. Like to change that...

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

4/18/17 8:13 AM

Interesting that apparently the photo links are working on some reader's pc's.

When I view this thread, nothing is hilighted and all I see is:

<a href='https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNTosesPxe6E5aAQYkxXoU7gebJ4f7TkKrpCRoUpgbYUslA0Pe2sRchCt3Xtd3Cdw?key=czRSelJweE1hODV0bkt3a0dsdmh6a1BsbFRUYnNB&source=ctrlq.org'><img src='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/v2XxXHCuViwzd2n9mFQfJP7M_WHIicvM5csGk7fy7xU7AdPJAnUZ_I3obdSpoRDLmEjMwiSAE24Z7oKZwvy0fpE6APlUs6j-uVZ_t13UIIQQDTHfYU1iycgj_-4QKPcvn3YiAg' /></a>

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

4/18/17 8:29 AM

Well, that did it. Just by writing my last post, the links started laying down the pictures! Weird! I couldn't see anything yesterday either, but now the whole slew of them.

Nice bike, I'm guessing that for the road levers and mtb rear derailer to be working together that it must be 10-speed, "Exact Actuation" style?
...but I had thought that the 10s XT cassettes only went up to 36t(?).
EDIT: Recalling now that the 11s road stuff is still "Exact Actuation", and seeing that the 10s rear derailer can apparently handle the 40t.

There should be plenty of climbing traction when stuff is added to the rear bag, though I guess you won't be going into severe terrain with the fenders.
Shall we call it a touring bike for rougher roads?

It looks like Kinesis is making a variety of frames and forks these days, I don't recall seeing their frames sold under their own brand here though.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

4/18/17 8:37 AM

The way Nick coded it it will be different depending if one is logged on or not if that is what you mean...

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

4/18/17 3:38 PM

Yeah, SRAM have a complete list of their "exact actuation" components at https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/technologies/exact-actuation - you can mix and match any of those, so with a road 11s shifter you use the 10s MTB RD to shift an 11s cassette. Their 11s MTB components are not compatible.

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

4/18/17 10:36 PM

"The way Nick coded it it will be different depending..

Doh, I had sort of the same issue when visiting my Flickr account, couldn't get the file addys in a .jpg format, until I logged in!

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