Nice Post About VO

The Path Less Pedaled blog has a nice post about visiting Velo Orange.  As you may remember, Russ and Laura dropped by our shop a couple of weeks ago.

They also have a new e-book, Panniers and Peanut Butter. It's a gear guide based on 14 months of touring:

Panniers & Peanut Butter is 75 pages long and goes way beyond a simple list of our stuff, or even a technical look at the pros and cons of different items. It’s chock-full of photos, tips, stories, lessons - and probably everything you could want to know about all of our gear.

Interbike

Tom, Robert, Perry, and I will be at Interbike this week. Interbike is the biggest bike show in America. Thousands of bike shop owners and distributor's representatives attend. So do most of the bike and component manufacturers. It is trade only, so not open to the public.

We have a 20 x 20 booth; number 1531. Please drop by if you attend, or ask the guys from your local bike shop to visit us. We'll have some cool pre-production samples of new rims, cranks, hubs, and other prototypes. We'll also have most of our existing components on display.

A Few Photos and Links

 

 

Box Dog Bikes in San Francisco stocks a lot of VO parts. They also do very nice builds on our frames, like the Rando and Mixte above. Drop by if you're in the Bay Area.

Russ and Laura are on an open ended and long term bike tour. They dropped by VO world headquarters today. You may know Russ as the author of the excellent Epicurean Cyclist blog. Their trip is documented on The Path Less Pedaled blog, which is also well worth reading. Laura creates handcrafted jewelry & bike accessories. Check out her work at the Tangerine Treehouse.

Fyxomatosis is a strange and wonderful shop in Australia. They make chain rings and build cool bikes with some VO components. They also have some classic Italian parts.

Frame Fit

I'm sure that most readers have their frame size dialed-in. Our customers are generally experienced cyclist who've owned enough bikes to know what fits. But we do get an e-mail every week or so asking advice on frame size selection. So here it is.

Now, I don't claim to be an expert on fit and find that even those who do are often not. I've been sized for a frame at least four times using various methods by self-proclaimed experts and been assured that I require a 57cm, a 59cm, a 60cm and a 61cm frame. My perfect top tube length is definitely, 58cm, 59cm, or 60cm, depending on the expert. So here is my non-expert advice on picking a VO frame size:

I generally recommend getting a traditionally-sized frame, one that's larger than many race bike oriented shops would recommend. The traditionally sized frame will allow you to get the handlebars to proper height without a super-tall stem. And it will allow a reasonable stem extension that does not put too much of your weight over the front wheel. The frame will handle better, be more comfortable, and you'll look better riding it.

Start by checking not at the frame's nominal size but the frame's stand-over height. This is the height of the top of the top tube of the bike with the size tires you'll use. Looking at our frame geometry table you'll see that the stand over height for a 51mm VO Polyvalent is 748mm with 38mm tires. Adjust for tire size, if you plan to fit 32mm tires, subtract 6mm. Most folks will want about 20-40mm clearance between your, ummm, nether-regions and the top tube. A bit more, or less, may be preferred by some. So the next step is to measure your personal stand-over height, or pubic bone height (PBH).

To measure PBH put on your cycling shoes and stand upright with you back to a wall. Spread your feet to about the same width as bike pedals. Now hold a large book square against the wall and raise it firmly against the aforementioned nether region. Have someone measure from the floor to the top of the book. Do this carefully to the closest millimeter. That is you very own PBH. With PBH in hand we can select the frame size based on stand-over height.

You'll also want to check that the top tube length will work for you. Many years ago I learned a method that's simple and gives you a good starting point if using drop bars. When on your bike, with hands on the brake hoods, look toward your front hub, the front axle should be hidden by the handlebars. If the stem extension is reasonable, between 80mm and 110mm, and the saddle rails are clamped to the seat post at, roughly, their midpoint, you have a top tube length that's about right. Now some will take me to task as this method has fallen out of favor for being old fashioned and imprecise,  but it's close enough that you can adjust the saddle and stem length to fine tune fit later. So try this on a few bikes and measure the top tube length of the one that fits best. Measure from the center of the seat tube to the center of the head tube along the top tube and compare to the frame geometry chart. I think it's more important to get the top tube length right than the stand-over height.

Of course this method is not going to work if you plan on using upright bars. In that case go for the longer top tube since upright bars generally sweep back.

Remember that this post is about buying the right sized VO frame and this method will do exactly that. You'll need more information and experience to find your best position on the frame (or to order a custom frame). A good place to start fine tuning would be by reading Bill Boston's site.

Rando Mini-Build Kit

Here is the new Rando mini-build kit.

It includes:

• Rando frameset
• Grand Cru Sealed Bearing Headset, mirror finish
• Grand Cru Seat Post
• VO Rando Rack
• Tektro R558 brakes

The price is $795. And any other components ordered at the same time are 10% off.

