Insidious C. 

Holy &$#! @gugie that's a nice, if off-topic, bike. Personally I am pleased to see this deviation from standard C&V fare because I um "know this guy" who just purchased a remarkably similar bike. His bike is a Gunnar Crosshairs with Igleheart CX fork. Maybe he will let me borrow it so I can ride with you and your Ritchey. Home renovations not withstanding, I sense this is going to be a high mileage year for me. Congrats!

bwilli88 

I have a bit of transgression myself but they are fun.
My big 29r BMXr that I just stripped and repainted. It is a quarantine build from last year.




here it is now



I also have a Pure Fix Cleveland Single speed and a Fuji Stratos (Japanese Market) that are tig welded but fun bikes.

bwilli88 

I must admit that I have another transgression of envy and lust, I really like that Ritchey. I would love one like it.

Deanster04

I have a Richey Breakaway as well. I have a Carbon Richey Fork, Cane Creek Brake levers, Vee Brakes (which are very powerful for stoping), and Shmano Bar End Shifters. It is a great combination for a heavily loaded Touring bike. I did an around the Alps ride from Munich, through Austria, Slovenia, Italy (Dolomites), Switzerland, and back to Munich. I did change the small inner ring from a 30 to a 24 for the steep hills. The only good thing about the Passes in Europe is that there is a sandwich and cold Beer at the top of every big pass like Stelvio.
Looks like your fork is a steel one which isn't the one that came with the bike. You should have a great time touring, Gravel Riding, and general road riding. I ride with Continental Contact 32s which work very well. I have a set of wheels that are wider rims that I can use for wider tires if I choose.
For traveling I would like to pass on these tips: You can find a commercial rack for the rear that will fold flat. The packing is easy and you can get some large plastic ziplock bags to pack all your clothes and bike riding gear. If you keep the wt at 45lbs or less you won't alert the gate agents to check further. When you get to the gate wait until you see a crowd approach the gate then move in just ahead for check in . Your bag is slightly over sized and if they have time to check they will then charge you an extra fee. So far I haven't had to pay the extra fee. If you are asked tell them you are a sales man and the bad contains instruments for demo. It seems a little complicated but it is worth it. The fees for a bike are stiff as is an oversize bag.
I lived in SE Portland in the late 80's. I had a 1981 Stumpjumper (one of the first commercial Mt Bikes). The trails in Wash Park were not yet off limits because there were so few of us riding there. I loved Oregon for the logging trails. They were wild and one had to listen for the trucks barreling around the dirt roads. Some great road riding on my 1969 Cinelli as well. We moved to Salem in 1990 and there were some fantastic rides there as well. I would ride up hwy 22 to Portland and back. There was a ferry on the Willamette that took me across the river to the east side to finish my ride. All in all it was some great riding. Today I live in Boulder, CO and still ride often (retired). Let me know if you do any touring. I really enjoyed my rides.
Deanster04l
Ques: What size is your frame?
Also, If you are in the market for a set of Salsa rims and Shmano hubs I may be putting some of my gear up for sale. Let me know if you have any interest.

gugie 

Fork completed, and my powder coat guy turned it around in 1 day! I've never asked him for discounts or fast turnaround. I guess I've been nice enough to him that he did this for me - it helped that I pre-ordered the powder for him (RAL 7005 for those keeping track at home).

My goal was to rid myself of the super beefy unicrown fork it came with for a more comfortable ride, and add about 1cm more trail for easier steering with a loaded front end. @nlerner thought that the 3 bolt "anything cage" system used by a lot of bikepackes might be a great addition to the design, and I agreed!

First, the raw fork:


Dropouts brazed in, jigged up for the main event

It's next to impossible to find cantilevers used with anything cage type forks, standard cantis don't play nice with the cages, so I brazed them on about 2cm lower than typical, and used low profile brakes - Velo Orange Grand Cru Zeste were chosen. I also decided on Ortlieb fork bags, a fairly new product, one that @nlerner has sported on one of his Black Mountain bikes - very similar frame to the Ritchey Breakaway, but without the split.







I've started on a front handlebar bag rack. Tomorrow I'm riding with @Andy_K on a 47 miler with the bags loaded up to see how it handles.

merziac

H**Y CRAP!

That's freakin awesome.

merziac

Can we bother you for a nice driveside pic?

rccardr 

Oooooooohhhhh, that’s nice!

gugie 

Your wish is my command.



I should get some full bike pix today.

ascherer 

Sweet. Would that we all could whip up a FOD (Fork-On-Demand)

gomango

Your Ritchey looks great and so practical.

FWIW I gave up on "vintage only" over five years ago. I started riding modern mtb's and it was game over.

So many improvements.

As for modern road bikes, I think through a gravel lens for those.

Out city streets stink here, so I started going wide tires on my road bikes at the same time I got back into mtb's.

My new Fairlight Faran should be here in August and I think I'll have my Bilenky up on the chopping block at that time.

I see no need to keep two tourers.

I opted for the Shimano GRX800 2x 650b model with Chris King components, Hope upgrade and a Son dyno.

I also ordered all new bag sets from Roadrunner.

So, I still have a couple of very nice vintage bikes, but I have less of an issue rough housing with the new bikes.

https://fairlightcycles.com/wp-conte...v=79cba1185463

repechage

Are the "flying" buttress sweeps hollow? looks like they might be from here.
I like this crown. The "match" wishbone yoke for the seat stays is interesting too.

merziac

I believe so, it and the rear bridge were originally designed for 650b. Dave "massaged" the front quite a bit to make it work with 32's and short reach brakes.

