The affordable 8bar Kronprinz road bike is officially 10 years old this spring, and to celebrate their original affordable aluminum road bike, it gets a fully modern v3 overhaul. With proven snappy handling, full cable integration, balanced stiffness, and modern 32mm tire clearance, this affordable alloy disc brake road bike will rival many much more expensive carbon bikes with its sleek good looks…
The big new thing for the aluminum Kronprinz is of course the sleek styling of fully integrated cable routing. Making it look almost exactly like the Kronprinz Carbon that 8bar overhauled last winter. You can pick from completely hidden cables if you get 8bar’s Ultra Carbon stem and Ultra Carbon bar, or other aftermarket internally routed cockpits if you build it up yourself. Or you can opt for conventional routing that becomes semi-internal by directing cable into the optional headset’s top cap. Just remember to be nice to your bicycle mechanic who has to deal with it. Gravel Road Bike
As always, the new Kronprinz Aluminum is highly customizable with 8bar’s online bike builder tool. That often makes it even more affordable for cyclists looking to step up from their current ride, but reusing some of their favorite components.
The alloy Kronprinz is 8bar’s longest running geared road bike, developed to make long, fast rides more affordable and accessible. But the 6-year-old Kronprinz Aluminum v2 still featured rim brakes, so this new disc brake 8bar Kronprinz Aluminum v3 packs in a lot of new tricks.
It even sheds about 150g off the frame vs. that rim brake iteration. And it now gives you bigger tire clearance, up to 32mm tires.
The new 8bar Kronprinz Aluminum v3 frame is welded from lightweight triple-butted 6061 aero-shaped alloy tubing. 8bar claims a frame weight of 1500g, plus 300g for the carbon fork.
The new bike routes all cables through its IS 52/40 tapered headset. It is built for electronic groupsets only, with no cable guides for mechanical shift cables. But it does of course include internal routing paths for wired & semi-wireless groupsets. You can run a 1x (max 46T) or 2x (max 53/39T) electronic drivetrain. (The latest Kronprinz Carbon is fully internal too, but can run a mechanical 1x.)
Update: Of note, 8bar is offering complete bike builds with Shimano 105 mechanical 2x drivetrains where they will rivet on external cable guides for conventional drivetrains. This will significantly lower the cost of entry to a sleek new modern alloy road bike!
The bike features 12mm thru-axles, flat mount disc brakes (160mm front, 140mm rear), a 27.2mm seatpost, a BSA threaded bottom bracket, and 2 standard bottle cages but no rack or fender mounts. It has a max 700 x 32mm tire clearance, and comes in four stock sizes (S-XL).
Newly update Kronprinz electronic-only framesets start from ~1110€ for the aluminum v3 frame in a polished raw finish. That includes its full carbon fork, and the headset you need for your preferred internal routing option. This team-edition 8bar Club paintjob adds an extra 60€. Or if you want a one-off color, 8bar will paint up your new Kronprinz Aluminum v3 frame in any RAL color for 205€ extra or custom Prismatic color for 305€ over the base raw frame.
Plenty of complete bike builds are also possible, starting from around 3150€ with a SRAM AXS 2×12 groupset.
Update: 8bar has confirmed with us that they are offering a complete bike build option with Shimano 105 mechanical 2×11, that will be available to shift “soon“. “We are going to rivet some cable guides on the down tube and seat stay.” So you will get external shift routing, internal brake routing, and complete bike build pricing from as low as 2375€.
Curiously, that price is for either Force or Rival. That suggests you should act fast to get the nicer groupsets for the same price, before 8bar runs out of stock.
Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com.
Cory has been writing about mountain bikes, enduro, cyclocross, all-road, gravel bikes & bikepacking for over 25 years, even before the industry gave some these names. Prior to Bikerumor, Cory was a practicing Architect specializing in environmental sustainability, has designed bike shops & bike components and worked as a bike shop mechanic.
Based in the Czech Republic for 15+ years, he is a technical mountain biker, adventurous gravel rider, short & medium-haul bikepacker. Cory travels extensively across Europe riding bikes, meeting with key European product developers, industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new, and what’s coming next.
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Aluminum is an inferior frame material.
Inferior to which frame material/s? In what ways?
Blunt criticism is an inferior comment material.
It definitely is inferior. That said, it’s the sensible choice for many with a low budget. Of course, this also isn’t that cheap
I’m mostly just impressed by those sweet adidas shoes.
Those are some very long reach numbers.
Frame aside….. 300g disc brake fork????? I will buy it just for the fork!
That headtube is enormous. It doesn’t mesh well with the frame.
584mm stack height and 417mm reach for the largest frame? They are definitely going for a targeted audience, and that group excludes most anyone over 6′.
What do you mean? That is about the longest reach I’ve ever seen on a road bike.
Very few people that I know who ride and are over 6’3 would properly and comfortably fit on a frame with only 584mm of stack height. And very few who are 6′ or even 6’1 would want that much reach.
But hey- everyone is different so I am sure there are people that will manage to fit such geometry.
I’m 6’1″ and I’d still put a long, 140mm, -17d stem on the large(I normally ride mediums) but this is a small medium. Not every bike needs to fit everyone. That said, nothing is wrong with having a +12 degree stem and a spacer or two
Stack is fine. Most unflexible people can totally ride with a +7 to +12d stem with zero to two spacers with this bike
I like it! I love it that they’re aluminum and l love the big alloy tubes that includes the headtube. Priced well, looks good. Whats not too like?
The head tube is disproportionately large. And the stack is too low for the top tube lengths (which is quite common).
But it is a nice looking frame.
Not really, few can’t ride this with a shorter stem that’s +7 to +12d with zero or two spacers
Call me disproportionate but I think it looks badass
Not really, few can’t ride this with a shorter stem that’s +7 to +12d with zero or one spacer
It’s heavy for the price.
Stunning frame. (Could you imagine if Klein was still making alu frames and what it would look like?)
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