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Kogswell Ride Report

2K views 17 replies 7 participants last post by  bigrider 
#1 ·
I've been riding for the past few weeks in the snow and the muck, but with the weather finally around 50(F) today, I had a chance to get out my Kogswell and give it a test ride.

I'm pleased, to put it mildly. This is the first bike I've had with a threadless setup, and I must say that the difference is noticeable. On previous bikes, I've been able to feel the stem/bar flex. Not so with this ride. There's no frame flex (but would you expect any on a bike made with oversized steel tubing?

The combination of Campy controls and Shimano drivetrain worked flawlessly (even Frazz would be impressed) and the Berthoud fenders were noiseless and effective (see below).

Part of the comfort of the ride no doubt came from the use of 25mm tires--inexpensive, but very good, Michelin Dynamics.

The only thing I had to adjust was saddle height--up 5mm (approx) from my initial setting from roller riding.\
 
#5 ·
Belt and suspenders

Andy M-S said:
There is a pump peg, but I've found for the sake of safety that it's a good idea to use a strap as well. I don't want to lose my trusty hPX!
I undertand why you don't want to lose the Zefal. However, I've had the same one on three bikes-all with pegs-and haven't had it pop loose yet. Again, nice bike.
 
#8 ·
details

58, shimano, probably bar-end shifters, 105--similar to yours: fenders, frame pump, carradice, etc.

dedicated rando/distance bike.

how are those brakes? i have tektros on my tt bike and don't really care for them.
 
#9 ·
Tektro

J's Haiku Shop said:
58, shimano, probably bar-end shifters, 105--similar to yours: fenders, frame pump, carradice, etc.

dedicated rando/distance bike.

how are those brakes? i have tektros on my tt bike and don't really care for them.
Boy, we're going to have get a meeting of the Kogswell Owners Club together one of these days!

If you do go with 105, it might be fun to go with the all-black stuff...

Tektro makes a range of brakes. Their cheapest ones are, well, not very nice. I like these...much less expensive than the Shimano equivalents, very nicely polished--they look very good with the fenders.

Hey, I couldn't persuade you to go with DT shifters, could I? I have a pair of DA 9-speed DT shifters available cheap...I was thinking about using them, but I really do prefer the shape of the Ergo hoods, and they shift so well...so I'm staying with my Shimanglo drivetrain.

Yeah, I saw this as a sort of mini-rando ride...and I am, in fact, playing with the idea of a BB-based generator even as we speak. I expect a good bottle generator would be fine, but I keep thinking about what could happen if a front sidewall blew out at speed, so...

I highly recommend the Berthoud fenders from Wallbike (and you can get your Carradice and Brooks at the same time--one stop shopping). They're tough, they look nice, and when you look down at them, you see the sky reflected back at you.
 
#10 ·
Andy M-S said:
Boy, we're going to have get a meeting of the Kogswell Owners Club together one of these days!

Yeah, maybe i could join the party if they MADE MY SIZE. These frames are classic looking and I checked them out only to be crushed by the realization their sizes are limited. I could see that creme colored commuter fixed gear with black fenders carrying me to work
 
#11 ·
"I highly recommend the Berthoud fenders from Wallbike (and you can get your Carradice and Brooks at the same time--one stop shopping). They're tough, they look nice, and when you look down at them, you see the sky reflected back at you."

how cool is that? sold.

wallbike gets all my retro-grouch-related business, natch. two bags, two brooks, a rack, some other stuff. bill's tha man.

thanks!

ps. unsure of dt/bar-end yet. will consider. probably be awhile before it's built. just wanna get the frame while there are some left...
 
#12 ·
What kind of strap?

I have a bike with a pump peg and one day while out riding I hit a bump and the pump fell off down between the drive-side crank arm & wheel. It bent my brand new HPX into a U shape! What kind of strap do you use to hold it on with?

Andy M-S said:
There is a pump peg, but I've found for the sake of safety that it's a good idea to use a strap as well. I don't want to lose my trusty hPX!
 
#13 ·
Jandd

BikeRider said:
I have a bike with a pump peg and one day while out riding I hit a bump and the pump fell off down between the drive-side crank arm & wheel. It bent my brand new HPX into a U shape! What kind of strap do you use to hold it on with?
It's a Jandd strap I picked up a few years ago, with a nice chunk of rubber to brace the pump, so you're not just compressing it against the frame. There are a number of places making the same thing--your LBS should have some.

'Course, it makes it harder to get to the pump when you need to shoo off a dog...
 
#14 ·
Talk to Matthew...

bigrider said:
Andy M-S said:
Boy, we're going to have get a meeting of the Kogswell Owners Club together one of these days!

Yeah, maybe i could join the party if they MADE MY SIZE. These frames are classic looking and I checked them out only to be crushed by the realization their sizes are limited. I could see that creme colored commuter fixed gear with black fenders carrying me to work
Matthew's pretty reasonable about things...if enough tall folks talk to him, I wouldn't be surprised to see something north of 60cm in the next batch.
 
#15 ·
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
 
#16 ·
Brian:

Nice review.

As to toe clip overlap...I think it depends in part on how you set up your pedals (and fenders). With size 13 feet and 175mm cranks, I haven't exprienced any overlap, but then I tend to have my pedals fairly far forward on the foot--with the result that even on a full touring frame, panniers are almost out of the picture for me.
 
#17 ·
Bigger sizes on the way!

bigrider said:
Andy M-S said:
Boy, we're going to have get a meeting of the Kogswell Owners Club together one of these days!

Yeah, maybe i could join the party if they MADE MY SIZE. These frames are classic looking and I checked them out only to be crushed by the realization their sizes are limited. I could see that creme colored commuter fixed gear with black fenders carrying me to work
I've just been in communication with Matthew. The K2 (the fancy one) will be coming in something like a 61 or 62 in June. More K1 bikes (the current model) including a 61 or 62 are due in August. Good things come to them that wait!
 
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