Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie - Season 3

[Rich_W]

@JMoote -- Pics of the 54 cm frame

[limba]

Very cool. Good luck at the races.

[Dr.Dos]

Nice bike. But imho a 56 cm would have fitted better, the stem is far too long. CX ain't road racing (at least not here in Europe) and shorter stems make the bike handle much better.

[jmoote]

@JMoote -- Pics of the 54 cm frame

Looks great! I'm inclined to agree with the other posters that the bigger frame with a shorter stem (and whatever you had to do to get the bars low enough) would handle better but I have trouble driving any bike with a longer stem. Even my road bikes (575-585 top tube) have 100 mm stems. 110 is maybe tolerable to me but any longer makes the front end really floppy.

That said, the fit looks perfect for you so if you like the handling, it should be great.

I somewhat I agree with what you said about me on a 56 with a whack of spacers, but I needn't worry about it too much as I'm not in the market for another bike this season anyway

The build with the matte finish is amazing. I like the pre-prod gloss too... but the matte is pretty bad ass.

[dlight]

What kind of chain catcher will you use or any at all?

I am not sure if the gloss or matte finish looks better. Can the frame be ordered in matte?

[Rich_W]

I'll be using Deda Dog Fangs (34.9:). what's nice about this frame is the seat tube stays round low enough to use one. No bottle cage mounts

Available for sale in Matte only.

[dlight]

Beautiful machine.

What stem length is that? I don't see anything wrong with it. The stem and bar juncture is still way behind the front axel from what I can tell of the picture. I like it.

Have you ridden it in the rough stuff? How was it?

I am selling everything that is not bolted down to the house to finance this baby.

[Rich_W]

Don't ya just love the position experts here?

The stem is a 12cm. Note the Seat Tube angle is steeper at 74° which pushes the effective top tube out approx 1cm

Matching my setback, I'm in the same position as my 2010 Stevens Team Carbon which has a 73° seat tube, a 55.4 Top Tube, and a 12cm stem.

If I stayed with the 56cm frame, the top tube would be longer than my road bike. Comparing the position to my road bike... my hands are 1cm back, and 1cm higher.

[fxc3700]

The bike is looking good. How does this bike compare to the Stevens bike, how do they handle? It looks like the bottom bracket is lower on the Van Dessels than the Stevens, and what is the Full Tilt Boogie giving you over the Gin and Trombones other that looking great and being bit lighter? I am torn between the Gin and Trombones and the Stevens frames for this year.

[Dr.Dos]

Don't ya just love the position experts here?

The stem is a 12cm. Note the Seat Tube angle is steeper at 74° which pushes the effective top tube out approx 1cm

Matching my setback, I'm in the same position as my 2010 Stevens Team Carbon which has a 73° seat tube, a 55.4 Top Tube, and a 12cm stem.

If I stayed with the 56cm frame, the top tube would be longer than my road bike. Comparing the position to my road bike... my hands are 1cm back, and 1cm higher.

So Van Dessel has something to fix for 2012. Says the expert.

[Rich_W]

So Van Dessel has something to fix for 2012. Says the expert.

Please elaborate

[Dr.Dos]

Getting rid of a 74° seat angle that nobody (< 5% of the population) needs and adjust TT length, maybe add a cm to the HT as well. The extreme (by CX standards) sloping TT is also something you don't want as well.

At present I'd bond some disc brake posts on and market the thing as 29er...

[Rich_W]

Thanks for your feedback. I'll get out some epoxy and get to work bonding those disc tabs on.

Since this is the same geometry as the successful Gin & Trombones... we'll change those too on your advice.

Can you give me your contact info? I would love to put you in touch with the pro who developed the geometry so you can straight him out as well.

[Dr.Dos]

Would you (not the guy who "developed" the geometry) agree that a 74° seat angle is nonsense if >95% of all riders have to work around it? Would you agree that a 1 cm longer headtube beats 1 cm of spacers? Would you agree that a horizontal or very slight sloping top tube works better carrying the bike? Would you?

Thank god I'm not paid for racing bicycles. I managed to win two Elite races last season, had quite a few podium spots as well. However even if not, I would be able to spot the errors in the geometry.

[dlight]

Would it not be to each their own in terms of fit. If it doesn't fit you than it's not for you? What other seat tube angle would think works? Seems like it works just fine for Rich. Nys bike wouldn't work for me. Who care if he's won one or two races.

I don't see a whole lot of spacers on his bike except enough to provide clearance for the hanger.