By Chris
The orange
Pass Hunter Disc frames are now in stock. This new frame uses the same geometry as the original Pass Hunter. It makes a great all-road bike, at home on paved, gravel, or dirt roads. The tubing is slightly lighter and the chainstays are a bit shorter than our other frames, making for a sportier feel. But the Pass Hunter is substantial enough for credit card or minimalist touring.
After much consideration and testing we decided to use internal cable routing for the rear brake. This is, by far, the cleanest way to have three cables on the down tube. But we didn't just drill two holes in the tube. We have neat entrance and exit guides brazed on and a small tube brazed inside the down tube. This inner tube makes it simple to thread the brake cable and helps keep water a gunk out of the frame.
The fork retains a traditional lovely French-style curve. We had to make a custom, and very expensive, brake mount to accomplish this. The rear dropout features a cool shape (at least to my eye) and a replaceable derailleur hanger. There are bosses or eyelets to allow proper mounting of fenders as well as front or rear racks.
I'm personally really excited by these frames, so excited that I'm selling my green custom-made fillet brazed Pass Hunter and replacing it with a new production-built orange frame. If you come to the Philly Bike Expo you can be among the first to see my new orange frame built up.
Here are some details from the product description:
- 4130 double butted chrome-moly frame and fork.
- IS brake mounts
- 1-1/8" threadless fork with lovely French-style bend and VO-designed brake mount.
- 700c wheel size.
- 135mm rear spacing.
- Clearance for 35mm tires with fenders, 38mm without.
- Internal routing for rear brake cable housing (or hydraulic tubing). There is a small internal tube brazed in for cable routing, making installation simple and preventing water from getting into the frame tubes.
- Vertical dropouts.
- Replaceable stainless steel derailleur hanger
- Fender bosses under fork crown, at seat stay bridge, and at chainstay bridge for easy fender mounting.
- Two water bottle cage mounts.
- Single eyelets on rear dropouts. Fender and upper rack bosses on fork, plus front eyelets.
- Internal seat stay eyelets
- Seat tube decal over clear coat.
- Metal head badge. (except on 51cm size)
- The frame geometry chart can be found at this link.
- A brief comparison of the frame and other VO frames can be found at this link.
 |
| Rack eyelets and fender mounts. |
 |
| Semi-wrap seat stays and a "luggy' brazed-on seat post clamp. |
 |
| Replaceable derailleur mount and fender/rack eyelets |
 |
| Horizontal top tube. |
 |
| Internal brake cable routing and down tube shifter bosses. |
 |
| Standard 68mm BB, internal cable routing. |
 |
| Cool VO-designed brake mount, bosses for fenders and racks. |
 |
| Metal headbadge (on all but 51cm size), bi-plane fork crown, and "luggy" head tube reinforcement collars. |
Posts
14 comments:
Nice! BTW, what size is your green frame and when is it going up for sale? I remember that frame from way back when....
Any idea about clearance for a 650b tire?
No metal badge on the 51? Explain please.
Wilson
Will the upper braze-ons on the fork work with your randonneur front rack?
It looks great and is quite tempting! Assuming my handlebar bag has a home on it...
The green bike is a 59 and I'll sell it soon. but built up with Campy Chorus 10-speed (as it is now.)
Have not tried 650b tires. This frame rides and handles too nicely as is to change wheel size.
The head badge won't fit on the 51cm frame due to the short top tube. On the original version we used different head tube rings on the 51, but this time we forgot so they come with a decal like a high end constructeur frame.
We are actually planning a special front rack for this frame. Details soon.
Nice to see a complete conduit through the frame for cable/hydro hose. YOu wouldn't believe (or maybe you would) the number of $5K plastic frames with no such provision.
Believe me, every mechanic will greatly appreciate this.
Is is really necessary to have the kink in the rear seatstays? I'm guessing you need that because of the disk tab? Also are you ever going back to lugs, or is that pretty much a thing of the past at this point? Lastly, I loved the old head tube where you just used a decal, like the old constructeurs did. Why the metal head tube plate now?
That disc brake mount on the french-curved fork is so pretty! Well done!
What front rack do you recommend for the Pass Hunter Disk frame?
I'm also really interested in knowing the 650B clearances for this frame..
The VO Campeur, Constructeur, Porteur, and (with a little bending) the Rando racks work.
We think it would be a shame to put 650b tires on such a sweet handling bike, especially if you ride fast on pavement. This is not some generic "sport-touring geometry" frame. But if you must 48mm (actual) 650b tires fit.
Curious as to why you think high performance 650B wheels and compliant tires would hurt performance. In new england, where roads are essentially a linear arrangement of potholes, a bike with 650Bx42mm wheels/tires is a wonderful choice for for rando and every bit as fast and a lot more comfortable than a bike with 700cx35mm wheels/tires. The 650B wheels would shorten up the trail a bit too...
Of course a Polyvalent Disk with vertical dropouts and a little more clearance would solve the matter completely...
Agree, the Polyvalent should absolutely have vertical dropouts -- I'd have bought one if it did. I disagree with discs but it should have vertical drops and a 1" threadless stem (so much easier to avoid shimmy). For internally geared setups it's easy enough to use an eccentric BB.
Considering one of these to build up with 650b wheels. Do you think it would handle well?
Also do your integrated decaleur mini racks work with this fork?
Post a Comment