Domahidy Designs Carbon Road Bike
You may not know Steve Domahidy, but you've probably seen his bikes. He’s worked behind-the-scenes on the design and creation of products for Niner Bikes (he was a co-founder and still owns part of the company, but is no longer involved in day-to-day operations), Faraday, Budnitz, and many other brands.
Most recently, Domahidy has been working on a bike company that he runs out of his home. While his first creations were steel and titanium hardtail mountain bikes, we're excited to see he's finally added a carbon road bike to the mix.
The Carbon Road is a light and stiff racing bike. While it doesn’t push any design boundaries, a few test rides revealed that it is a nice and refined bike that evidences Domahidy’s maturity as a bike builder, and not the adolescence of his brand.
Interestingly, Domahidy had designed this frame for a client and it sells under a different brand name in other countries, but he negotiated the rights to use the carbon molds for himself and sell the bike in the US. “That's how my little startup was able to afford all those molds,” Domahidy says.
The Carbon Road comes in seven sizes, from 49cm to 62cm, and two finishes–the matte black/white/green seen here, and a glossy black/blue/red. Domahidy claims a painted 56cm frame weighs 950 grams, and that the uncut fork adds 370g. The complete 54cm bike (shown here) weighs 14.4 pounds on my scale, without pedals. The frame features clearance for 28mm tires, a 1.125- to 1.5-inch tapered steerer fork, asymmetric chainstays, 27.2mm seatpost, and a BB386EVO bottom bracket. It also has internal cable routing with chip inserts that make it compatible with electronic or mechanical drivetrains.
Domahidy sells the Carbon Road “mostly direct,” though he has some dealers in the Denver area, he says. The frameset (frame, fork, and headset) costs $1,699; he doesn’t offer a complete option yet, but says one is in the works. The frame is backed by a lifetime warranty, and anyone who purchases one directly from Domahidy Designs receives a “no-questions-asked, 30-day, money-back guarantee.” A $1,699 frameset is by no means cheap, but it's still less expensive than many framesets from reputable brands.
The Carbon Road’s geometry is pretty standard for a modern road racing-ish bike. My 54cm test bike’s numbers were within a few millimeters of a 54cm Specialized Tarmac. The Carbon Road doesn’t set any new performance benchmarks, but it is an elegant, well-rounded, no-nonsense bike, which I appreciate. I get to ride a lot of really expensive bikes that push design and engineering boundaries, but it’s still a treat to ride a well-made, classic road bike.
Part of the appeal is the light frame—to me, light bikes feel nice to ride (even if they’re not much faster than heavier ones). It is also exceedingly stiff: I have this short, steep rise near my house that I like to throw everything into and, though I’m not a big, powerful guy, I can get frames (and/or wheels) to flex when I charge up it. The Domahidy passes this very subjective test with little perceptible give and a whole lot of go. Its stiffness is well distributed around the frame, and the front end seems to deliver sharp, positive feedback.
This particular bike came with SRAM’s Red 22 drivetrain, Zipp 202 clinchers, and 25mm Schwalbe One tires. It was among the quietest bikes I’ve ridden recently—once I stopped the shift and brake housings from slapping against each other (zip ties to the rescue)—though I got some occasional buzz from the rear-brake cable vibrating inside the top tube. I love quiet bikes; they make the ride less tiring, and they seem smoother.
I had a harder time pinning down the Carbon Road’s “comfort.” The bike was very good at damping typical road noise, and felt very smooth on most roads—a feeling enhanced by the previously mentioned quietness. On rougher bits of pavement the Domahidy felt better than average, but certain bumps and vibrations pulsed through the frame sharply.
Every bike has its own character in this sense. Some dampen certain vibration frequencies better than others (all the other parts hanging off the frame influence this as well), but the Domahidy stood out because of the contrast between pronounced smoothness most of the time and the occasional stinging jolt. The space between the two seemed larger than on most bikes. I think overall, most would call it “smooth and comfortable” because most of the time it is, but every once in a while—zap!
Regardless of whether you’ve heard of Steve Domahidy, the Carbon Road is a very good bike, and a good value—if it had a well-known brand name on the downtube, it probably would cost much more. But thankfully, it’s a Domahidy, which this frame proves is a good thing.
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