G'day from Downunder
 

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a30cbc7521.jpg
G'day folks, Dave here from Sydney Australia.

My cycling interest mostly revolves around Bicycle Touring and whilst i haven't done much in the way of touring yet, i've near enough worn off just about every touring Youtube video in existence lol.
I do own a fairly new touring bike, with Hydro disc brakes and dyno hub. Aussie built.

looking forward to chat with fellow forumites.

i'll post a pic of my bike later when i get to my computer.

Cheers

brumby33

Dave

Welcome!

Welcome, check out the touring sub-forum.

Hoping you are well over there, I've heard the smoke from the unprecedented bushfires this year has made it's way to other continents :eek:

Welcome!

G'day Mate!
 

Welcome brumby from down under!

yes Rollfast, the fires are still burning, many of our fire fighters are completely exhausted, we've had teams from most states Canada & USA come over to help and were truly grateful. The Army is helping with evacuations and supplies.
The air quality has been worse than any city on Earth you could imagine, not great riding air that's for sure...we just need statewide solid rain for 2 weeks.

Cheers

brumby33

Hi from Germany.

Welcome from SoCal.

hey hey brumby33 is here!

Hi Mate, i'm also from Sydney and I'm glad I found somebody from the same city :)

g'day mate, what part of Sydney you are living? I'm around the Beverly Hills area near the old RTA building if you're familiar.
Yeah great to see another Sydney spider on here.

What kind of bike you ride?
cheers

Dave

brumby33

Hi Tamiya...I do remember your name from somewhere too....was it from another forum? Hope you've been well.

hi mate, im from frenchs forrest. i'm riding an ordinary mountain bike and I just bought a sur-ron. what bike do you ride?

Crikey.....almost at Central Coast lol

Yes I ride a 2017 Vivente World Ranndonneur touring bike. Do you know them? They are Australian Designed. Picture of my bicycle at top of my original post.


Cheers

brumby33
(Dave)

Hi Dave, what size is your Vivente touring bike and do they size larger than normal road bikes?

Cheers
Karweng

Mate your bike looks cool, that would be even cooler if you add a mid motor and a battery. You can go even further than the usual. By the way can you suggest me about torque wrench coz i'm planning to buy a set of those from this store https://sydneytools.com.au/category/...orque-wrenches, what do you think would be the best set for bikes? thanks mate.

Nah...bugger the motor, if I wanted a motor I just go out and buy a motorcycle....just sold my motorcycle actually....it was sad to see it go but it was for the best. I think torque wrenches for bicycles would be absolute overkill.....I'd be checking with a bicycle mechanic before you go and get one.....tourque wrenched were used a lot to tigten tappets and camshafts on motorcars but not on a bicycle.

Cheers

brumby33

Hi Karweng, Vivente uses the same frame on all their models except the smallest because it uses 26 inch wheels, the other models from M to XXL use same frame just different measurements....you can check it out here for your size.https://viventebikes.com/sizing/how-...-out-your-size

Cheers

brumby33

Hi Brumb33,

I had a look at the sizing chart from Vivente's site, I usually ride a 54cm size road bike which is equivalent to a S size Vivente frame.
And I'm around 175cm height, Vivente's recommend a M size 56cm top tube.

Can you tell me what is the size of your bike and your height?

Thanks,
karweng

Yes Karweng, I'm 178CM which is about 5ft 10and a half inches and I ride the L frame so you see i'm not really tall by Caucasian averages. I'm male and 60 years.
Why I like the Vivente is because it has absolutely everything you need in a bike, it has quality touring wheels, 27 speed Shimano XT gearing, front dyno hub with German AXA70 lighting which can also be used to charge up your phone or GPS while riding.
Also has the German made Tubus rear rack which is among the best in the world.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3a8cd12016.jpg
You can get Vivente in Drop bars with either Barend shifters, brifter shifters or rollhoff hub gearing and you can buy them with the trekking bars too with Shimano rapid fire shifters. All bikes except the Deccan have TRP Hydraulic disc brakes which are far superior to the mechanical ones unless you're going to ride in arid outback places. The Front racks you can see on mine are Tubus racks as well which I put on myself. I think perhaps a M might be ok for you because you'll be stuck with 26 inch wheels in the S sizing.

cheers

brumby33

Hi brumby33,
Thank you for an insightful analysis of the Vivente World Randonneur bike. I am on the lookout for a used on Gumtree.

Do you use the bike for commuting to work? I recognise that landmark from the photo is in Barangaroo as i ride through Barangaroo on the way to North Sydney for work.

Cheers,
karweng

Yes it was at Barangaroo, it was a nice ride too, it was just after I bought the bike about 2 years ago.

Yes I use my bike to commute to work daily but it's only 4kms each way but it is a great commuter bike, don't worry about lights as they run off the dyno hub at the front. the bike have guards on them to keep water and grit off you and luggage when it rains,
I don't find the bike heavy at all and I always carry those Ortleib panniers on my bike as I never wear backpacks or anything on the body while cycling. I just got home from Hospital today after a left Hip replacement surgery 2 weeks ago and it might be a while before I can ride but my main goal is to get into some bicycle touring this year. This bike was designed by Noel McFarlaine who until recently lived in Sydney and the Vivente was a name which began from his original Gemini Bicycles which also were touring style bikes. He now lives on a farm n Tasmania but still tours on his own Vivente bikes all over the world. There isn't anything he doesn't know about bicycles and he has built these bikes as world tourers so that you buy them off the showroom floor, wack some bags on them and go explore the road.....the only thing you ever need to add is a front rack for front panniers and a sense of adventure......the very first time I seen a Vivente Touring bike, I knew I had to have one. Probably the closest bike I've ever seen to this one is the Kona Sutra, very similar set up and was my 2nd choice.

Cheers

brumby33

Welcome!!

Downunder. That bridge is an amazing platform for pyrotechnics.
 

[QUOE=brumby33;21207789]https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a30cbc7521.jpgG'day folks, Dave here from Sydney Australia.

My cycling interest mostly revolves around Bicycle Touring and whilst i haven't done much in the way of touring yet, i've near enough worn off just about every touring Youtube video in existence lol.
I do own a fairly new touring bike, with Hydro disc brakes and dyno hub. Aussie built.

looking forward to chat with fellow forumites.

i'll post a pic of my bike later when i get to my computer.

Cheers

brumby33

Dave[/QUOTE]