Romain's Got a Road Rig!
Romain Bonnardel is the most recent addition to the regular crew. His passions include thrashing our Guerrilla Gravity Trail Pistol demo, rebuilding dropper posts, and (as of getting this bike in April) averaging 22 MPH on his commute from down Renton! That last passion was discovered thanks to this beautiful mint condition Lemond Poprad. Even before the shelter-in-place Romain wanted to find an affordable commuter that was fast on pavement and capable of shredding through gravel paths. The Poprad was definitely near the top of the list of candidates.
Unfortunately a lot of people know how great these True Temper OX Platinum frames are so they’re in short supply on the used market. That’s where Scott, a frequent feature on In the Stand, comes in. After basically gifting a Condor to longtime shop guy Riley in the summer, Scott showed up to drop off one of his bikes or another and heard about Romain’s search. And boy did he have the perfect thing sitting unused!
As Scott’s builds are, this bike is very period correct, featuring 2nd-gen Shimano 10 speed, HED wheels, and clear housing. It’s a little old school but in these days where every brand makes a capable carbon fiber gravel bike with internal routing and flat mount discs and some sort of proprietary layup that provides “vertical compliance without sacrificing lateral stiffness” and different models are differentiated on the basis of lighter derailleur hangers, brake mounts, and 3D-printed mud being used in their wind tunnel tests… it’s time to close that chain efficiency test and the comparison of shift speeds between SRAM and Shimano and learn to enjoy the actual experience of riding a bike again. The best way is with old school parts that were built to function, not to live up to the analysis of middle-aged men on YouTube.
And now we breathe. Here’s an example of simplicity: the Compass (nee Rene Herse) Stampede Pass in an Extralight casing. Smooth, fast, and grippy. (Ignore the Bicycling Quarterly analyses, please. That’s largely hogwash too.)
The bike’s geometry is pretty similar to the lower and slightly slacker approach taken by modern cyclocross framebuilders like 333fab and Rock Lobster. The on-road performance befits the brand’s namesake.
