Another Kogswell Perspective
Andy - I hope you don't mind me tagging on to your post and adding another Kogswell review.
Kogswell Derailleur Frame (58cm)
“Standard” geometry
ST = 58cm c-t
TT = 57.9cm c-c
STA = 73.0
HTA = 73.5
Fork Rake = 42mm
Steerer Diameter = 1-1/8”
Derailleur frames are manufactured in Taiwan using Founder Land / ECO butted CroMo tubing and investment cast lugs.
I found dealing with Kogswell was quick and easy. Matthew (I think he pretty much is Kogswell) was very quick to respond to all my inquiries. Payment was easy using a credit card through Paypal.
The frame arrived 3 days after I made payment. The packaging of the frame could have been a little better. The bottom bracket had a 1/16” thick piece of foam wrapped around it and arrived with a 2cm paint chip on the underside.
The build was very easy. I had the LBS chase the threads on the bottom bracket, but didn’t bother with facing either the BB or head tube. Unlike a lot of other inexpensive frames out there the paint appears to be fairly durable. I built it up with a mostly Ultegra (triple) setup, Velocity Dyad 36H rims (105 RH & Record FH), Salsa Motoace bar, Thomson seatpost and Selle Italia Flite Gel saddle. There is an internal tube inside the TT for routing of the rear brake cable. The brake housing slid completely through without a hitch and made for a nice clean looking top tube detail. The underside of the bottom bracket has cable routing guides (steel tubes) so there is no need for one of the plastic guides. The seat post collar does not come with a binder bolt, but does accept the standard recessed binder bolt you can get at your LBS.
The frame comes with some kind of no-name caliper brakes. They have a little longer reach than “long reach” brakes. Kogswell indicates that the long reach brakes will work, but just barely. The tolerance didn’t satisfy them so they found these brakes that have a little more reach yet and decided to include them with the frame. The pads they come with are like bricks. I replaced the pads with the Koolstop Salmon pads and they seem to work more than adequately for me.
I was able to fit 700c x 32 tires with SKS fenders. I had a pair of 700c x 35’s, but they wouldn’t fit (on the front) with the fenders. If you used an IRD or similar fork in lieu of the one provided, you would have more than adequate room on the front for 700c x 35 tires with fenders and marginally enough room on the back.
There are braze-ons for fenders and rack on the rear drops and single fender braze-ons on the fork. There are no braze-ons on the seat stay for a rack so you need to purchase an accessory strut from Delta for about $4 that attaches to your rear brake bridge. This setup seems to work just fine.
The 58cm frame weighed in at 7.25 lbs frame and fork. The total build with fenders, rack and pedals came in at 26 lbs. I came to the conclusion that if I focus on the ride characteristics, I tend to forget about the weight (what else is one to do). I now have about 300 miles on the bike. I don’t have a lot of other steel frames for comparison, but the Kogswell rides better than any of the others I have ridden. On my first ride, I didn’t have a rack on the back and when I stood and pedaled hard I detected no unwarranted flexing. This was quite contrary to my previous steel commuter (cyclocross) frame. That thing wanged all over the place, but that was with a rack and pannier. So once I got a chance to ride in to work with rack and panniers I put it to the test as best as I could. I was very pleasantly surprised. The difference between my previous frame and the Kogswell was like night and day. Not that there wasn’t any flex, but it was quite reasonable for my purposes. As far as how well the frame soaked up the road bumps goes, I was again quite pleased. I found that with my other frame, the rear would flex and then spring back explosively on the larger bumps. This was kind of scary when you have a bit speed on a descent and hit a good compression bump. None of this is present with the Kogswell. The ride was closer to my C40 than any of my other three bikes (then again the C40 doesn’t weigh 7.25 lbs).
With the combination of larger tires and fenders there is a significant amount of toe overlap. When you slow down and have to navigate sharp corners, this something you don’t want to loose track of. I have hit the back of the fender fairly hard more than once now. I really don’t have any idea if the problem would go away if you were to use normal sized tires and no fenders, but based on the geometry being fairly “standard” I tend to think it might.
All in all I’m glad I purchased the frame and I think it will make a nice commuter and light touring bike. Although, it is a bit early to really say with only 300 miles on the thing, but hopefully I’ll still be saying the same thing at 2K or 3K miles.
Bryan
