PSA: Velo-Orange Frame Sale!
 

From the email: 'That's right! We're offering 20% off AND free shipping* on in-stock frames now through February 12th, 11:59pm ET! Use the code STEELISREAL when checking out to get the discount.'

Sorry. :D

I'm sure they know better than I what sells. The thing is, none of those frames appeals to me in the slightest.

I am disappointed. :(

This one looks like it has some sort of disease, or pimples, or...


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6317a0de00.jpg

I would imagine cyclists in the desert Southwest need to mount nine water bottle cages? :foo:

Every day I keep checking my e-mail in-box waiting the VO to have a general sale -- not yet. :(

The mixte frame looks nice:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8e5168d20d.jpg
But it's sold out and not in stock

Also- it uses long reach caliper brakes instead of canti or mini-V brakes which would be much better for this application.

I am still on VO's mailing list and have done good business with them in past years but everybody knows the bicycle industry goes with the latest business interests so VO has to sell whatever is available in order to stay in business. I have suggested to VO that they bring back the Campeur and Mixte framesets and manufacturers such as Dia-Compe, Microshift and Sugino are producing components for those vintage-type framesets but Dia-Compe, for instance, only sells components in wholesale quantities and perhaps not even a well known retailer such as VO could afford to stock wholesale quantities of the many necessary vintage components.

V-O can be a good source for classic-ish bits and bobs sometimes. When it comes to frames and bikes it seems to me that they are trend followers -- look to see what Rivendell or Crust are doing and then a year later V-O will do their riff on it. In the past their quality control was pretty spotty, but I've not heard that's an issue now. I'm glad they are in the market, but not too much from them gets me going, but realistically virtually nothing at my LBS speaks to me, so I'm hardly an arbiter of current taste nor a bellwether of commercial success.

:50:

The mini-Velo has long appealed to me, but not enough to actually buy one.

bikepacking disease. need lot of points to attach things. how did the the cyclists of old just get by with rear and front racks?

Well, quite a few of the braze-ons on the frame above are cable guides. If you're running hydraulic disc brakes, you have full housing from lever to caliper (because it's filled with fluid). I also see three bottle braze-ons on the main frame, not unusual for a touring bike, and triple braze-ons on the fork, something super handy to have, particularly if you want to run Ortlieb mini-panniers. I'm not quite sure what going on in the rear dropouts with triple braze-ons there. Just lots of rackage options, I guess.

They seem to have a 20% general sale about twice a year. And they sometimes have a 20% sale on gift certificates. I managed to get a great deal on a whole bunch of bits & bobs I needed by buying an on-sale gift certificate and waiting for a 20% general sale to use it. All about timing, anticipating needs, & patience.
the frames don’t do it for me, but I really appreciate a lot of their other stuff.

If it was thru-axle it'd be worth considering. Maybe the new version will be.

Well enough, but I like the bikepacking trend more. That large central frame bag does help to keep the bike more stable and balanced. Never liked a front rack and just having a tent on one side and sleeping back on the other doesn't overweight the fork. The seat bag can be a little wiggly but I don't miss saddlebags.

Pass-Hunter is

https://velo-orange.com/collections/...ts/pass-hunter

I was hoping it might be set up for a Rollhoff hub but it is not. That would require a bunch more "lesions". :)


In their favor, I do appreciate the components VO brings to market. For instance, I have a pair of PBP rims sitting out in the garage awaiting the failure of my 40 year old MAVIC MA-2's.

The frame in question has rack attachment mounts for front and rear racks. It has fender mounts too.
So basically, it has the same mounts that 'cyclists of old' used.
Additionally, it has triple fork blade mounts for anything cages or various front rack sizes and styles.

That thing has a lot of mounts on it and I don't like the look, but much of what you see has nothing to do with bikepacking and everything to do with external brake hose routing.

Yeah, years ago VO was more actively involved with road, commuter and touring bike rallies and what are now known as vintage bikes. Shimano greatly changed that scene beginning in the later 1980s when it introduced groupsets which eventually wiped out "mixing and matching" components, no more Frankenbike gear trains, for instance, and focused much more on MTB and various off road bikes, great for those into them but road/commuter/touring bikes got sidelined. And so to stay in business VO had to go with the flow.


But I have scored a few of VO's 126mm Dia-Compe freewheel hubs, very nice, and as you said there are some other tidbits too. Part of that has to do with Dia-Compe, of which VO is a D-C dealer and which does produce a broad selection of vintage-type components but D-C only sells its components in 100-unit wholesale quantities and it could be asking way too much to have VO stock all of the various components vintage-type bikes would need, so we get only a very limited selection.

That's interesting- I wondered who produced their hubs. (I guess I could've figured it out with a bit of thought and some googling..) They are nice hubs- I've used them for a couple wheel sets. Their Voyageur 650b rims are nice too. I've wanted to try Pacenti Brevets, but when VO has a sale it's really hard to beat the price.

Agree.

It looks like a good all around and when I commuted by train every so often it would be a better choice rather than a normal, vestibule clogging full size bike.

The accounts of using them as bikepacking rigs also have some appeal to me, but I'm not sure I see any real advantages over what I already have other than the novelty.

I wouldn't step over this.....
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0379ee8455.jpg
https://velo-orange.com/blogs/favori...peek-into-2023

Being the cheapskate than I am, I'm keeping a lookout for one of those promotional Marlboro folding mountain bikes.

I would like to test ride a Mini-Velo to see how it rides and how I like it.

Industry standards?

I had no particular interest in mixte bikes but several years ago there was a revival of interest in them and I spent some armchair time learning about them. It seems most of them were road bikes having quick handling but were not particularly comfortable for all-day riding, yet a smaller number of them had slack touring geometry, which got my attention, and although I have a couple of other bikes with serious front and rear cargo racks, I wanted to see if there would be any advantages to more easily getting on and off a loaded mixte bike while more easily keeping it standing vertically. I eventually got two of them, a 1982 Puch Odyssey mixte and a 2018 Raleigh Carlton Mixte 8.

Several years ago the Velo Orange Mixte frameset became discontinued and I just missed out on getting one but it is attractive so I put my name on its wait/want list should it ever return to production and then a couple of years later put my name on that same wish list again to let VO know I am serious about getting one, but unfortunately the VO Mixte was designed for what are now considered old-world technologies and components so I am not holding my breath while waiting for its return.

The joys of vintage bikes need no introduction here on the C&V forum but to anybody interested in mixte bikes there were the short-lived Raleigh Carlton Mixte 8 bikes which were introduced in mid-2017 and discontinued in mid-2019 when the Raleigh business got transferred, again, had ordinary TIG-welded chromoly forks and frames and were made in small, medium and large sizes with 700c wheels. They came with a light-duty front rack and mounts for a full-sized rear rack and with the exception of its road bike seat tube angle its fork and frame have touring geometry making for relaxed handling and a comfortable ride. What makes this relatively inexpensive bike interesting is that although they were made and sold as having a 1x8 gear train, they were designed and equipped with provisions for an optional, owner-provided front derailleur and mine now has a 3x8 gear train with ~19 gear inch low gear, ~105 gear inch high gear and an evenly-stepped range of gearing between high and low. This became a really nice bike.

maybe they have jumped the shark.
barnacles on the tubes.

the 20% off, free ship spells way too much inventory, missed the market.

hopefully won't resort to the Riv' send us some bailout money.