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The traditionalist's idea of hell? Meet the new Moots Vamoots CRD — a fully integrated titanium road bike

The Vamoots CRD is an all new, all integrated, electronic groupset-only titanium road bike with 32mm of clearance and 3D-printed parts, and the frameset module alone is priced at £9,800

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.

2023 Moots Vamoots CRD titanium lifestyle

"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

2023 Moots Vamoots CRD titanium lifestyle headset

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".

> Best road bike tyres 2022 — ride faster and further with fewer punctures

2023 Moots Vamoots CRD titanium lifestyle welding

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”.

> Should you choose a steel, aluminium, titanium or carbon road bike?

2023 Moots Vamoots CRD titanium lifestyle integration

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

2023 Moots Vamoots CRD titanium lifestyle BB

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'.

2022 Moots VAMOOTS CRD APEX  38 dropout

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 12x142 at the rear and 12x100 at the front thanks to the Enve fork.

2023 Moots Vamoots CRD titanium 3d printed dropout

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?

2023 Moots VAMOOTS CRD GEOMETRY CHART FINAL

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. 

> How to read a bike geometry table: the numbers made easy

2023 Moots Vamoots CRD titanium lifestyle 2

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.

www.moots.com

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...

Jamie has been riding bikes since a tender age but really caught the bug for racing and reviewing whilst studying towards a master's in Mechanical engineering at Swansea University. Having graduated, he decided he really quite liked working with bikes and is now a full-time addition to the road.cc team. When not writing about tech news or working on the Youtube channel, you can still find him racing local crits trying to cling on to his cat 2 licence...and missing every break going...

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21 comments

Avatar
MarkiMark | 2 years ago
2 likes

Much as I love the idea of this bike, I'm struck by how similar it is to my own bike. It's a custom built Enigma Echelon, mostly internal cable routing, T47 bottom bracket, anodised logos and the rest. I paid £3k for frameset. Beautiful bike, and came to a total build price of £8k, including all the usual ENVE kit, Zipp 303 Firecrests etc. Impossible to justify that Moots price, and a lot of it presumably goes down the drain in import taxes. Go Enigma! Built in Sussex!

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OnYerBike replied to MarkiMark | 2 years ago
1 like
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Dhill replied to OnYerBike | 2 years ago
1 like

Never to sure about Titanium. Now I think I’ll avoid.

 

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MarkiMark replied to Dhill | 2 years ago
0 likes

I can only say I've owned three Enigmas and had zero problems. I ride my current bike both on and offroad and am a generally aggressive rider who is hard on bike frames. If anything, a problem with a steel or titanium frame can at least be easily fixed, unlike with carbon in most situations.

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Xenophon2 replied to MarkiMark | 2 years ago
1 like

A problem with SOME steel frames can relatively easily be fixed.  Try getting a butted Reynolds 931-tube reliably welded somewhere in Africa.  It'll keep.  For a week.   For the type of fracture shown in the Ti, the only thing to do would be to replace the tube and x-ray all other welds, probably -a lot- cheaper to offer a new frame.

I'm not beating on Enigma for the technical issue, it happens.  Errors are made, materials can be defective.  Inert gases from reputable sellers can turn out not be quite as inert as what's listed on the cylinder.  But lfetime warranty should be just that.

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Dhill replied to MarkiMark | 2 years ago
0 likes

True, true. Metals much easier fixable if broke. But trying to race on a titanium bike a few back, let’s say very comfortable but soft. I’m now happy with aluminium and costs at a cost in the hundreds, not 10k for a frame set. That is just silly.

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Miller replied to MarkiMark | 2 years ago
2 likes
MarkiMark wrote:

If anything, a problem with a steel or titanium frame can at least be easily fixed, unlike with carbon in most situations.

Lots of places will fix carbon frames, even badly damaged ones. Frankly I'd say getting a metal frame repaired will be more hassle, not least because welding trashes the paint.

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matthewn5 replied to Miller | 2 years ago
0 likes

I tried getting a thin modern alloy frame repaired, nobody would touch it because of the risk of heat-induced stress. Brazed or lugged steel is the way to go if you want it to be repairable. A whole tube can be removed and replaced.

