jade408

Today’s new bike day! I haven’t yet taken any good pics, so here is a teaser.

Will take better pics over the weekend.

First ride report:

Zippy handling and cushy ride. Builder threw in lots of little details. Porteur bars are great, though I may play around and add more padding.

Bike is low trail (low 40s) - handling was great and predictable with a load in the front. Things felt good empty as well. I like the inverse levers, but will need to dial in the cable pull too. Can’t wait to commute.

ramones71 

That is a stunning machine! Wishing you many years of happy and safe commuting!

2cam16

Very nice,Jade!

noglider 

Très élégant!

Try regular grips. They have more padding. People speak well of Oury grips.

noglider 

And we want not just lots of pictures but lots of technical details!

blakcloud

Nicely done and I agree more photos! Happy cycling.

TenGrainBread 

Oury grips will not do on a bike of such style and grace. Rustiness is the answer.

ironwood

Beautiful bike. I sometimes think that the mixte is the most elegant design. Brazed on centerpulls are great. Are the pedals the Grip Kings, aka Lambda, or the new Rivendell Monarchs?

Kedosto

Nicely done! You should be very proud. Refined, classy, beautiful, and yet comfortable and practical looking too. There's something very special about bringing ones vision to reality. How do you like riding a bike like no other on earth? And that's not an exaggeration either; there is not another bike exactly like yours anywhere on the planet. Pretty cool, huh? Enjoy!


-Kedosto

jade408

I’ll upload a few pics here, and review some of the specs in a subsequent post. (Posting from mobile so it is a little tricky.)



Full glamour shot


View from the cockpit


Check out the headbadge. And the Paul funky monkey.


Son rack mounted rear light


That shifter is ginormous


Check out the brakes


Braze on for wheel stabilizer


Schmidt Edelux Headlight


Built in frame handle

jade408

Thank you!

The old Lambdas. I saw the new Monarchs after I got mine and missed the return window. I am curious about the Monarchs but they also might be totally wrong for the shoes I wear. I had these on my last bike and loved them.

Will evaluate the bar tape. I can also throw some padding underneath. The first ride was ok, today I was thinking about padding a little, but I also need to tweak the angle of the bars. Will be bike commuting this week, so it’ll be informative.

jade408

It is so exciting. This whole process is such a leap of faith. I’m happy I was able to articulate the ride quality I was looking for and it translated. This bike is speedy and stable over the potholes. (I know you ride through Oakland roads too.)

I’m so glad I decided to splurge on a custom. It is cool to see all the small details incorporated.

jade408

Of course.

Frameset: custom mixte frame (roughly 52cm) and fork with internal cable routing. Sport touring-ish with 73 head tube angle, 72 seat tube angle, trail of 42
Custom Front Basket - with wood bottom, light mount, and a u-lock holder
Custom rear rack with light mount

Components:

• VO Grand Cru Headset
• VO Porteur bars
• Nitto Techtronic Stem
• Alfine 11 IGH (non-Di2)
• Jtek Thumbshifter
• VO Grand Cru Seatpost (I think)
• Rivet Loveland Saddle - Chestnut
• Paul Racer Brakes
• Dia Compe Inverse brake levers
• VO Grand Cru Single Speed Crankset
• MKS Lambda Pedals

Wheels

• VO Diagnole 650b Rims 32h
• Fairweather Cruise Cream Tires - 650b x 42

Accessories

• Fenders: Honjo by SimWorks - Turtle 58
• Chainguard: Custom from Woody's Fenders
• PDW Sparrow Bottle Cage - Rosegold
• Schmidt Edelux 2 Front Light
• Son Rear Light
• Spurcycle bell
• VO Wheel Stabilizer
• Misc security stuff - Pitlock solid axle, Pinhead QR axle, Security bolts for the seat and seat post

I think that is everything in the build!

jade408

And a couple more details - braze on for the chainguard, and brackets for fenders / rack.

Salamandrine 

Well that's a real beauty! Congratulations on your new bike. Nice to see the pictures of the plum sparkling in the sun. Take good care of it.

jackbombay

Congrats on YOUR OWN BIKE, I hope you ride it for many many years to come!

It's not supposed to be the fastest, its not supposed to be the lightest, its supposed to be *yours*!

Kedosto

Wow! I came back for the pics and let's just say I am not disappointed. You're riding NAHBS quality right there. Bravo!



-Kedosto

noglider 

That's a total class act for a bicycle. I don't even want to call it a bike.

You forgot to mention those straw-shaped spoke reflectors. I have them, too. I keep meaning to test them, as I don't know how they look at night.

Korina

Hot dang, woman, she's a beauty! And that carrying handle is genius! Congratulations!! (Oh no, my ! seems to be stuck!)

linnefaulk

So beautiful! If it was red, you might have to report a stolen bicycle. ��
i really want a mister and hope I can afford one someday.
Congratulations and belated happy birthday!

jade408

Thanks! That is ultimate praise! So many awesome bikes at NAHBS.

Thanks! You know, I had them on my last bike too. I never tested them, but one day I took a photo at night. They were pretty bright in the photo, so I think they do something. They are also such an easy an inexpensive thing to test.


Thanks you! I don't know if I can pick a favorite feature, but that one is high on the list.

jade408

I'm a bit over 100 miles into my new bike. I've been commuting almost daily (save work from home days). My commute is 4-5 miles depending on what route I take. Part of the route is on a terrible bicycle boulevard that might as well be gravel. The rest is either a bike lane or a normal road bicycle boulevard. No protected lanes on my obvious commute route. A kinda big detour puts me on an MUP - but it is only for around 2 miles and is a mile out of the way. So that would be the scenic route. My rides have basically been my commutes. And an errand or two. It has been a busy few weeks, so I haven't yet gone for a non-practical spin.

