gdb415

Hello ...Has anyone upgraded their seatopst clamp? The factory clamp has 34 stamped on it.... I assume it's 34mm. I know the post is 29.2. Ive been searching a bit and 34mm is a rare bird. Can somebody veryify the measurement to make sure I'm correct in my assumption. I've only have found 2 clamps that size,both in black. Id really like a sturdy silver one. Any ideas or assistance welcome.

Thanks,
gdb415

monsterpile

If anyone wants one of these Nano's cheaper, Bike Island has 2 of them that are scuffed up for $250.

https://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...ls&ProdID=2293

Poguemahone

After several weeks of tooling about RVA city on my Nano, I took it on a club ride tonight.

1) It is the most commented upon bike I've ever had. About ten people rode it a bit after the ride.

and

2) The gearing is inadequate. I was blasting along in 52/12, and could barely keep up with the ride leaders. Just ordered a 54 tooth chainring. Won't take care of the problem, but should alleviate it somewhat. The bike is quick, but not fast. Classic trade off.

On the tall guy front, I seem to be having no problems other than those that would affect a shorter rider as well (see #2 above). It's certainly a great in city bike. I've added a rack, nashbar has a nice black and white Axiom rack that looks good on a black nano. Maybe pics later...

martinus

Dahon Boardwalk fenders :



Are they, tooo yellow ...

Poguemahone

Those are, in fact, taxi cab yellow. But I can't critique, not with the "bass boat green" (actual color name) saddle on mine.

I've thought of adding fenders. But the rack seems to be keeping spray off my rear.

monsterpile

That black Mercier is making me tempting to get one. I have some Boardwalk fenders on my Windsor that work out well for me.

The other day I was riding downtown and a guy on a cross bike commuter zipped over to my lane and exclaimed "What the hell is that? " I told him it was a mini velo and he said it was super awesome. He asked a few more questions where I got it how much it cost etc. I said it was my favorite bike to ride and he said he could see why. Its the biggest reaction yet.

Poguemahone

Strangely, I had the exact same response at an LBS when I came in to order some tires for mine.

And on the same day, while I was trackstanding at light, a confused ped asked "Was that bike like that when you bought it?" I tink he meant the Nano's design.


On another front, I was doing some gear inch calcs today and figured it would be about twice as effective to have an 11 tooth rear cog as it would to give the Nano a 54 tooth front ring, and a 54/11 combo is about equivalent to a 52/14 or so on a regular roadie. I think my drivetrain may get another upgrade shortly...

martinus

Light shopping today ... pic post later.

Yes, the 52/12 is a joke ( see my previous posts. ) I love my QBP 58t "engament ring". Yeah, its a single speed ring... but I the crushed cage on the sora level FD, so it work OK, for me even with the Ultegra 10 sp chain.

Poguemahone

Bike as it now is:



Upgrades: Panaracer tires, 11/28 Sram rear cassette, 54 tooth Sakae chainring, axiom rear rack.

The gearing is much better, bike has quite a bit more snap to it. I also took out the bottom bracket and regreased the threads (or, more accurately, greased them for the first time).

This thread has been a lot of help in this build, so thanks all-- I've avoided a couple of problems, I think, due to the advice posted here.

Lalato

Nice job, Poguemahone.

martinus

Lights !

monsterpile

Stop posting these awesome pics of black Nanos now I want one. LOL

Gary in VA

Can someone give me an overall length measurement in inches of the Nano?

Dynocoaster 

Where do you want it measured from and to?

Dynocoaster 

There is still a black one on Bike Island for $249

Gary in VA

Overall length (outer front wheel to outer back wheel) so I will know if it will fit into a closet without turning the front wheel. Thanks.

cedar_lake

Minits lite are finally on! I'm the big dummy who bought the 451 tubes to lighten up the wheelset along with these tires. I had good success installing the larger tubes by distributing the slack in the tubes around the rim as I went. No problems yet, but when I do get a flat I'll be sure to check if it was due to wrinkling in the tube.

It does look like ultralight tubes for 406 tires are available from danscomp.

I love the tires- much, much less rolling resistance than stock. Small wheels spin up quickly anyway, so I'm not sure how much I'm feeling the weight difference. Holding a stock tube and tire in one hand and a minits lite and ultralight tube in the other though, there is a big weight difference there.

I'm really feeling the limitations of the stock gearing, even with adding a tooth on the big ring. White bar tape, plugs, and cable housing are next, all for looks, not performance.

cedar_lake

Gar in Va- I have that as 56 inches for the large size nano.

Gary in VA

Thanks for the measurement. My current bike (53cm Schwinn) is 68 inches overall so that is a big difference.

vmaniqui

hmmm. looking good but can't you paint the fenders white or black ?

monsterpile

Yeah, I know I have been eying that one for a while. I had really wanted an orange one back when they first offered these, but some of these guys have been really posting some nice setups of the black. At this point I probably can't afford another bike because I don't think I want to sell any of my keeper bikes right now and money is a bit tight with a job transition.

Poguemahone

I think he needs the splash of color.

I've got to wonder how well these are selling, and if BD will continue to offer the Nano. They've done a couple of odd things before, like a double top tube version of the Kilo TT, that I don't think are available any longer. Since we don't have access to the BD spreadsheets (thank heavens, I have no idea how to read one) I've got no idea of the relative popularity of this model. It's neat and we like it, but this seems to be a fairly small group. One the other hand, the big size in orange sold out at least a couple of months ago...

Shift the cassette to an 11 tooth small cog; this is about four time as effective as upping a tooth on the chainrings. By upping two teeth on the chainring and installing an 11 tooth cassette, I added about a foot of gear inches. ((chainring teeth x wheel size in inches)/cassette teeth= gear inches). That is, IIRC the calc right, I'm sure it's on the internet somewheres. I found I really needed to hack gears on this bike; first time I've done it since I set up a ride with half step gearing.

ynggrsshppr

Hi everyone,

I just bought a Nano and it seems the brakes don't work well at all. For the people that have replaced the brake pads, how much of a difference does that make? Should I look into replacing the calipers and/or the levers too?

I'm new to road bikes and came from using a Huffy dual suspension mountain bike so it might be might technique as well. When I'm braking my hands are wrapped around the hoods with my index and middle fingers applying force to the upper half of the brake levers. This doesn't seem to give me too much leverage, is there a better way of doing this?

On the bright side it was hard not to notice the large difference in acceleration and speed. The bike also weighs 25 pounds, compared to 42 or so pounds on the Huffy.

Dynocoaster 

Welcome. I adjusted the brakes and they worked better for me. I would apply force to the middle and bottom half and see what that does for you. I swapped out the drop bars for regular handlebars.

ynggrsshppr

I thought swapping the handlebars was an option too, along with the levers. I just can't seem to get the leverage I want with my hands on the hoods. I'll take it for a few more spins and see if I can get accustomed to it.

What handlebar did you get?