Great build and some nice action shots (I see you do actually have mud in America!).

Re. the Velonews test - I wouldn't classify a $2000 frameset mid-priced!

IMO:

durability: at least twice as good
grip: more, but still not the strongest on off camber stuff
rolling resistance: more or less the same

Rich,
What do your rear drop outs measure? 130?

Another review and more pictures.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/reviews/van- ... ilt-boogie

I'm 6 foot 1 and I'm on a 56 G&T, which is the same geo. I run a 120cm -10 stem slammed to the top of the headset. I almost went with the 58, but Rich told me to go with the 56 and I am glad I did. Shouldering is a little hard, but there's no way I'd want a bigger headtube to fix that.

I'm 5'11.5" and I'm on a 56 with an 11cm stem slammed.

And FWIW, the Bike Radar review when you look at the frame os 100%. Funny how we rushed to get him out the bike with what was on the bench and Pachocha harped on the stem, wheelset, saddle, etc. Also funny that it took until the near end of CX season to post the review.

At the end of the day, 5% of the buyers get a FTB or G&T as a complete build. The framesets speak for themselves.

I agree with him on the bottle boss thing. A few people that got the G&T were interested in the FTB, but didn't consider it because of that since they will also use the frame on the road since many people aren't rich enough for two fully dialed race setups.

Rich,

What is the max size of tire that can be ran on the FTB? Think I can get a 42mm or 45mm tire to work. Need a bike for the rough Mountain trails.

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2 Serotta's, 1 Spectrum, 1 Van Dessel, 1 Parlee & 1 Carl Strong, & 1 Titus.

I would not recommend anything over a 35mm. Its a cross bike, not a monster cross bike.

Mght work, but then you have all sorts of mud and debris scraping between the tire and frame.

Perhaps check out Van Dessel's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and then you can put the fatties on there.

Ah, not the answer I was looking for. I was trying to kill two stones with one bird, heck maybe three stones. Objectives: additonal cross bike for racing, Short track race bike, and mountain trials bike. Tire size and selection, for me, is the difference between these three bikes. I currently use my cross bike for all three of these but the mountain trail riding really needs some bigger tires or your rims get trashed very quickly.

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2 Serotta's, 1 Spectrum, 1 Van Dessel, 1 Parlee & 1 Carl Strong, & 1 Titus.

I train on Stan's ZTR 355's with 35mm Stan's Ravens... and my wheels are perfect... I bash them over roots and rocks constantly.

G'day Rich,

Just wondering mate if 34mm tyres were permitted in races? I was trying to find the max tyre size and came up with 33?

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

Rich_W, can you confirm the C-to-C seat tube measurement of a FTB or G&T? The numbers and pictures do not match on the Van Dessel website for the G&T; Is the seat tube measurement listed in the charts correct at 50 cm C-T (~48 cm C-to-C) ? The pictures on flickr (which I think is a 54) measures more like 52 cm (~50 cm C-to-C).

Does "installed upon request" mean a drill and a Marston rivnut? Is the frame strong enough as it is to cope with both DT and ST bottle? I really want to drill and riv-nut mine badly...any suggestions?

yep -- thats what it means... I just carry a tall bottle in my Jersey pocket.

Very easy to do. Edwin can do it for you at VDHQ or on your own. Plenty strong.