The verdict? So far I am really happy with the bulk of my component choices. I've made some small tweaks to the positioning: adjusting the handlebar angle and the seat angle. All normal stuff of course.

There's no love on the internet for the Rivet Loveland, so I'll share a mini review here. I was really indecisive about what saddle to get. I didn't want springs, I was unsure if I should go wider or narrower. And I wasn't sure if I wanted a Brooks b17s. I have one of those on one bike, and it generally feels good, but also sometimes a little off. Not exactly sure why. But not off enough to change it. I have moved it over to 2 bikes now. The B67s on my old bike was generally fine, but the springs were kinda noisy sometimes. The width seemed mostly OK with my positioning.

And when I was researching leather saddles, Rivet came up. And they have a one year exchange policy. And I noticed the Loveland was a great price. So I decided to give it a go. They have water resistant saddles - but I picked the wrong color.

First day I rode maybe 8 miles, and the saddle felt fine. The next day I felt a smidge of soreness, but I had barely ridden over the previous weeks. After a week, I felt fine. Few issues, and the break-in seems less hard than the Brooks saddles I have used. I am still of course on the fence about riding in jeans, but all in all things feel pretty good in my plain clothes rides. I think it will break in quite nicely. Definitely a great alternative to the B67/B67s. Rivets also come with a nylon rain cover too. Great deal Look forward to many more miles on this saddle.

What's surprising so far:

• This bike is so much zippier than my Soma was! I feel so speedy with less effort. The Soma Buena Vista isn't really slow either as an urban bike, so I am shocked at the difference. I'm definitely getting places faster with the same level of effort.
• Paul Racers have good stopping power. Definitely like them.
• So the Porteur bars. I thought I'd mainly use them at the ends. But not at all. I am mostly riding just below the bends, and sometimes at the tops. Nice control and handling. Also the leather tape (with one layer of padding) is enough. But we will see what happens over a longer ride. So far so good. The first ride or 2 I thought I might want more padding, but now it feels comfy. These bars seem to make it easy to add a bit of power compared to the Soma Oxfords I had before.
• I was actually able to push the bike straight with the saddle. I thought this was some impossible dream if you had a front rack, but I have been able to do it easily. Was not possible at all on the Soma. Not sure why, but this helps navigation of my narrow hallway.

What may get changed:

• Chain - I had no idea you could get gold bike chains. Definitely getting that when this chain wears out. That seems like a really fun bit of bling.
• Dia-Compe Inverse levers - I love the position, but the finish on these seem kinda sucky. I have a few little scratches/scuffs already. And who knows how haven't dropped it or anything, so I am thinking from my keys. That seems pretty weird to me. At some point I worry about rust and stuff, so we will see if there is something with a better finish.
• Front light - I am on the fence about my Edelux. It feels less bright than I remember. Well maybe it is not the brightness, but the beam pattern is feeling a little shallower than I remember. I haven't really taken a proper night ride, this is just an observation from riding at dusk. We will see what happens when I ride at night. If I switch, I am thinking Sinewave...but not sure yet.
• Locking strategy - I got the NY Lock from Kryptonite. This thing is sooo heavy. Too heavy to balance on my rack's u-lock holder. And annoyingly heavy to leave in my backpack/bag. I may switch to a chain lock I have, or get a saddle bag. Still debating. I will likely get / repurpose another lock as a secondary one. Or maybe get the Tilock. I just figured out locking it to my rear rack may work too. I did that on a short ride home, and will try it on my commute next - where the road gets bumpy, and see how it feels
• Bag strategy - I have a couple of panniers. They all fit fine on my bike. I even got a new one to use. I tried it 2x so far, and I realize it kinda sucks. Previously, when I stored my bike outside, the pannier was easy enough to deal with on the way in. And I could lock easily. But since I am storing in my apartment, and my hallway is pretty narrow (I live in a studio, the hallway wall has sliding/folding closet doors along the whole length I permanently leave open out of laziness. Once is kinda broken and needs new tracking so doesn't actually shut properly). So the hallway is just wide enough to get my bike through, but not wide enough for me to walk next to the bike at the same time with out a bit of limbo around the doors. So I end up just pushing it in, and then get to my parking spot, aka underneath my bar counter. So the narrow hallway would be basically impossible with a pannier. And taking the panniers on an off just for transporting would be annoying. I've gotten in the habit of putting all my stuff on my bike nightly. So I am thinking maybe I should get a saddle bag, that holds my lock and my other things I like to leave on the bike - sunglasses, gloves, reusable bag. Haven't seen a perfect big/not too big saddle bag yet that works with smaller frames.
• Shifter - this Jtek shifter is huge and ugly! Seems to work fine, but the shifter handle is just huge. If there is ever another aftermarket option, I will probably jump on it.

Those are my thoughts so far! Here is to many more miles to come.

ksryder

That thing is pure fire. Thanks for sharing!

Niche question: how's the VO wheel stabilizer working? Contemplating one for a front-heavy build I'm working on.

Korina

@jade408, Roadrunner Bike Bags makes makes Burrito and Burrito Supreme handlebar bags, that are semi-custom; pick your color (or colors), including purple!

jade408

Thank you!

The wheel stabilizer definitely helps a little when parking, and when starting from a stop. It could have a stronger spring if you have a heavier load. It is also sensitive to how the weight is balanced. It wobbles more when they weight is more to one side. That being said, it helps and it is a cheap part! I'd recommend it. Have had it on 3 bikes now.