Here's the "build thread".

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-decide-5.html

noglider 

What's a cage type fork?

Spaghetti Legs 

Nicely done Gugie. The old fork was most uninspiring and you have transformed the bike. Oh the forks I would make if I had the Mad Skilz!

RiddleOfSteel

I hear ya, man, on the vintage only thing. It has a lot to offer, and while an older road bike can still do alright (relatively) given its 'motor,' the advancements in the MTB world have been of immense benefit to effectively tackling more and more types of terrain. Our roads here in and around the city are...not going to be repaved any time soon, and aside from some farther-away bike paths, the closer paths are root infested and I'm firmly on the "Please make it stop!" train as far as effectively muting bumps and gaps and crap without paying a massive weight or aesthetic penalty. Since discovering that 700x48's do that for my size/weight, I am in full 'go mode' in getting some decent-looking, non-disc frameset, that's tall enough. I still want to have a road bike Q-factor, so add that to the unicorn bike criteria. I'm optimistic I'll find something, I hope.

gugie 

Note that there's a difference between giving up and giving on only vintage, for those keeping score at home. And I agree. There's a place for both in our quivers.

Great name, they really do appear to be inspired by Gothic architecture. And I can confirm that they are hollow.

That's a fork that is stored in a cage.

I should have capitalized the term, Anything Cage. Changes the meaning of the sentence from how you read it, of course. Rather than low riders and panniers, this allows you to attach most anthing, sleeping bag, compression sack, etc. to the forks, and has become either a fad or a new thing for bike packing (itself a rather new term).

Here's an example (shamelessly stolen pic from the interwebs):

gugie 

Today's ride, 47 miles with @Andy_K over roads old and new, paved and gravel, flat, climbing, and downhill. In all cases it's superior to the unicrown fork it came with. More flex on bumpy roads so less shock delivered to the upper body, lower trail, which made it easier to keep a line on some switchback downhills, and more stable with a front load. I packed about 4 lbs in each bag, more than I'd carry on a tour, no issues. I like this Ortlieb fork pack system, so easy to take on and off.



I realize I'll need to remove the bags and plastic T-thingies so y'all can see the fork, maybe later.

mhespenheide 

Can I ask why you went with canti's rather than v-brakes or centerpulls?

(Those poor forks! So many holes drilled in them...)

nlerner

I think this seals the deal that I’ll need to ride my orange bike on something someone might be planning later this year.

gugie 

Brifters on the bike have different cable pull than v-brakes, and I wanted to avoid the complication of a travel agent. If I put centerpull posts on the fork, then I'd probably want to do the same in the rear. That would mean repainting the frame, or at least the rear half. More $$, more complications, more work.

The new cantilevers work well, so if it ain't broke...

Those three holes on each blade are on the neutral plane of the fork, so won't be a structural issue.

BFisher

Gotta ask the pertinent question, what's in the bags? Four pounds each of...?


Also, are those frames slimming, or have you lost weight?

bwilli88 

Looks great. I love the idea of having one bike for everything.
I must admit that I have had a bike for the past 8 years that is welded and just repainted it for the second time.
It was what I called the pimpilicous Bride bike.
and looked like this




Here is the latest iteration.

gugie 

Sorry, just now read through your post. Thanks for comments! I'd love to ride around the Alps someday. Retirement beckons...

My steel fork is almost certainly aftermarket. I contacted Ritchey, they confirmed that this model only came with a CF fork. Moot point, however, since I built my own fork for lower trail, better compliance, and added features for a front rack and 3 point attachments for "Anything Cage" type attachments. I also put in a small tab for a future fender fitting.

As far as commercial racks go, I roll my own. Maybe $20 worth of tubing and 5-6 hours of bending, cutting and brazing, I get exactly what I want. I'm building a front rack that will pack flat right now, I'll post pix when I'm done.

I'm running 35's right now, the Open Pro rims are a bit on the narrow side of optimal, but work fine.

I've been warned that the case is slightly oversized. I typically fly Alaska, I have one of their co-branded credit cards, so bikes fly free. If/when I can't fly Alaska, I'll use some of those tips.

You're right about the forestry roads here in Oregon and Washington, great riding. I've herded a couple dozen riders through the Tillamook Forest from Forest Grove to Tillamook on what's known as the North Trask route

I'm not quite sure what frame size it is based on Ritchey measurements. Anybody eyeball it and call tell us?

I try to get in 1-2 credit card tours a year, I've already got 2 planned for 2021 (I'm optimistic.) Of course 2020 was a washout, but I did do a couple of socially distanced S24O's with a few friends.

gugie 

Four pounds of..crap. That's probably more than I'd carry in them, but wanted to do a worst case test. They're only 4 liters capacity each, my credit card touring experience is that I want to carry 3 days worth of light clothing so I don't spend all of my evenings washing clothes. That's more than I can fit in my large handlebar bag. Here's a pic of my kit from the last credit card tour I did. That all fits in a handlebar and saddle bag. I want to get rid of the saddle bag and front load everything.

I think @Andy_K must've photoshopped the pic, but thanks for asking...COVID weight is coming off slowly...

Known fact: New paint makes a bike go faster.