wahoonc

Me...I have 8 Raleighs and at least 3 of them would benefit from a new front hub. Most of the Raleigh front hubs made after about 1968 or so had crappy bearings and cones in them.

Aaron

j. hughes

+1, could use at least 3 of these.

tarwheel 

Tom - Thanks for the thread. I have ordered a number of items from you in the past and have more on my wish list. I have found your prices very fair and competitive. Here are few items that I would like to see you offer:

- More options for rear racks. You have a number of front racks but only one rear one. I would like something with an upturn in the front to keep bags away from the brakes.
- Lightweight (folding) tires in the 28 -32 mm range with low rolling resistance, tan as well as black sidewalls. I've tried Pasela TGs and they roll too slowly for me, like they have glue on them. I like the look of tan sidewalls, but find that they get stained and dirty after the first rain ride, so I lean more toward black.

BTW, I'm awaiting more details on your new Randonneur frame -- particularly the sizes, geometry specs and color options.

FWIW, I prefer sealed bearings for hubs, BBs, headsets and other applications. Please continue offering parts in silver, polished aluminum. That is a big reason why I have ordered from VO in the past because most of the component mfgs are forcing consumers to buy flat-black parts for everything and I'm sick of it.

bitt3n

+1 on modolo anatomic aero levers

psirue

anyone have pictures of the steel braided housing installed?

Tom Velo Orange

We just picked up some 27" CR 18 rims, doublewall polished silver, eyelets, etc.
nice.
https://velo-orange.com/suncrpori27.html

I'm a little confused with the 6 speed ultra freewheel request- you want a ride range,but no big jumps. shimano makes a 14-34 6 speed freewheel. They are cheap and reliable.

Rear racks? more options? we are working on something for 2011-2012. I think you'll like em.

We will release frame specs and geometry when we get a shipping notice from the builder. I've been told January we should expect something. But we have also been told April 2009, and october 2009, and june 2008. that's why we are reluctant to give solid ship dates, and it's not wise to provide all information, do marketing, etc when the arrival date is not solidified.

balindamood

Ultra-six are also known as "narrow-six", meaning they fit 120mm rear spacing. I used them for my commuter (Gitane Tour d.e France), rando bike (75 Romic), and others. They are expensive as all get-out on e-bay ($60-90 for anything approaching NOS), and finding them in a decent wide range for touring/half-step use is almost impossible. I have to belive that someone could re-space an IRD and offer an alternative for less than that, but you would know better than I. I have re-built the one on the Gitane twice and I had to scavange parts from another one last time.

cs1

Aaron, many moons ago I was in the wholesale cutlery business. As many of you know knife production is or has gone entirely over to Taiwan and China. Very few are made in the US or Germany anymore. My biggest supplier told me basically everytime he ordered from Taiwan the conversation went like this. US guy "how much for this?" Taiwan guy "how many you want to buy?" He said this went of for hours.

Basically, the Asian mentality is quantity first price second. The US want to know price. With that said, 8 Ralieghs sounds like a lot to you and I but it's really a drop in the bucket. VO already said the same basic thing about getting tires made. He just doesn't have a big enough market to move all that merchandise. The overseas suppliers are dealing in tens and hundreds of thousands.

Tom Velo Orange

The Panaracer PAselas are considered a good quality tire these days. Its thread count and tread thickness that makes the tire sluggish. Jan Heine has gone into great detail about this. Grand Bois tires use the same tire molds and casing as the Paselas (I think- correct me if I'm wrong) and ppl rave about them.
Pacenti is promising an entirely new tire that shouild be an improvement over any other 650b tire on the market. If it's well recieved by the public we may see other sizes and widths. But don't hold your breath. Bringing a tire to market with no OE sales is really risky. Tooling and mold costs simply do not pay out for Panaracer, Hutchinson, Kenda, etc without the support of being speced on complete bikes. That's why 650b road tires are having such trouble getting re-established. A high end 27" road tire will have exactly the same problem. We were planning on some new tires, but mold costs and volume expectations are beyond what Velo Orange can realistically do at this point in our business. Maybe in a couple of years, when we have a line of bikes (and sales of those bikes) in the US and internationally it will make sense for us to have tires made. In the mean time, all we can do is hotpatch the same 33tpi Pasela that Grand Bois is using.

