IceNine

Finally got this 650B bike put back together after over a year in pieces. Bought a bakery last year and got overwhelmed with work.


It has an outrageously long head-tube and when combined with the Technomic stem, I'm way the hell up there. My carpal tunnel bothers me if I put too much weight on my hands, so this is working well for me.


The rear reflector looks a little odd on the front, but the original was rattling on the fender on every bump.


Original Deer-head derailers are in great shape. I swapped the 14-32 6 speed for a 13-32 7 speed. Also swapped the 30t granny for a 24t and now have a stump-pulling low gear.

I'm loving this as my commuter for now.

Doohickie

Purdy...

Picchio Special

I like it. It has character. And tallness. Character and tallness.

Primitive Don

nice. Love touring bikes with cantis.

DiegoFrogs

You'll be able to carry really tall stuff on that front rack. I like it!

Picchio Special

Like a cool, stuffed deer's head to complement the component group.

cycleheimer

Nice! Full-blown touring bike with 650 wheels and a bunch of "bells & whistles". Looks like a keeper!

EjustE

Nice! Excellent drive train choice, btw. Those 1st gen Deore RDs were workhorses. Are those Rando bars?

this is a tall bike. You can give a ride to a smaller person on your front rack

IceNine

The upgrades:

Nitto Technomic stem
Nitto 45 cm rando bar
Tektro R200A brake levers
Silver Shifter bar end shifters
Panaracer Nifty Swifty tires
Honjo 50 mm hammered fenders
brooks flyer
caradice camper longflap
Nashbar 7 speed 13-32 freewheel
new chain
24t granny ring

The racks are stock. Neither one is real strong or stable compared to a nitto or tubus. The bike has a mid-fork boss, so when I take it out for a real tour, I'll have to strongly consider something like the tubus tara.

TireLever-07

Very sharp, I've only seen them in the metallic green. Was quite a few years until 650B wheels became popular. Raleigh couldn't have sold that many new ones. Chris

treebound 

The bike looks good and if the setup works for you then all the better.

And it sounds like you're probably doing well with the bakery. Retail?, or do you sell to other businesses like restaurants or grocers? Take a look at Pastor Bob's buildoff bike, might give you an idea or two for combining advertising with a C&V bike.

IceNine

We have 40 wholesale customers. Also do very well at two farmers markets. We're moving our bakery to Willy St in two weeks and will have seating for 50 and will serve breakfast and lunch. We're planning to do delivery by bike when we get settled in to the new place. Right now we have no wholesale customers within 1.5 miles, but after the move downtown a third of our deliveries will be within 1.5 miles. We'll probably get a Big Dummy and a Bikes at Work trailer for bike deliveries, but we will get a custom pannier and cover for our trailer/skids.

treebound 

Sounds like you've got it under control. I might send you a resume in June or July when my current job ends (just for grins, or serious depending on what happens locally).

And I'm really starting to like the looks of bikes with front and rear racks, might be my next quest to seek out one. Thanks for the inspiration.

Noah Scape

Very nice... exactly what is the frame size?

IceNine

seat tube 63 cm c-c
top tube 58 cm c-c
wheelbase 104.1 cm
chainstay 43.2 cm

I don't know the seat tube angle or head tube angle. It is fairly relaxed, obviously. I like a slightly longer top tube, but I have the technomic with a 110 mm extension. I haven't done any hard thrashing going up hill. I hope that stem won't get too noodly on me.

illwafer

your ride would give a penny farthing owner a nosebleed.

that being said, looks nice to me.

mkeller234

Ha, I like this post as much as I like the bike. Very nice

cudak888 

Beautiful. Keep the front rack's fork crown bracket mount in check; had one of those same racks give out on me there once.

-Kurt

IceNine

Forgot to add

MKS sylvan touring pedals with powergrips.

Speaking of the touring pedals, if I lean into a corner and continue pedaling, they will strike the ground. I had forgotten that when I went out to buy pedals this spring. That happened with the original non-touring sylvan pedals, and these put the corners even further out there. I am developing the habbit of coasting through the corners. Am I crazy to ride it this way?

Noah Scape

Well, if you ever decide it is not right for you, let me make a trade offer.

mkeller234

No, I do that with my touring pedals too. I don't usually go that fast on that bike though so maybe I don't lean as much. How do you like the power grips? I am thinking about buying either those or half clips.

EjustE

I do that with Shimano 600EX cage pedals when I forget to get my crankarms horizontal while leaning on a turn and coast. The main issue is the crankarm length. I am using 175mm and I suspect that this crank on this beast has even longer arms... I just learned to coast on turns to avoid that road scrape on pedals and cages

IceNine

The stock Takagi cranks on this bike are 175. I really love the powergrips. I've also got them on my 1985 Trek 460. Spring through fall I wear sandals, and they work great. Then in winter I wear insulated snow sneakers and with a little more slack they work for that as well.

mechanically

Love the bike! I assume the Nifty Swifty tires are the 32's I see on Rivendell's website?

Between these tires, and the 50mm fenders, how's the clearance? Would you ever consider a larger tire, or is it maxed out?

Looking at one of these frames, and trying to decide what my tire options are. Thanks!

jtgotsjets

Totally awesome, but wow. The fact that it's already a big bike combined with the 650B wheels makes for quite the illusion. You should have come on here claiming you played in the NBA and this was your size 70cm bike.