Looking for a frame, sort of... Fix it, repair it, how do I do it, what's the best part to use, and now: how do I get there?

[SeditiousCanary]

As most of you know, I got hit and I am expecting that my Crosscheck has seen it's last ride. I am early in the planning phase here, but I'm already starting to look for a replacement frame. Without access to Bike-a-log, I'm curious if any of you lot have come across a frame with some or all of the following features in about this order if importance:

- Cro-mo
- Rack and fender eyelets (to be clear, I mean eyelets at the dropout and the seatstay)
- Big tyre clearance (700 x 50mm will be my daily rider, with a possible offroad 2.3" option)
- S&S Couplers (as an option, but not required to be OEM)
- Normal BB shell
- Vertical dropouts
- Fork included
- Disc brake mounts and hydraulic disc brake routing
- Suspension corrected

So far, I have looked at the Travelerscheck, Karate Monkey, El Mariachi, and a few small builders for a custom frame. In short, the Travelerscheck is short on rack eyelets, tyre clearance and vertical dropouts, the Monkey is missing rack eyelets, S&S couplers and vertical dropouts, while the El Mariachi has a silly bottom bracket shell, missing all the eyelets and no S&S couplers.

Anyone?

<b>Update:</b> Hmm, the Bandersnatch looks like it might do the trick if I can get them to send me one with braze-ons, or unfinished so that I can get them added.

[lantius]

on the expensive, custom side - rodriguez made a 29er for ross, might be worth talking to them. also <a href="http://www.antbikemike.com/29er.html">ant</a> makes a good lookin' one.

it sounds like you're looking for a 29er that is commutable moreso than a cross bike - the suspension correction and 2.3 knobby clearance is going to put you into mountain bike territory. it seems like most of the 29er mtbs are built without brazeons and with aggressive offroad geometry.

i liked my karate monkey but if i were going to keep it in the long run as anything more than a mountain bike i'd have brazed on proper rack mounts or built a rear rack mount for it that used the canti posts. and the horizontal drops with discs are annoying. price is good though.

google image search for 29er commuter has some interesting setups, lots of monkeys as expected but some other frames worth investigating perhaps.

[lantius]

damn, i just spent a half hour writing that and looking at pictures of beautiful, sleek, fast 29ers. i do NOT need a 29er.

[joeball]

You need a Yo!!!

[lantius]

[martin]

[ripper]

[joeball]

Stupid Straight Blade Forks

[ripper]

[Alex]

[joeball]

[ripper]

[jimmythefly]

[SeditiousCanary]