Johnny sent a few photos of the rando frame.
The white piece of paper taped to the down tube shows where the single decal will go on this frame. That's right, on top of the tube as the old constructeurs used to do. But two decals in the modern style are optional. Also, note the lovely curve in the fork blades. Johnny had to get a special mandrel to get that classic French look. I'm sorry that the photo of the seat stay caps isn't sharper; Johnny does those so well. The details on that rear Paragon dropout are also worth studying; that's art.
Please click on the photos to enlarge them.
Quel bel cadre!
ReplyDeleteJoyeux fete de dandon...
Doug Wagner
Richmond,KY
Can you get a shot up of the eyelets on the right fork blade to be used for routing dynohub wiring?
ReplyDeleteAre there any braze ons for running a wire to a rear light as well?
Andre Ball
Seattle, WA
I love it. The details are right and the proportions graceful. As I told "alan", I'm sorry I'm not buying one and feeling the energy of the birth. Just a really nice job. I'm looking forward to seeing it painted and built up. The rear light wiring traditionally would be internal. Personally I think the LEDs have made this obsolete. (Nice idea posting names and addresses.)
ReplyDeleteAndre, My bike doesn't have the eylets because I'll be using a traditional Velo Orange flashlight bracket. The wiring for the rear light will run inside the down tube, but I didn't need that on my frame either. If you go back to the post about the Peter Weigle bike you'll see what they look like.
ReplyDeleteThanks Doug and Neil.
Gorgeous. Everything looks to be just spot-on. Je suis, like, assommé dudes. ;-)
ReplyDeleteChris, all...
ReplyDeleteThought you may enjoy this, it's saliva-inducing:
http://tinyurl.com/ydokht
Great inspiration for the coming VO's. My apologies if this was posted already.
NV
I like the way they curve the top of the seat stays around the lug.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if there is a name for this feature?
Chris, would you introduce this style into VO frames?
-Alf
NV, That's a great looking bike. I like the simple paint. Actually I like everything about it.
ReplyDeleteAlf, That's called a "wrapover" or "fully wrapped" seatstay. It looks great, but is heavy and hard to do well. Johnny, our builder, makes some of the nicest concave semi-wrap stays I've seen. So I think we should take advantage of his speciality.
Yes, there is something about the "simplicity" of the paint/decal that really speaks to me as well. Toei always manages to balance elegance and practicality, ultra-refined and utilitarian. They are deceptively simple in appearance. I cannot think of anybody that does it better.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the wrapped stays, I guess it's personal preference but they never really do anything for me. I prefer concave seat stays.
Chris, it appears in the photos of your frame that Johnny has "squared off" the leading edge of the seat stay where it begins to wrap around the seat lug. Is this per your request or do you plan on having all of the VO frames made with this detail?
Thanks.
nv
nv, that is one beautiful machine. It's both low-key and breathtaking at the same time. As you say, Toei seems to be able to balance both on the edge of a razor blade. Very, very sophisticated. Beautiful, and not the least bit tarty.
ReplyDeleteChris, does Johnny always make the seat stays with such long concave sections? There's no doubt that he's a fine craftsman, but they look a bit too long to my (admittedly unpracticed) eye.
Oh, I just noticed one really trivial thing you might want to add: barrel adjusters for the brakes. I use modern levers with old centerpull brakes and there's no way to adjust them; I had to use in-line adjusters ,which have no place on a fine cycle of VO's ilk. Specifically, for the rear, might wanna add one to his brazed-on hanger, and for the front, a neat way to lick it would be to have an adjustable hanger right on one of your decaleur things. (Unless those Paul calipers are somehow adjustable in situ; I have never seen them in person.)
David, Those long concave plugs are reminiscent of Masi and Confetti. I guess you have to like the style.
ReplyDeleteNV, The ends are not squared off (I hope) that's just an optical delusion.
I'm getting some front hangers with adjusters. I might use Mafac levers on my bike; they have built in adjusters. The rear is an issue...
Chris,
ReplyDeleteAre you thinking metallics or "flat-with-clearcoat" for the VO paint options? Bikes like the Ebisu (and everything I've seen from Toei) with non-metallic paint seem to have such a classic look about them. That said, I've seen so many beautiful pearls/metallics and the silver & orange options seem to lend themselves to a metallic finish. I'd be hard pressed to choose.
Thoughts?
nv
Only the silver is metallic. All the colors are clear coated. We considered using a non-metallic grey instead of the silver but thought it might be too dull. If my bike turns out to look too metallic, we'll try it.
ReplyDeleteWe are still considering chrome as an option, but with the extra polishing required and the plating it would cost at least $300-$400 extra.
"Those long concave plugs are reminiscent of Masi and Confetti. I guess you have to like the style."
ReplyDeletetake the style; leave the spelling!
Richie, Sorry; my brain must have shut down. It's MARIO CONFENTE.
ReplyDeleteHello all,
ReplyDeleteThere are pretty good examples of all four of the VO paint codes that Chris previously posted here:
http://tinyurl.com/yjy6pk
silver-5032
black-99
orange-24592
blue G-9369
Best,
nv
NV, Thanks that's geat. I'll put this in a post tomorrow so everybody can see it.
ReplyDeleteI think we went a little darker on the silver/grey in the end. I need to find the code.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, glad it's of use. The color chart is from Joe Bell. There are some really nice colors on there (wink, wink).
One color I've always gravitated towards is a metallic "dusty rose" pink. There is a really nice example here:
http://tinyurl.com/yxqw67
Pink would probably be a hard sell but maybe for the VO city bike?
Selecting a color for a new bike can quickly make me neurotic... can you tell? ;)
nv
nv,
ReplyDeleteChris Kvale paints a metallic copper with a pearlescent clear coat that is similar to your rose in feel, except without the pinkness. Killer on the right bike.