This is a limited time offer, when our existing stock of frames starts to run low it will be discontinued.

Mixte Mini-Build Kit

The VO Mixte Build Kit is finally available. The cost is $595.

The kit include:

• VO Mixte Frame
• Tange Levin alloy headset
• Grand Cru Rando rack
• Grand Cru Seatpost
• Tektro R556 Brakes
• Temple bell

The mixte frames will not be re-ordered for 2011, so get them while they last.

BTW, the reason for not re-ordering mixtes is that we're having a bit of a warehouse space crisis and we need to cut down on bulky items like frames.  We are looking for more warehouse space in our neighborhood or, perhaps, a bigger building to house VO World headquarters when our lease expires. I think we'll also skip the fillet brazed frame project for now.

Fillet Brazed Rando Frame

This is a prototype fillet brazed rando frame. Our frame factory has two craftsmen who are skilled at fillet brazing, one is the president. We're exploring the possibility of offering a very limited production run of these frames, maybe 25 frames. It has geometry like the current Rando frame, but it will have an upgraded fork with a nicer bend. The cost would be about $1200.

If you want a the un-ridden 61cm prototype in the photos it's available. The price, as shown (with chrome headset, crank, rack, BB, and brakes) is $1200. I had intended to build it up for myself, but I have too many bikes already.

Update: The prototype frame is sold. It went right after we posted it on the site.

 

Picture Day

Photos of some really neat bikes found their way into our in-box this week.

Andrew's wood porteur is really beautiful. More images on Flicker. It's really a sweet build, and I want to know more about the frame.

Justin sent photos of his "Faux Constructeur" based on a Schwinn Voyager. This is a super example of what you can do with a little imagination and the right part. Here's Justin's description:

I'd like to share photos of my 1981 Schwinn Voyageur 11.8 with you as your site and products were inspirational in outfitting the bike to my liking over the past year or so. Additional thanks to my local VO dealer, Vic's Classic Bikes.

The Grand Cru crank is arguably the pièce de résistance. I installed it yesterday. On the lowest two or three sprockets, however, the chain just nicks the inside of the crank arm. I'll have to install a spacer. Note that I did order the 118mm Grand Cru BB as recommended, but it's not wide enough to accommodate the 8 speed SRAM cassette.

Other VO parts inlclude:
SS housing (I had to use brake housing for under-bar wrap shifter routing as this is a tall frame).
La Paon fenders
Gran Compe levers and calipers
Grand Cru crank
Spanninga tail light (this does not function as advertised BTW)
Moderniste bottle cage
Constructeur rack
105/Diagonale rear wheel
Shimano 3N-80 32h hub laced to Diagonale front rim (built by local wheel builder)
Ostrich handlebar bag

Other things:
Long cage Ultegra RD
Schmidt E6 and VO light bracket
Crane bell
Brooks honey Flyer Special and bar wrap (I also love your sew-on wrap but wanted to try the wrap - VO's version was out of stock)
Ruffy Tuffy tires
Technomic stem (turned to 21.1mm by a local machine shop)
Nitto Noodle bar (44cm)

The only part original to the bike is the headset. If the size/configuration looks a bit odd it's because I have long legs and limited movement in my lower back from multiple vertebrae fusions.

Also note that the Ultegra triple FD is too wide for this crank on my bike. It is shown for mock-up purposes. It will be replaced by the double version. 

Beth Holladay gets credit for the photos. BTW, I think a BB 2mm spacer will solve the chain issue.

Justine sent photos of her lovely Mercian step-through. She writes:

It's a custom "Miss Mercian." On it are the following VO item

• Porteur bar
• Stem
• Guidonnet levers
• Bell mounted on steerer tube
• Hammered aluminum fenders (The undersides of the fork crown and brake bridge were drilled and tapped for the fenders. Yay!)
• Retro cage
• Toe straps
• Toe clip leathers

 Aaron did a very nice job building a Polyvalent for his wife and is looking forward to building one for himself. There are more photos on flicker.

 Thought you'd like this photo of part of our warehouse after receiving the last shipment.

We'll be exhibiting at Interbike, in Las Vegas, in a few weeks. It's one of the three big industry bike shows, along with Eurobike and the Taipei show. Amazingly, almost everything for our 20' x 20' booth fits into an 8' x 4' x 4' crate.

Dia Compe Inverse Levers, for 22.2mm Bars

Dia Compe has introduced a version of their inverse levers that fit most 22.2mm, MTB size, bars. This is a big deal because you can now use inverse levers on many standard-size city bars.

I'd asked the president of Dia Compe about making these last year, and he told me that other had also requested this new model. That's not surprising; I expect they will be very popular..

