Ron Damon

To fight pandemic boredom, I bought this minivelo -- an Indonesia-made Thrill Volare 20" minivelo -- in 2022 for under $300 new, stripped the drivetrain and brake system which was not to my liking and standards, and stored what your see here as a solid, attractive canvas for a future re-build.



It's an Aluminium-alloy, post-mount disc brake, M-size frame with a low-travel suspension fork, internal cable routing and a Dahon-type front block. It came originally with 451-size wheels which I replaced with the 406-size wheels pictured here. Not pictured is the serviceable HT2 crankset which I kept also.



It's similar and a competitor to the much more common and popular Polygon Zeta minivelo here, but to my eye the Volare 20" looks much better with its sleeker lines and fork and color scheme. It's also less expensive which is great if your approach is to essentially buy it for the frame and fork as a canvas. They are becoming much less easy to find so it would not surprise me if they disappeared altogether shortly. I've never seen a live specimen prowling the roads in the wild so it's rather rare even here.



​​​​​Wheelbase: 105cm
Chain stay: 40cm
BB drop: -2.5cm

edwong3

That is one good looking frame Ron! Exited to see the finished project.

Edward

Fentuz

I think it depends what you want to do with it. 2 options for me:

MTB route:
fit some large knobblies on the 406 and may be set them up tubeless with a Hydraulic Saint/SLX braking system and 160 disks. Add a dropper post for fun

Gravel route:
Fit some large fast rolling tyre on 406 with a large range cassette and fit either a set of CX dropbars with something like GRX or Sword groupset or corner bars with above groupset and 160 front disk and 140 rear disk. And, I would setup some 451 wheels with road tyres and a closer range cassette so that if I want to go for a tarmac blast, I can swap easily

Ron Damon

No knobbies cuz I ain't traction deprived, but I've got a pair of Maxxis 20x2.20" semi-slick -- more slick than semi -- meat on the way. No matter the route, it's getting 160mm Shimano Deore 6100 hydraulics and a 11-46T cogset. Given my geography and topography and my penchant for touring, I prioritize climbing, load-carrying ability and low gearing over top-end speed and high gearing.

Dropper? No. Drop bars? No. No tires smaller than 50-406 either lest the BB sit too low. Haven't ruled out 451 yet, but I rather dig the fat tire look. Plus I'd have to buy a 451 wheelset as I have none on hand. So, as Howlin' Wolf said it, this baby is built for comfort, it ain't built for speed.

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Fentuz

Are you going for the full 6100 groupset? i.e. 12s?

Edit... just counted the 10s cassette... so are you fitting your usual ZEE derailleur setup?

Ron Damon

No, bro, I am sticking with 10-speed till I cannot avoid it any longer. It'll be a mix of Deore M6000 and Deore M6100.

The Zee M640 RD won't span a 11-46T cogset. But a 10-speed Deore M6000 medium cage (GS) RD will!


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Ramdad

I hope I don’t offend by saying this, but other than looking unique, why is it being stripped and rebuilt. I would think it would ride reasonably if new and give you the opportunity to enjoy it, if it was a matter of rescuing it from scrap, or sentimental reasoning, yes by all means. But taking a new bike, stripping it and building it, doesn’t make sense. Good luck, I am quite curious to see it done. I have a Raleigh 20 I have waited 12 yrs to build with bmx parts, both are hard to find, reasonably; in my hood. I would like to think I don’t hoard intentionally but I guess I do. Most of my bikes are side of the road jewels, or posted for months scores. I am very thankful for them. They do bring me joy and smiles every time I ride. I put a lot of sweat equity and money wise, more than they are worth. But it’s my bond. Even my junk bike and winter beater. Keep building and riding, more pics, more better!

Ron Damon

Hello Ramdad, the answer to your question is in the first sentence of the OP. Three reasons highlighted in bold:
..
The original wheels were 451, but I wanted to go with 406. I gave away the stripped parts to folks who could appreciate and make use of them.

The rig is almost ready to hit the tarmac. I just gotta install the chain, brakes and RD cabling.

Ramdad

I’m sorry I missed that, you are right. I am glad to hear that you are almost complete. It is a good sense of accomplishment. I am glad to hear, you seem kind hearted to pass along to others who can benefit. I do the same, as well as my sons. We fix others bike's, at no charge. they know we are a bike family and if they don’t need a bike we try to find good homes. We have migrant workers who can use them or harvest what we can. We try to keep them out of landfills as best we can and help others along the way. We enjoy the whole bike experience. Riding, maintaining and fellowship. Happy trails

Ron Damon

.

