Two bike projects wrapping up at the same time
It’s been a good day for me. I got email this morning from the guy building my new bike frame that my frame is almost done and he had uploaded new photos. This is going to be a great bike, I can’t wait to get it. It is built for a Rohloff hub, has a low trail fork geometry for good handling with a handlebar bag, and clearances for huge tires (45-622 knobbies, so small “29er” tires).
This evening I got home from work and had an email from Alistair Spence saying that my new porteur rack is done and the flux is soaking off at his house. This rack uses a really cool design that we both worked on, it converts from a handlebar bag rack to a porteur rack with only two bolts. I got to spend a lot of time with Alistair as he built the rack, brazed a few of the joints, and learned a lot in the process. Expect some of my own rack projects to show up on this blog soon, a torch and other supplies are on my to-buy list.
I’ve never bought a custom rack or custom frame so it’s very cool to me that bothhad their brazing workfinish up on the same day.
More photos:
alex
Oh man — a Rohloff. That’’s what I want in the drivetrain of my next bike. Especially after this winter with all the sand on the roads I would love to be able to enclose the chainline or at least have a much simpler time of cleaning the drivetrain.
But what does it mean that the frame is built for the Rohloff? I didn”t think there was anything special about a frame that would fit one of those hubs.
You can fit a Rohloff on a standard frame, but if you build a frame for them it’’s a little nicer. The cable routing on a Rohloff is unique and so you end up zip-tying the cables when using a normal frame. This frame also has dropouts that allow me to use the Rohloff without a chain tensioner or the reaction arm.