We now have four types of Honjo fenders. On the left are the new 35mm smooth fenders, next is the 35mm hammered fenders. These fenders don't have any indented lines running along their length. The third fender is the 43mm smooth and the one on the right is the 43mm hammered.
The 35mm are great for racing bikes and bikes with minimal clearance.
The rest of the photos are from the National Arboretum, in Washington DC, where I went for a ride yesterday. It's a beautiful place to do a few laps. The trouble is you want to keep
stopping to look at the amazing foliage and gardens and soon realize you haven't actually ridden very far. The slow-growing conifer collection is especially lovely and worth a stroll. I also spent some time in the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum which is on the Arboretum 
grounds. There are more photos here.
02 November, 2006
Fenders and Trees
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17 comments:
The arboretum is actually in the Northeast quadrant of DC. Its a shame its so difficult to reach by bike- its a much more pleasant way to do some base mile laps than Haine's Point.
Jeff, True, but it used to be fun to race the bike messengers who came to Haine's point after work. I haven't been to Haine's point in 20 years.
What width fenders do you guys use for what? I have the 43mm Honjos, and i'm trying to run plump Avocet 32mm tires, and the clearance is just not adequate -- you can get everything aligned so as to be perfect, but a couple hours of bumpy riding seems to move them around a bit. I think i will go to 28mm tires, which is too bad because I like the feel of the 32s. It could be that the stay bridges on my Kogswell are just a tiny bit closer to the axle than might be optimal. I have been trying to keep up on some hard road rides and the last thing I need is to have my tire dragging on the fenders!
I run 32mm (30-31mm actual) Paselas with 43mm Honjos and have no trouble and enough clearance. But given the geometry of the model P, you might find it handles better with the 28mm tires. Let us know. Also, I found it hard to get 40mm Berthouds mounted on the P, so you must have squeezed those Honjos a little.
The infamous white Kvale has 28mm tires with 35mm Honjo fenders. I also have a Heron with Avocet gumwall 32s(nice tires)and hammered 35's. Like you said, I think your issue is probably fork length and brake stay location. I suppose the Kogswell is dimensioned for short reach brakes? When my new 43mm Honjos arrive they'll be over 35mm+ tires with Frogg Leg cantis. There's a lot of clearance both sides and top and I'm going to spend every mm of it.
Chris.- thank for the recommendation on the Frogg Legs. Or is it Frog Leggs? I like them a lot, at least on the stand.
Yeah the Avocets are really, really fat tires; I didn't measure 'em but they are huge. One thing that has been a pleasant surprise is, for years I have never used anything other than 23mm tires. The 32s are absolutely fantastic; they ride like a '68 Lincoln Continental. You just glide over bumps. I'm not at all convinced that they are any slower, although the handling is not nearly as tight (probably partly because I just have them on narrow Open Pro rims).
If anyone wants a set of cool blackwall Avocet 32 slicks, speak up! I'll grudgingly hafta move down to the 28s.
Tsk, tsk...laying your bike down on the derailleur side. Not a good way to treat your Ebisu!
Chris - any ETA for 650b fenders?
Chris - any ETA for 650b fenders?
Clay, I just asked Honjo about some options in 650b fenders, but I have not ordered any. So I don't know when, or if, we'll get some.
Saturday I received a Velo Orange package and spent Sunday installing a set of the wider smooth Honjo fenders. By the time I got finished drilling, fitting, cutting, drilling more holes, cutting stays, etc it took about three hours. They look really sharp on the chromed frame, though the smooth finish is much more unforgiving than the hammered. I had to buff off a couple of scratches after I finished and I'm pretty careful. The only issue I had was, because of the cross section of the fender, I couldn't get two stay fittings on the fender. I settled for one centered. The longer length fender is a real winner.
Neil, We want photos of that chrome city bike. Where are the photos?
Kossack,
(For those not in the loop. I'm refurbishing an old Peter Mooney chrome frame into an upright "city bike".) Tain't done yet. I need pedals. I need to lace the leather wraps on the Albatross bars. (Mounted on a really cool Ambrosio ajustable stem). I'm going to build a new set of wheels with Campy high flange hubs. Looking for a long old style Silca pump. I'm going to strip the anodizing off the crankset and polish and inpaint the grooves. ETC,ETC. I'm Getting close, but it's supposed to last me all winter. Are you still planning on a city bike, or did we scare you off?
The city bike is still planned. Johnny Coast and I have chatted about making a lugged frame and another builder is interested in building a tig welded frame or perhaps a fillet brazed frame. Since we can't seem to find mixte lugs so far, tig or fillet brazed seems like the best options at the moment. But a friend at the Tokyo bike show searching for lugs for us. I'll have some quotes soon and order a prototype or two.
It'd be a shame to tig them. What's it cost for dies? Maybe you could just do the top head and seat tubes to match an existing set. Maybe you need to cut a deal Kirk Pacenti? ....of course I'm not a customer anyway. I'll just shut up.
I've come around and I now think the coolest way to build a city bike would be to have it fillet brazed. Then you can do a little box lining or whatever on it without it looking too busy -- a simple, elegant look would be great.
BTW, I'm building up another city bike out of a bottom-of-the-barrel mild steel Peugeot frame that I had powdercoated silver. It is hardly a fine frame but it will look really cool even so. I did manage to find an old set of reverse brake levers, which I think will enable a cheapo reproduction of one of the old french city bikes, more or less.
Fillet brazing can look really slippery. Probably a nice alternative.
Tig welding always looks like it was welded by a robot in a factory in Taiwan.
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