SPA CYCLES Elan

[mercalia]

ugly. not many spokes in those wheels?

[John_S]

Everything is in the eye of the beholder but I think that it looks like an extremely nice looking bike and not ugly in the slightest!

Re: the wheels and spoke count that's only with respect to the standard/stock Mavic Disc wheels that the bike comes with as standard. Reading the Spa website it says:-

"Spa Cycles handbuilt wheelset with Shimano RS505 hubs and H Plus SON Archetype rims for £100."

Presumably if there's a handbuilt wheelset option these wheels could be specified with a higher spoke count to suit anyones personal requirements?

It still looks an absolutely brilliant bike to me. Now to get searching down the back of the sofa for some money or getting my thinking cap on for the winning lottery numbers because if I could magic up a spare 2k I'd definitely be taking a test ride with a view to purchasing.

John

[531colin]

That looks like exactly what I've been waiting for SPA to release
Shame I bought something else in the meantime

Is there to be a steel version as well?
I'm hoping frame only will also be an option at some point.

I would be very surprised if they won't sell you frame/fork
There isn't an exactly similar steel version, but we are developing 2 steel disc braked bikes with steel forks.
One is a load-lugging tourer (which also has screw-in canti. studs, to cover all the bases), the other is pretty much a clubman's winter bike come light tourer...mudguards, tyres up to about 35mm, carrier bosses.

[531colin]

So “Damascus” didn’t make the cut. But Elan’s a nice name.

It seems like a versatile, modern bicycle, with the added cachet of titanium, a full carbon fork, a fat headset (what size is it?), and hydraulic discs. Surely there’s a decent market for this if word gets out about its availability.

Put a triple on for touring

There’s a triple too, though of course it forgoes the hydraulics in favour of mechanical discs.

For a ten mile commute I could accept the less springy fork for the sake of wheel durability.

It does have 32 mm tyres, so there will be plenty of spring in the tyre if not the fork.

I like the subtle logo treatment. Much better than gold.

Curious if it will be sold as a frame too. Plus, we need those big geometry charts Spa is famous for!

The full carbon fork is inch and a half/inch and eighth tapered steerer. The head tube is 44mm internal to take those clever headsets that have internal top and bottom cups to fit inch and eighth straight steerer, or an external (traditional) cup to take inch and a half bottom end of steerer.
Thats as clear as mud, isn't it? Look at those nice people from Hope here...http://www.hopetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/HOPEHEADSETS2011Web.pdf.....scroll down to the diagram, its second from the left....
Geo. charts to follow.

[531colin]

I've also just noticed that Spa seem to be selling full-bike options of the Aravis 631* Audax and touring frames under their own name as well now, but in limited sizes, is this a new thing or have I just not noticed before?

This seems a little odd as they compete almost directly with the existing Spa Steel tourer and Spa Steel Audax frames/builds, I hope they're not going to be discontinued!

*at least that's what they look like but correct me if I'm wrong. Same frames available from Hewitt/Vernon Barker/Schmoos/Pearson

You are, indeed, correct.

[531colin]

The tall front end means you can get the bars level with the saddle

Music to my ears.....my only task now is to have some children so that I can then sell them to buy the bike.

...but how fat a cX tyre will it take?

I have asked for pictures with the biggest tyre it will take....with mudguards.

[531colin]

how are the wheels pictured different / uprated ? from the originals aimed at rim brakes?

Pictured with Mavic Askium disc wheelset, which is a reduced spoke count factory built wheelset.
The "upgrade wheelset" mentioned is a conventional handbuilt wheelset using shimano hubs and H plus son Archetype rims, which are light and stiff, take sensible width tyres, and have a deep rim well so that arthritic old men can get their tyres on.....and spare parts, rims, spokes, are all available.

[MikeF]

Geometry doesn't seem to be given for the new bikes.

[mig]

how are the wheels pictured different / uprated ? from the originals aimed at rim brakes?

Pictured with Mavic Askium disc wheelset, which is a reduced spoke count factory built wheelset.
The "upgrade wheelset" mentioned is a conventional handbuilt wheelset using shimano hubs and H plus son Archetype rims, which are light and stiff, take sensible width tyres, and have a deep rim well so that arthritic old men can get their tyres on.....and spare parts, rims, spokes, are all available.

i think i worded that badly sorry.
in what structural way is the disc aksium different to the original aksium intended for rim brakes? the front is no longer radial seems to be one way for example.

[531colin]

Askium disc....24 spokes F & R, tangential spoking
Askium rim brake.....20 F & R, front radial

Rim extrusion is different

http://www.mavic.co.uk/wheels/road-triathlon....has lots of info-advertising, if you have the inclination to study it and dissect out the differences between the wheelsets.....you may have already spotted the major difference!

[pwa]

Askium disc....24 spokes F & R, tangential spoking
Askium rim brake.....20 F & R, front radial

Rim extrusion is different

http://www.mavic.co.uk/wheels/road-triathlon....has lots of info-advertising, if you have the inclination to study it and dissect out the differences between the wheelsets.....you may have already spotted the major difference!

Not surprisingly, very different wheels sharing a name for marketing purposes.

[Bonefishblues]

Taking Spa into a very different stratum of the market, will be interesting to see how this does.

[amediasatex]

amediasatex wrote:
I've also just noticed that Spa seem to be selling full-bike options of the Aravis 631* Audax and touring frames under their own name as well now, but in limited sizes, is this a new thing or have I just not noticed before?

This seems a little odd as they compete almost directly with the existing Spa Steel tourer and Spa Steel Audax frames/builds, I hope they're not going to be discontinued!

*at least that's what they look like but correct me if I'm wrong. Same frames available from Hewitt/Vernon Barker/Schmoos/Pearson

You are, indeed, correct.

Thanks for confirmation Colin, dare/care to comment on the bold bit?

[spins]

That looks like exactly what I've been waiting for SPA to release
Shame I bought something else in the meantime

Is there to be a steel version as well?
I'm hoping frame only will also be an option at some point.

I would be very surprised if they won't sell you frame/fork
There isn't an exactly similar steel version, but we are developing 2 steel disc braked bikes with steel forks.
One is a load-lugging tourer (which also has screw-in canti. studs, to cover all the bases), the other is pretty much a clubman's winter bike come light tourer...mudguards, tyres up to about 35mm, carrier bosses.

35 mm WITH mudguards? Sounds too good to be true. Annoyingly, it's 28 mm max with mudguards usually.

[amediasatex]

35 mm WITH mudguards? Sounds too good to be true. Annoyingly, it's 28 mm max with mudguards usually.

Only due to the normal restriction of having to fit tyres + guards in under 'long' reach DP brakes, most bikes with cantis/V's would manage 32mm+ easily, and with discs the issue disappears completely!

My (similar to the above but steel) do-it-all disc'd bike is currently running 38s and guards with loads of room to spare, you could probably get 42mm+ in there with no bother, and that's not at all unusual on current offerings.