oneten wrote:The Spa Wayfarer also looks a good option but since reading a few negative posts about Spa frames and particularly the headset bearings, it has - rightly or probably wrongly - put me off.
You could ask them to fit some better quality headset bearings.
have just about every kind of bearing imaginable and are swift and not unduly expensive. Very fast mail order service too. An easy upgrade anyone could do.
I bought the Cinellihobo (as it was then called) shortly after it was introduced, marketed as ‘the bike that didn’t exist’, or some such. Nowadays, it would be called a gravel bike. It’s a great machine, and until very recently has been my only bike, used for shopping, tootling around and long distance touring. All my touring is done loaded with full camping gear and the Cinellihobo is more than capable of taking the weight. I’m over twelve stone. I once broke a spoke while abusing the loaded bike over a rugged trail, and that’s all. Mine is an XXL (61cm), and came with Shimano Deore equipment. I see that the PlanetX version has Sora. I swapped the original saddle, which was intolerably uncomfortable, for a Brooks. Also, I recently changed the drops for the PlanetX Geoff bars. A great bike. I’d buy it, but I’ve already got one.
As an interested observer I have noticed that when this model (the Cinelli) has been referred to before it has been severely criticised by people except by those who actually own one, who have only good to say.
Oldjohnw wrote:As an interested observer I have noticed that when this model (the Cinelli) has been referred to before it has been severely criticised by people except by those who actually own one, who have only good to say.
It is the way of these things. Not all roads lead to Harrogate
FWIW the Cinelli is designed for loaded touring; it may well be a lot stiffer than is usually pleasant when unladen, in which case you may need fat tyres to help it out.
I'd also suggest that you test ride one before you look to buy it (same with any bike but tourers for occasional loaded use especially). I happened to be in the LBS one day when a ~3-year old hobootleg was in for servicing. It had racks and mudguards attached, a few other bits and pieces like bottle cages and may have had puncture proof tyres on too. It looked good for lugging a load, for sure.
However I wouldn't have had that particular bike as a gift if it was my only (or even main) bike because it had all the hallmarks of being a right slug the rest of the time; very stiff, very slow tyres, and very heavy. 'Very heavy?' Yes; the bike I was riding that day (with lights, mudguards etc) is no lightweight and comes in about 28lbs. The hobootleg was very clearly at least 5lbs heavier than that. Honestly, I couldn't see where the extra weight was coming from exactly, but it was certainly in there somewhere.
Is it actually made by Cinelli? It's got all the hallmarks of an outsourced special, just Cinelli trying to get in on the gravel/adventure/touring bike trend etc.
I think it's been around since before the gravel term hit. And looking on Cinelli's website tends to confirm this; they say it was first made in 2012 "for the mythical Tour d'Afrique" and as they're Italian, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that means legendary. https://cinelli.it/en/prodotti/hobootleg-en/
Brucey, you’re absolutely right, as usual. The Cinelli is a heavy bike. But somehow not a slug, and anyway it makes you feel a mere lad again when you get on a lighter bike.
re weight; PX claim 14.2kg which works out 31.3lbs. However that is a manufacturer's figure so is quite likely to be an underestimate (see weasel words for full wrigglyness). It also doesn't include pedals, one would assume, since they are neither depicted nor mentioned. So between those two things adding another 2lbs would be a reasonable assumption....? This takes us up to ~33lbs.
I probably sound like a weight obsessive; trust me I'm not. I could easily make the bike I use most considerably lighter but between compromises it would introduce and (inevitably) 'ICBA' the extra weight stays on, and I'm not fretting about it. Any bike properly designed for laden touring is designed to shine when it is loaded up; here another few lbs of weight makes (comparatively) little difference. The biggest problem comes when folk are not honest about how they will use such a bike; if in fact most of your riding is not laden but unladen, it can be something of a compromise to use such a bike.
Oh and I agree, getting back on a lightweight machine is a special joy, something to be savoured.
14.2kg is for the size M according to Cinelli's own website, presumably including the racks (which look good) and mudguards (which look too short) pictured. But yeah, you've obviously got to add a bit for pedals and weasles. Although for context, Surly don't publish weights at all, so how much a LHT weighs I don't know (though a quick websearch turns up a figure of 2.34kg for a 58cm frame according to Wiggle and a road.cc review quoting 12.75kg for a Disc Trucker, not sure of size but presumably in the as-supplied and photographed 'naked' state). So if you allow a couple of kg for racks and guards they're going to come out quite similar.
This may be stating the b. obvious, but if in fact you intend mostly to use the bike mainly for (say) nipping into the local supermarket, a full-on touring bike (for loaded touring) is a bit of an expensive (not to mention easily nicked) sledgehammer to crack a nut. Only a couple of days ago I went to the local supermarket to resupply (on my hopefully 'not too tempting to thieves' carrier bike) and there was a rare sight, a Thorn Nomad parked in the bike racks. Great bike for loaded touring, a faithful friend no doubt, but overkill for the supermarket run, if not something of an actual liability. The front hub was worth more than my entire bike and the rear hub about x5 that; I wondered how many goes you would get (especially if you are a creature of habit) before some thieving toerag nicked the wheels or the bike....
For the supermarket run, if you want a bike that weighs about 35lbs and will do the job, an old Raleigh three-speed (with suitably lowered gearing perhaps) would do the job....?