• Shimano Deore M6000-GS RD
• Shimano Deore SL-M4100 shifter
• Raze 11-46T, 418% range, 10-speed cogset
• Shimano Deore M6100 hydraulic brake calipers with G05S resin pads & levers
• Shimano SLX RT66 160mm/180mm rotors
• MXL 24-spoke, two-cross, straight pull wheelset
• Kenda Kontact 58-406 (20x2.25) tires with Schwalbe SV7 tubes.

Gear range: 21-86 gear-inches

47T x 11-46T
.
Chain rear tire clearance: ~0.6cm



Front fork clearance: massive, with ample space still for chunkier meat



Minumum RD ground distance: 5cm (fifth cog)


​​​...
BB height: 28.5cm

cat0020

No picture of the 10th gear??

Ron Damon

Ron Damon

Mixed-terrain tire pressure with my 71kg frame: 25psi front / ​​​​​35psi rear.

Ron Damon

.
Yeah...if you switch regularly between rim and disc brakes like I do, every so often you're gone forget which is which and grab a bit too much lever with disc and decelerate more than desired or get a wake up jolt. And this is without deliberately bedding in the (G05S resin) pads, which I didn't do. There was simply a lot of breaking power on tap since day zero. Not for nothing have these Shimano Deore BR-M6100 disc jobs been called the budget kings and the lowest priced, serious Shimano disc brakes.

Ron Damon

The other reason, of course, why I've got lots of breaking power is that I've got a smaller wheel, 20" (406) in this case. For a given motion force and mass at the wheel, the smaller the wheel diameter, the smaller force required at the brakes to stop the wheel. The following equation quantifies the breaking power required as a function of wheel and rotor size:
..
This equation is a statement that the breaking moment must equal the motion moment. They must cancel each other. Solving for Force at the caliper:
..
What this equation reveals is that for a given Force at the wheel, the Force at the caliper needed to stop the wheel is a function of rim diameter over rotor diameter, holding other factors constant. Therefore the smaller the wheel (and/or the bigger the rotor) the smaller the force at the caliper to stop the wheel. The equation also shows why rim brakes where the rim and the rotor are essentially one don't need to be so strong or apply a multiplicative force to stop the wheel.
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Using this equation, we can also find the size of a rotor on a larger wheel that would yield he same breaking force as the rotor on a smaller wheel. For example, to achieve the same breaking power as a 20" wheel with a 160mm rotor, a 29" wheel requires a (hypothetical) 260mm rotor.
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So, here we have another advantage of smaller wheels, greater breaking power. Easier to accelerate, easier to decelerate. When explaining to your associates the benefits of small wheels, you can reference this and say Ron told you.
​​​​.

Ron Damon

Fentuz

yes, that's why I cannot understand why dahon and tern put 160discs instead of 140mm.

Ron Damon

I ain't complaining about 160mm rear, 180mm front. I'll continue to spec that combo on my 406ers.

The other factors, of course, are heat dissipation and longevity. The bigger the rotor, the better the heat dissipation and less fade during continued breaking, and the more the rotor can be expected to last.

But I suspect manufacturers spec larger rotors to make up for weaker brakes. A bigger rotor is cheaper than a more powerful caliper. If you've got bum calipers, the cheapest way to get more bite is by upsizing the rotor or getting better brake pads.

Fentuz

I race with 160/180 in XC and CX(because of XC setup) and yes, the dissipation is a big thing (I boiled my front brake when running 160 of steep fast descent during a XC race) and I agree about the caliper more expensive. I would not be surprise to see big disc with mechanical calipers. It just that I find 160 to big on 406 and as MTBs show, with much bigger disc, the riders lose a little on modulation (Not an issue in gravity racing) so for a city folding bike, I would prefer modulation.

Ron Damon

I've always been a faithful Shimano part user, but these off-brand cogsets often offer gearing options not available from the Japanese manufacturer at lower prices. I finally broke down and bought this Raze 11-46T, 10-speed cogset which I installed on this minivelo build. After riding it for a couple of weeks, I can't say that I notice any difference in shifting crispness, speed or precision over Shimano parts. Now I simply need time to see about durability, but for the price of $24 one really can't ask too much.

Fentuz

that's good to know, I am thinking about fitting a 56T on the helios rather than the current 48 but I would need more range like this. I was looking at Deore 10 11-46 for ~£30 instead of Tiagra 11-34