Moots Vamoots CRD

The best just got better, and more expensive

- JAMES SPENDER

'I was time we updated our true pavement-focused 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.’

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.

What’s new? 

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.

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.