repechage

Fair enough, but has anyone looked at existing molds, just with updated rubber and or casing material spec? I would think it would not be beyond hope for that.

repechage

Because there are lots of us folk with Nuovo Record rear mechanisms, and 13-26t is about their limit for most mechanics.

phillyrider

Under the accessories dept - I have the below light on 3 of my bikes. They're made in hong kong, cost around $10-$15, and take one D battery. I use them along with bar end lights (similiar to below), which may also be a nice addition.

sibkissolutions

+1

cyclotoine

someone asked me about those, where do you get the bar end lights?

Tom Velo Orange

I'm surprised that builders like Vanilla or Mitch Prior hasn't done a bike with an integrated flikstand. That would be at least as cool as the U lock bike from Tony Periera.

We are easily amused.....

cyclotoine

They have wire beads, but I highly recommend vittoria randonneur tires.

cyclotoine

It was a terrible suggestion, you obviously recognize that, don't listen!

phillyrider

Trek makes them and I picked mine up at the local bike shop (human zoom - about $15-$20) and they take AAA batteries. There is a bunch on e-bay (under plug lights) -> for example:

https://cgi.ebay.com/2-LED-ROAD-BICYC...item439a9e448a

Since I often ride at night, I like them because they provide some needed visibility without really modifying the look of the bike. It would be good to have a classy set - maybe in chrome finish rather than plastic.

phillyrider

...

nlerner

I took a bar-end LED (purchased as a pair from icyclesusa.com for $4.86), inserted into an end of cut-off steel handlebar, and mounted it on my MTB as a tailight:



Neal

rtruectoc

"Grand Bois tires use the same tire molds and casing as the Paselas (I think- correct me if I'm wrong)"

Just the casing is the same, the mold is different. Same situation with rivendells tires. same casing different tread. It's 66 tpi, by the way, not 33.

mkeller234

I have seen those at performance too.

bbattle

Zeta makes a wide selection of colored bar end plugs. If you search the internet, you'll find thousands of different bar end plugs to choose from.

Wine corks work well, too.

Tom Velo Orange

cyclotine- was that a sarcastic response from you? I'm not familiar w your persona to know one way or another.

We do listen to peoples posts here, on our blog and twitter feeds for sure. But not every post and suggestion is going to happen. Your opinion is as valid as others opinions, positive or negative. The quill stem thing has come up countless times. I do know some company is working on a quill stem (not us, and I can't reveal who it is due to non-disclosure agreements). It will probably be close to what you want spec wise, but I'm not sure if the pricing is hitting the mark.

Ponder this- what did a Cinelli 1A stem cost new, without a bro-deal, Back In The Day? $50? $60?? Adjusted for inflation, that same 1A stem would cost $165 in 2008 dollars

The Nitto Technomic stems are a bargain at $50, and are totally under valued. The same can be said of the Pearl, and those are $75-90 The retail price hasn't changed in 35 years, yet material costs have for sure gone up since then, not to mention other costs like shipping, duty and freight brokerage among other things.

Velo Orange can go down that road, commit a ton of money for tooling that could be spent on a new frame or racks or fenders. We would not have OE sales to count on; it would be strictly selling retail. The price would be north of $70, reflecting new tooling, new design work, new factories learning how to make a better quality cold forged stem.

Or VO customers could buy Nitto stems for $50 and be very very happy.

repechage

As I worked at a "profit margin was King" bike shop in the 70's and mid 80's Cinelli 1A stems were $32.50 in 1986, I had to special order a French diameter one, and the "dealer cost" price was $22., I don't think it was, but that was the kind of guy my employer was...