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Xenophon2 replied to OnYerBike | 2 years ago
0 likes

Stress fractures at the weld.  Clearly a production QC issue.  They should have given a new frame and it's virtually certain that this will not be an isolated case.  What I find deceptive is these 'lifetime' guarantees that invariably turn out not so lifetime. 

My frame supposedly has a 100 year warranty 'under normal use' but I'm not thinking for a moment that this would be honored 10 years down the line.  The law where I am says 2 years and I simply assume that's the best I'll ever get should the poop hit the fan.

 

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Steve K | 2 years ago
4 likes

If they really wanted to be the traditionalist idea of hell, they'd have dropped the seat stays.

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Dhill replied to Steve K | 2 years ago
0 likes

Steve K wrote:

If they really wanted to be the traditionalist idea of hell, they'd have dropped the seat stays.

Good point.

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cyclisto | 2 years ago
1 like

As absurd it may seem paying nearly 10K for 9 tubes, I would if I felt that comfortable, it is indeed a luxury item. But these blueish stickers are really awful, I would take them away.

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Xenophon2 replied to cyclisto | 2 years ago
1 like

They're not stickers but some kind of anodizing process.  However, they offer a number of finish options but some of those are typically US-inspired (I recall some type of hunting camo).  Some of the frame finishing options are fragile though so only to be selected if you can live with having a scratch on the frame.  Or throw a rock at it on day 1 and fret no more.

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Pot00000000 | 2 years ago
1 like

Headtube / headset integration with that integrated bar looks absolutely terrible.

 

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Xenophon2 | 2 years ago
3 likes

Esthetically I like the Moots frames a lot and the finish is exquisite to the tiniest detail.

I know two owners -not of this frame- who couldn't be happier.  But they're the kind of people who buy a frame for life (more power to them).  I've got a roaming eye and couldn't justify spending so much on a frameset that would probably be sold after 4 or maximum 5 years.   I mean, my present Ti bike frame was priced around 2.3 k but fully built up I guess I'm between 7 and 8 k now.  Heaven forbid that'd be boosted by another 7 k. 

There's no getting around the fact that the frames are priced at a significant premium that's impossible to justify based on technical parameters but hey, the same argument applies to Montblanc pens and a host of other luxury goods. 

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Jimmy Ray Will | 2 years ago
2 likes

The only choice for the affluent rider, wanting to be alternative, yet industry compliant, whilst still absolutely making a statement about their personal wealth. 

The lads at Moots absolutely smashed the brief. 

Heavier than carbon, less responsive than carbon, likely to be less compliant than carbon (in an attempt to increase frame responsiveness), less aero than carbon, likely to be less durable than carbon (in an attempt to be as light and responsive to carbon as possible)... yet three times the price of other high quality framesets. 

And people are complaining about a cost of living crisis. 

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grOg replied to Jimmy Ray Will | 2 years ago
0 likes

you seem to be a fan of expensive plastic.. some prefer metal.

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Dhill replied to grOg | 2 years ago
1 like

grOg wrote:

you seem to be a fan of expensive plastic.. some prefer metal.

I am no expert on materials but I am not sure Carbon is Plastic.

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OnYerBike replied to Dhill | 2 years ago
2 likes

What we often call "carbon" is actually "carbon fibre reinforced polymers" - so mostly plastic. 

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ubercurmudgeon | 2 years ago
4 likes

If its cable integration makes it a traditionalist's idea of hell, and its round tubes make it an aero-obsessed racer's idea of a parachute, and its presumably-over-1kg frame weight makes it a weight-weenie's idea of a tank, and its £9,800 price tag makes it anyone without a trust fund's idea of overpriced, then who exactly is going to buy it? Well, apart from American dentists, of course.

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Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
3 likes

Since when has a frameset been a "module".

Moot are a funny brand.  Legendary whilst somehow not being particularly lust-worthy in my eyes.  Like a movie star you worship from afar....

Personally I'd rather have a Reilly Fusion Aero and save 4 or 5k. 

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