By Scott
As a history major and someone who volunteered at the Air and Space Museum's archives department while waiting for a green card, I'm a sucker for old information. I'm also the person here at VO that answers most of the questions via email and phones, so I have a handle on the kind of questions that we get on a regular basis. Now that VO is at a point where we have been around for over 10 years (last year was our 10 year anniversary, we'll still take congratulations cards), we have products that were made for a few years and then for a variety of reasons, dropped from our line up. So we have created a new resource for the discontinued frames - an
archived frame section. We're basically putting up the same descriptions that we had when we sold the frames. So if you have a
Rando frame and you don't recall how big a tire fits it, you can look it up there.
We also have the older frame specs in the
tech pages. So if you want to compare head tube angles and such for a bike you saw on ebay, this is the place to go.
We're proud of our line up of bikes. Certainly times have changed. Back when the Rando was in production in 2010, 32 mm tires were considered wide by most folks. Now on builds of the
Campeur and
Disc Pass Hunter, 32 mm seems to be where most customers start. Yet looking at the frames we have made, you can see a consistent lineage of designs made to take fenders, racks and look timeless.
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8 comments:
Showing the now discontinued mixte frame is pure sadism !
On the subject of tire width. There are at least 25 rail-trails within a day's car-bike range of our home near Pittsburgh, PA. Most have crushed stone surfaces. Condition varies. Soft, rutted, stony, bumpy, muddy, wet as well as pretty nice and smooth, are all common. I started riding these trails with 35 mm Panaracer Pasela's. After 2 or 3 years, I changed to 50 mm Schwalbe Big Ben's. (With my slightly too narrow rims, the Big Ben's only measure about 45-46mm.) I would never go back to 35mm for these trails. 50mm gives a smoother ride and much more predictable, safer handling on the varied surfaces. Did I sacrifice a bunch of rolling resistance? No! On the uneven and softer surfaces of these trails, I think the 50mm tires actually have a bit less rolling resistance! My wife has been riding 40mm tires on the same trails with no complaints. Even when I ride on nice, smooth paving, I do not feel that the 50mm Big Ben's have noticable extra rolling resistance.
Every mile or three along these trails, there tends to be a road crossing. These are often the most treacherous parts of the trail. Eroded ruts, from the water running off the road, loose gravel and sand, chunks of asphalt, potholes are common. Sometimes, at road crossings, I wish I had 75 or 100mm tires. I really do not want narrower tires there.
the mixte is great! i love mine, and it's nice to see it getting a little love.
In case anyone sees this - I am looking for a 53cm Rando Frame :)
Any update on the Polyvalent? Really looking forward to seeing the new version.
I've been riding my Rando since early 2011. It's by far the best bike I've ever owned. I ride 32mm tires since I live in Southern California and there is very little rain. With my gearing setup I have a range of 29 to 96 gear inches and it gets me up the steepest hills. I did have to find a NOS Suntour front derailleur since the Shimano 105 always needed fiddling to keep the chain from rubbing. It gets a lot of attention here in town from the carbon fiber crowd. Simply put, it's perfect for my long rides. Even when I'm worn out, it gets me home without fail.
@Anon,
Updates are coming soon. We are holding off making a public update until we meet with our suppliers next week to discuss frame and fork changes. Thanks for your patience.
-Igor
What? When was the original PH discoed?
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