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The CRD (complete road design) is said to be the new pinnacle of the Vamoots road line and features 32mm tyre clearance, a double-butted RSL tube set, 3D printed dropouts and an all-new integrated cockpit. As if that wasn’t enough to upset the traditionalists, Moots has also made its new frame exclusively for electronic shifting.
“Pavement, pass bagging, and grand touring are all in the realm of this pointed-road performer,” says Moots.
The new CRD appears to be a direct replacement for the Vamoots RCL, but thanks to an integrated cockpit and T47 bottom bracket the brake hose lines have been routed internally, which Moots says results in its “cleanest-looking road bike to date.”
> Review: Moots Vamoots Disc RSL frame and fork
Like many of the best road bikes we’ve seen released in recent years, the new titanium frame features clearance for 32mm tyres. Moots says that it has been optimised for 28-30mm rubber.
As with the majority of the Moots range, the Vamoots CRD will take a standard 27.2mm seatpost and benefit from a double-butted titanium RSL tube set which claims to provide a “light, crisp ride”.
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Previously Moots has said that its double-butted RSL tube set is specifically designed for each frame size to offer “strength and ride quality.”
The tubes are said to be “precisely mitred to allow for full tack welding before being finished with a second-pass 6/4 titanium alloy weld for added durability and the renowned ‘stack-of-dimes’ appearance”.
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The main difference between this and previous Moots bikes is of course that integrated front end. Many brands claim that routing the brake hoses through the bars, stem and down through the headset improves aerodynamics, while Moots steers clear of making any claims regarding speed. Instead it promotes the “clean lines” that the lack of exposed cables brings.
Moots says this integration has been possible thanks to the use of a 44mm diameter headtube and Chris Kings Aero 3 headset; the latter is something that does not appear on the brand’s website at the time of writing.
Despite over four decades in the headset business, we only saw a Chris King headset allow hoses to pass through it earlier this year alongside the release of the Enve Melee.
Another potential problem area for internal routing is around the bottom bracket. The new Vamoots CRD uses a T47 threaded bottom bracket with a wide 86.5mm shell to allow space for the brake hoses to pass.
You can think of the T47 BB as an oversized threaded BSA bottom bracket and it’s certainly gaining traction, especially in America with all Trek releases now using this ‘standard’.
As we’ve seen on previous Moots frames, the Vamoots CRD makes use of 3D-printed dropouts that claim to “save weight, add stiffness at the rear wheel, and perfect brake calliper alignment.”
The Vamoots CRD sticks to standard dropout spacing with 12×142 at the rear and 12×100 at the front thanks to the Enve fork.
I recently got the chance to take a look at an early pre-production dropout before it was fitted to a test bike, and these things really are light! I was told that the internal structure is now quite a bit more complex than the one that you see here.
The bad news is that this kind of tech doesn’t come cheap. More on that in a minute…
> Is this the most expensive road bike you can possibly build yourself in 2022?
The frame comes in a generous nine different sizes and compared to the Vamoots RSL frame receives a shorter headtube (~10mm), and slacker headtube angle (~1 degree) but retains the same stack height and similar seat tube angle.
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The RRP for the Vamoots CRD is an eye-watering £9,800.00 for the frameset module. This includes the frame, fork, Chris King Aero 3 Headset, Chris King T47 bottom bracket, Enve integrated Aero Stem and Aero Bar and two Moots titanium bottle cages.
We’re told that it’s possible upon purchase to choose the colour of the Chris King kit, the axle diameter for the BB, the stem length and the bar width.
Is this the ultimate titanium road bike? Or do you think that Moots should have stayed traditional? Let us know in the comments section below…
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