Technical Bulletins, Racks, etc

Two small issues we've had questions about:

1) On some of the brass bells the little aluminum spacer stays stuck on the mount when the mount is unscrewed. A sharp tug will remove it, allowing you to put it back on the bell's stem before screwing the bell into a Velo Orange spacer mount.

2) Yes, by all means feed your mudflap some Brooks Proofhide, Snow Seal, leather oil, or whatever leather treatment you have handy. Re-apply it a couple of times each year to keep your mud flap happy and healthy.

In other developments:

The decaleurs are in production and I've been told they will be finished in less than 2 weeks. The price will be $48 for all who reserved them. But the manufacturing cost is higher than we estimated so the long term price will be $52.

300 bells in both brass and aluminum are being made for us by those dedicated Japanese bell-smiths. They will be here in a few weeks.

I'll take a crack at making a prototype of both a front and a rear rack. They will be of a minimalist design and heavily influenced by Rene Herse's racks. They will have adjustments, but look like custom racks The customer will be expected to drill the holes in the mounting tangs so the fit really will be custom. If things go well, both 700C and 650B versions will be available this summer. Here is a link to a photo of a Herse rack and here is one from Singer.