A couple more questions concerning the Utopia Kranach
You're welcome
1) it seems from what you wrote, the parts that are installed on the Utopia are very specific. Does it still use a standard 68 or 73mm bottom bracket, does it have bosses for standard V brakes, does it have a standard headset size (i.e, can it accept a 1 1/8 Chris King), can it accept both an internal or external gear mech Rohloff?
It's the other way round. Parts designed for Utopias and in particular the Kranich have become standards, for instance the taller, nylon-filled, premium BUMM lamp bracket. You may think it is a ridiculously small thing, but without the BUMM 471LH bracket, all your expensive lamp will light is the top of your balloon tyre; this is what I mean by obsessives: no detail too small to attract the full attention of a partner.
In general, you may assume that any standard part fits on the Utopia. Standard British-threaded bottom brackets fit (68mm). There are bosses for rim brakes but they need to fit around a very wide tyre -- there's no point in buying a Kranich, a bike designed from the ground up to use the Big Apple as its suspension, and then fitting tyres narrower than 47mm; I went for the full 60mm and am glad that I did. I use Magura HS11 rim hydraulics for their progressiveness; here is rare example of the standard part not fitting: the brake booster of the Magura setup is too narrow to fit the bosses on a fork wide enough to take a 60mm tyre, so Utopia makes their own wider brake booster but no one actually fits it because it wrecks the progression of the brakes and makes them nearly as sudden as disks, which I consider uncivilized. The HS11 are, ironically considering they are such superior brakes and so much in character with the bike, the standard no-cost, cheap, option on the Kranich and my understanding is that almost no one chooses the socalled "upgrades" or even the available oversize booster. Standard 1-1/8 headset; I have a Cane Creek S6 copy, built by Cane Creek for Humpert, which I imagine will see me out, which came as standard when my bike was built. I suppose you could fit a Chris King, but it requires special tools, and I don't know that the extra cost would be justified when you can get a Cane Creek S6 for a bargain (possibly already included in the price of the frame and fork) -- the S6 is the headset that created the Aheadset standard; it's a classic.
The Kranich is designed for the nearest thing to a straight cable run from the rotary control on the handlebar to the gearbox, with brazed inserts in the frame under the downtube for machined cable guides for the Rolloff, the rear brake and the rear lamp. Bare wires would just be exposed and cause trouble, I think, though you could no doubt rig up a fitting for them. In any event, I've never heard of a Kranich that was not built with the EXT fully enclosed transmission cable set. (I imagine the Utopia bosses take the same view as I do of the bare wire fad, that it is an unfortunate leftover from road bikers trying to save a gramme or two, and likely to cause trouble sooner or later.)
You can rest easy: A Kranich builds up with standard parts.
2) from the little I could read or translate on the Utopia site, the Kranach is considered a long distance touring bike...I assume you would agree.
Try putting the URL of Utopia into the classic version of Google Translate.
The Kranich is a heavy duty circumnavigator, if you want it to be, a bike you can really load up and it will still be stable. I use mine as a utility bike, a day tourer (usually loaded up with my painting gear in the pannier baskets), a shopping bike, a fast downhiller (the local roadies get nervous breakdowns about breaking their twee little bikes if they try to keep up with me on the rough lanes around here -- read my article about riding balloons fast on this board to grasp how awesomely fast this large tourer can be once the rider understands it just shrugs off the road). There are fittings for low loaders, racks for panniers, and the wheelbase is pretty long (my bike is nearly two meters long) so that you can carry large panniers without striking your heels. The thing is that like a Bentley Turbo, it isn't so much what the Kranich can and has done that you'll never explore, but the confidence all that extra capability inspires. (This is also a major selling point with the Raven -- you're probably not going to tour Patagonia, where the capybara, water rats the size of a calf, try to eat you, but the designer did and you could.) By the way, check out the frame weight and be amazed: in standard luxury touring trim (racks, electrics, everything you don't get on an American or British bike without paying extra) before water and luggage, the complete Kranich weighs 15-16.9kg -- that's what you get when you pay for special lightweight Columbus tubes. I have aluminium bikes from Gazelle and Trek that are heavier than the much bigger Kranich.
I do like the fact that it is an easier step through which is something that is more important to me with each passing day...it's not as easy swinging my leg over the top tube of my LHT as it used to be.
An excellent point. I was getting to be of an age when leg-over was inelegant and becoming dicier by the year. I'm glad I bought a low step-over bike or I would have had to replace it long since.
To further clarify my position on a frame choice, the Thorn was a front runner simply because of the great reviews it received and because it was easy to find and research on the WWW . I am certainly not going to discount that but the great things about forums like this is that it exposes me to more possibilities and other considerations I should be thinking about.
Thorn is perpetually on my shortlist, even though (as I explained in a companion thread to Bill) rationally I know Thorn isn't going back into the business of lugged handbuilt bikes. But I hung out here before Thorn arrived on my shortlist for a very good reason: the Thorn designer proofs his own bikes, and he isn't a boutique jerk, like so many others. When Andy Blance specifies a part, you can be certain it's the least expensive part that is 110% guaranteed not to let you down.
With that said, I would certainly add the Kranach to my list but I fear the parts that I have accumulated for the build would be incompatible with the frame. I know they will work with both the Thorn and the Patria.
Have no fear. With the possible exception of brakes you may already have that are too narrow to fit the Kranich fork and seatstay wishbone, and possibly if you've ordered rims too narrow for balloons (not a deal breaker), everything else will fit the Kranich straight off the shelf. Ah -- there is a small fly in the ointment: you need a 26.2mm seat tube but they give you one (suitable for Brooks saddles) with the frame, I believe, and I had no trouble buying one from my standard free delivery Irish component pusher, Chainreactioncycles.com. But some of the fancier ones, like a lugged Nitto that I really fancied when Julian bought one, don't come in 26.2mm.
I had a good chuckle at you having a VW diesel...
