I decided I wanted a more modern road bike so I can see if I’m missing anything. Now I just don’t need everything modern, but here is what I want to try:
Carbon frame/fork/seat post
Mostly internal cable routing
Thru Axles
Disc Brakes
Deep carbon wheels
Wide road tires
11-12 speed groupset
Lightweight
Now I need to do that on a limited budget as I’m frugal. The used market would be the obvious answer but bikes with all those features tend to be pretty new and still rather expensive. So, I shopped around and found a sweet deal on a 2017 Raleigh Clubman carbon frameset on Ebay. I like the fact that it’s from one of the bigger bike companies and this particular frame was ment to be a warranty replacement. The seller seemed to have a lot of them, which made me think the frames were pretty solid as not many of them were needed for replacement. Here are some pics:
Specs
Size: 52cm
Frame: direct connect high modulus carbon with tapered headtube, thru-axles, disc brakes, and internal cable routing.
Fork: Carbon with alloy steerer, 1 1/8” to 1.5” taper, thru-axle with post mount disc brake
Head tube: integrated cartridge bearings
Rear thru axle: 142mm spacing, 12mm x 170mm x 1.5 p.
Front thru axle: 100mm spacing, 15mm x 130mm x 1.5p.
Brake: disc
Bottom bracket: threaded
Seat Post Diameter: 27.2mm
Tire Width spacing: 32mm
Weight
Frame: 2.4lbs
Fork: 1.46lbs uncut
Total: 3.86lbs
I’m really happy with the specs, look, and quality of the frameset. I think I have all the parts I need for this build and think I’ve kept it on a pretty good budget. Frameset was $447 total with shipping and it came with a headset, so pretty frugal for carbon.
I’ll be reviewing the parts and some of the installation as I go. Here are the wheels going on the build:
Frugal Average Bicyclist 