Little Things

Here are a few little projects and developments that may interest you.

Grand Cru 50.4bcd cranksets are now 10-speed compatible. We had a problem with a few chain rings that were made 0.5mm thicker than specified. This was limited just a small percentage of the first production run. We have replacements that work with 10-speed chains. If you've bought one one of these cranks previously and have one of the thicker 2.5mm inner rings, we can supply a replacement 2.0mm ring (measure at the base of the teeth). It only matters if you run a 10-speed chain.

Unlike many companies we often make components that factories are unfamiliar with. Every crank factory is expert at 110bcd rings, but our 50.4bcd rings are designed from scratch and so it's easier for an error to creep in.

Our new glassine packaging is very cool, if I do say so myself. We've been looking for a distinctive and environmentally-friendly packaging system for small parts. Kyle came up with the idea of glassine envelopes and worked tirelessly to find a source for them in Taiwan. It'll take a year or more until all the small parts come this way, but we're on the way. The package above contains down tube cable stops.

This is our newly designed fender L-bracket. This bracket uses a single 6mm bolt so it fits front fenders designed for a fork crown daruma and uses the existing hole. Darumas work on most bikes, but sometimes there is not enough room in the steerer tube, especially on carbon forks. So if you can't, or choose not to use, a daruma this is an easy substitute. It can also be used on a rear fender, but you need to drill the hole. Works perfectly on VO and Honjo fenders and probably on some others too.

We have a new scissor action kickstand. The Copenhagen kickstand is a double leg stand that allows both legs to fold to the non-drive side, much like the Pletscher stand we stock. The Copenhagen stand has the advantage of adjustable leg length. And it's less expensive.

We have a small quantity of tan mudflaps. If the tan color sells well we'll keep making them. We've had problems keeping leather items in stock recently, not because of unusually strong sales, but because the little Northern California tannery that supplies our leather has seen a shortage of good quality hides. We may have to find out where that Gucci guy get his.