Moots Vamoots CRD review

The Moots Vamoots CRD takes over as Moots top road bike, unseating the Vamoots RSL thanks to fully hidden cables and some subtle design tweaks in the 3D printed dropouts, a swap from BSA threaded to a T47 bottom bracket and increase tyre clearance, up to 35mm. Are these enough to make the Vamoots CRD feel significantly different to the Vamoots RSL? It’s arguably marginal. But that’s really besides the point, because yes this bike is insanely expensive, but it is insanely good.

‘It was time we updated our true pavement-focussed bike from the Vamoots Disc RSL, and a major part of that was hidden cables,’ says Moots brand manager Jon Cariveau. ‘That was the starting point for the CRD.’

Moots Vamoots CRD development and frameset

Where previously Moots’ round-tubed titanium frames struggled to possess enough space to route things internally, the CRD’s oversized T47 bottom bracket shell provides the necessary space to route a brake hose around the BB. Up front, Chris King’s new AeroSet 3 headset (made in conjunction with Enve) routes brake hoses between its 1.5in top bearing and the fork’s 1.125in steerer tube.

This is only technically compatible with the Enve cockpit, however. It all looks wonderfully neat, but the CRD is much more than a neat-looking bike.

In the broadest strokes, the CRD (Complete Road Design) is more evolution than revolution, but that has always been the Moots way. The Vamoots platform has been around since 1997 and each iteration is more a bid to keep the essential premise – cutting-edge titanium race bike – current. Thus, in recent years the Vamoots RSL (Race Super Light) got discs, and the 35mm tyre-clearance Vamoots RCS (Routt County Special) arrived to cater for the all-road crowd.

Moots Vamoots CRD geometry and sizing

This approach sees the CRD replace the RSL while retaining much of the blueprint. That means butted 3/2.5 titanium alloy tubes with 6/4 seatstays and 3D-printed dropouts (for precise calliper alignment, says Cariveau), and almost identical geometry. But there is one key difference – Moots has tweaked the rear triangle to increase tyre clearance from 30mm on the RSL to 32mm here.

It’s all subtle stuff but it adds up to a bike that leaves me wondering if there’s anywhere else for a round-tubed titanium bike to go.

At a claimed 1.4kg for the frame, the CRD is around 200g lighter than most top-end titanium frames, and built up with these components the CRD comes in at a hair under 8kg – mighty impressive for a metal bike with deep section rims and 30mm tyres.

And speaking of which, while the frame doesn’t pretend to be aero, Enve’s cockpit and 4.5 wheels certainly are, and they absolutely provide a noticeable aero advantage. I’ll concede a top-end carbon bike will be lighter and slipperier, but this is titanium and carbon is carbon. Apples and plastic fruit. And honestly, there’s not a huge amount in it.

Riding the Moots Vamoots CRD

To climb hills on the CRD is to ascend on a bike far more capable than my legs, albeit yes, a kilo less weight surely wouldn’t hurt. But it’s coming down the other side where the CRD outshines carbon rivals, and where that tyre clearance change comes into the spotlight.

Although the Panaracer tyres are nominally 30mm wide, they come up much closer to 32mm due to the Enve wheels’ huge 25mm internal rim width. This upped tyre clearance permits greater grip and tyre volume, which effects an elated feeling of gliding that puts the CRD at the top of the best-descending bikes I’ve ridden. As such the CRD presents a solid character that instils the kind of confidence needed to turn descents into a limit-pushing joy.

There is also a rather nice by-product to this: on the flat the CRD can feel cruisey-comfortable in low gears yet quick to accelerate when standing up to sprint. It’s the heady mix of cushy tyres and a stiff frame, but there’s one other non-Moots thing here that makes the CRD so good: its brakes.

The latest Dura-Ace discs are so much better than the previous ones. The ServoWave pivot placement in the levers borrowed from Shimano’s mountain bike groups makes a huge difference to how well brake power is modulated, and this pays further into the incredible confidence I felt when descending.

Moots Vamoots CRD verdict

I cannot find fault in this bike; I wanted for nothing riding it. I can point to bikes that are marginally better climbers, or more aero, but those bikes do not ride with such confidence, smoothness or balance. But then again, so it should be, because I can avoid it no longer: cost.

The ‘frame capsule’ alone – frameset plus Enve finishing kit and Chris King headset and BB – is nearly ten grand; this full build £16.7k, way more than any bike in the pro peloton.

I can’t defend that, but what I can say is the Vamoots CRD is never going to be good value like own-brand cereal is good value – it’s designed to be a superbike. I leave you with the answer from Cariveau when I raised the price elephant: ‘Moots has the philosophy: best materials sourced lead to the best bike we can build. We are unwavering about not cutting corners in materials, process, finish and delivery.’

So there you have it. Superbike, super-expensive, super-sublime.

• This article originally appeared in issue 141 of Cyclist magazine. Click here to subscribe

Moots Vamoots CRD specs