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| My new Camargue set up for road/city use. |
My new city/all around bike is a Camargue; it's also my off-pavement touring bike. One of the coolest things about owning Velo Orange is that I can get a new bike whenever I want, yet I rarely want a new one of my own. I prefer to just to borrow a demo bike for a few days. The Camargue fits perfectly with my minimalist tendencies. I can do most anything I want on this one bike: trips around our town with its brick and cobble streets, commuting, paved road exploring in the surrounding countryside, riding down old fire roads and dirt CCC roads to go fly fishing. In fact, if I were forced to only ride a single bike, this would be it.
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| My new Camargue set up for off-pavement touring. |
I'll probably add a rear rack and half clips eventually, but I'm pretty happy with this setup. The panniers are prototypes that still need development work (don't expect them anytime soon). Once fenders are mounted and the stays are cut, it's pretty simple to take them on and off. The bars are 50cm
Chris's Rando Bars. (What else would I use?)
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| Great tires! |
Likewise, tires don't take much to change, but I may just get a second set of wheels: minimalism vs laziness. Those
Onza Canis tires are amazing and they are an honest 2.25" wide on
VO Escapade rims. Road tires are 47mm Continental Comfort Contacts that I'm not sure about yet.
The crank is a VO triple, but a MTB crank might be better if you want to run really wide MTB tires. The rear derailleur and 10-speed bar-end shifters are from Microshift and both seem to work very well indeed. In fact, all the Microshift derailleurs we've tried so far have preformed flawlessly; nice to see a newer company give the big guys some competition.
I almost used an 8-speed internal gear hub, but this setup is more versatile. How would you set up your own do-it-all Camargue?
Those front panniers are lovely, will think hard about adding them to my Campeur. Question - do you find the Rando bars with the curve on the tops adds a little more safe handling when gravel/dirt riding? I have the regular grand cru classic bars and was curious. Was even thinking dirt drops to get me to that safer handling.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful bike. I'm eagerly holding out for the disc version. Are those the new dyna-sys compatible microshift bar ends?
ReplyDeleteI like the Rando bars on dirt, mainly because they are wider. Hadn't really thought about them being safer. Maybe they are?
ReplyDeleteThat's the non-Dyna version.
Thanks, (that was me (Velo Haven) in the anon post above) sounds good. Yeah, wider seems better when on dirt.
ReplyDeleteYou've got a chain stay bridge on the Camargue. It's main function appears to be holding the front end of the fender. Why not a kickstand plate that can do the same job and mount a kickstand? I really don't understand this anti-kickstand fetish. It seems 110% irrational to me. And, if you don't want a kickstand, fine, don't mount one. The plate won't hurt you.
ReplyDeleteYou asked, how would I set up a Camargue? I'd probably set it up a lot like the bike I have, a Rivendell Sam Hillborne. The main change might be from Nitto Noodle to North Road or mountain style bars, or even your Crazy Bar. I have Deore V-Brakes, and can't really find any fault with them. I like that they don't stick out from the frame. Crankset = Sugino XD triple 48,36,24. Cassette = 9-speed 11-34 though 12-36 would be fine, too. (have to change that 24 in front to a 26 if the rear is 12-36). I'm using the IRD Alpina D front derailer. It works fine, though I do have an N-Gear Jump Stop to prevent undershifts. RD is Deore MD591 or one of the essentially identical Deore LX versions. This seems like the very best general purpose rear derailer ever. I like the steel cage. It's stronger than aluminum. That aluminum cage is the main thing I have against the Microshift RD. A cage is pretty exposed to damage. It seems to me like a good place to have steel. Shifters are the DiaCompe Silver (or ENE) bar ends, or the IRD thumb shifter version if I didn't have drop bars. I'm using 50mm Schwalbe Big Ben tires which are really great so long as you are not heading into serious mud, sand or rough stuff. They are great for rail-trails, where you mostly have crushed stone or asphalt, with occasional bits of gravel or dirt and not much mud or sand.
ReplyDeleteCurious, why did you opt out of using x-pac for the framebags?
ReplyDeleteThis is the style I waiting to see. Great work. :)
ReplyDeleteNice build, is that a 59cm?
ReplyDeleteIf you were actually setting up a dedicated city bike (as opposed to a touring bike which is passable for use in the city), what would make one choose the Camargue vs. the Polyvalent? Besides the kickstand plate, as has been pointed out already...
ReplyDeleteI ride a sport-touring bike primarily in the city and I can tell you if I build a city bike it's definitely going to be a 1x or IGH with a chainguard and kickstand. I think my bike appreciates the wind between its chainstays but for making constant stops to go shopping in the city, especially the farmers market, a kickstand would be much appreciated. Besides that, maybe a dynamo hub or maybe a front platform (though I'm not sure I like the way they affect the front wheel when parked).
Anon, That's the hanger.
ReplyDeleteMark, Most of our customers did not seem to want a kickstand plate on this type of bike, nor did anyone on our staff.
It is a 59cm.
Regarding the kickstand plate decision: You replaced a part that has to be welded between the chainstays and has two functions with a part that has to be welded between the chainstays, at the same location, but has only one function. Some customers use both functions. Some customers use one function or the other. Some customers use neither. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteHi, Chris -- I see a lot of spacers on the head tube stack. I'm wondering if you did or did not cut the steering tube, and, if you did cut it down, by how much. I like riding as high as I can get (no pun intended) and so I'm wondering if the steering tube in its raw state could accept even more spacers and hence ride higher.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Peter
Peter,
ReplyDeleteWe did cut down the steerer. The steerer can accept many more spacers. Many companies nowadays supply surprisingly short steerers out of the box because they want customers to be in an aero position with a slammed stem, but they forget that most of their customers are regular people who probably don't want to see a chiropractor after a long ride. I assure you, Peter, you'll have more than enough steerer to get you high, perhaps too high.
-Igor
Late to the party but...
ReplyDeleteArgh, so close yet still so far. I want a frame with 700c wheels, horizontal or semi-horizontal dropouts, and a kickstand plate. Each of your four frame models check two of these boxes, but none check all three!
Just bought a 59cm. Very excited. The only decision I'm having trouble with is handlebars. I plan a lot of gravel / dirt bikepacking, and with a change of wheels road & commuting. Rando bars or something else?? Hmmm. Oh and I'm planning using dura ace 8 spd with aero brake levers, but might change the levers if I go with non drop bars. Wider Rando is winning but I really like the jones H bar on my other bikes. Given that I'm at an impasse. I guess it's a good problem to have!
ReplyDelete