Installation of these levers is a little tricky because they are a tight fit in the bars. You'll actually deform the little metal tabs as you insert them, so some effort is required on bars made with thicker wall tubing.

Also, we have wheel stabilizers again. And we just got a shipment of wheels, so some of the models we've been out of will be available again.

Roller Bearing Headsets

Our roller bearing headsets arrived and I thought you'd like to see photos. BTW, we're calling them roller bearing, rather than needle bearing, because that's technically the correct term.

And here are the new knurled headset spacers. I especially like the black ones with the silver trim. They look like old camera lens extension rings. We have chrome spacers too.

New Stems and Restocked Components

Here is a new VO stem. We're calling it the "Tall-Stack" until we think of a better name. Stack height is 75mm. It offers a really clean look on a modern bike. Angle is 17-degrees, for a level extension, and lengths from 80-110mm are currently available.

Many of you asked for VO stems that fit 31.8mm handlebars. we now have them in both 6-degree and 17-degree versions.

We also have new stem shims: 31.8mm-to-26mm and 31.8mm-to-25.4mm.

A few Items we've been out of are back in stock, including:

VO Half Clips
VO Road Pedals
VO Stem Adapters
All sizes of threadless stems
1" Decaleur Kits
Gran Compe ENE Ciclo Tires

There are several other new items we'll list soon. 400 cases of parts arrived on Friday and it'll take a few days to sort through everything.

New Polyvalent Color?

 
We're about to order a new production run of Polyvalent frames and are thinking of changing the color. The two top choices are dark green or dark brown (top or bottom left on the chart). We're leaning toward brown. But I thought I'd open it up to suggestions. What's the best color for a city bike? The only color we've ruled out is blue, since we already have two other blue frames.

More Shiny Stuff

In our never-ending quest to make our products shinier and shinier we asked our headset factory about doing a second round of polishing on our already polished and anodized Grand Cru headset bodies. Instead, the factory prepared samples that were highly polished then lightly chrome plate. We were amazed; it was like a mirror finish. So we have headsets with a finish like those steel Campy headsets that I used in my youth, but with light weight alloy construction and with sealed bearings. These headsets are also more scratch resistant and have nicer  graphics.

We recieved a case of each size by air freight yesterday. The remainder will arrive by ship sometime next month, so we might run out before the ship docks. We should also be getting some neat knurled headset spacers and our roller-bearing headsets in that shipment.

Chrome Stems

If it seems as if we've been working on fillet-brazed quill stems for years, it's only because we have. The photo at left shows the final prototype for the Grand Cru stem. It will have an alloy wedge and even come with a clamp bolt. As to the price, $75-$95 is a fair guess. We hope to have them this winter.

There will also be  a simpler and less expensive VO fillet-brazed and chrome plated. I'll post details when we have the final prototype. It should be soon; we're very close on the design.

Interestingly, these stems are about the same weight or lighter than a Nitto Technomic, but the quill is a little shorter.

Update: Here is a post I wrote last year about Zen and the Art of Making Stems.

Roller Hanger Recall

The draw bolts on the latest production run of Grand Cru Roller Straddle Wire Hangers do not meet our specifications. They can crack if overtightened. We sent out about 130 of these before spotting the problem.

We've already sent e-mails to everyone who bought them, but in case you didn't get an e-mail I'm posting this. Not all roller hangers are effected, just one recent batch. Those can be sent back for a refund or replacement. Please contact us for more info if you bought roller hangers in the recent past.

An easy check is to see if the bolt sticks to a magnet; if it does it's OK.  Also, the good ones don't have a washer under the nut.

VO Double Crank, Special Deal

 The VO Compact Double cranks are here. But they are not as we specified. You may remember that we made a prototype that was chrome plated aluminum alloy. While it looked great and performed perfectly, most folks preferred a polished alloy finish, as on the triple and polyvalent cranks. Unfortunately, the change in specifications did not reach the factory and we have a shipment of chrome plated doubles.

We've decided to sell these at a big discount. The price was to be $115, but this batch is $65 while they last.

The factory still has many more chrome plated VO crank arms. Those will be assembled with polished alloy rings and priced normally. This winter we will have regular polished arms and rings. Again, we don't know of any problems or issues with the chrome cranks, they are simply not what we wanted. And they do look pretty cool.

Update: All sizes sold out.

VO and Grand Cru Cranks Are Here

The triple looks really nice. The VO Triple Crank is a modern, stiff, cold forged crank set. It has all alloy polished chain rings, 48/36/28. The rings are pinned and ramped for easy shifting. Machined alloy dust caps - not plastic - and nice BB bolts are included. At $125 these are a great deal.

The wide range Polyvalent crank has 46/30 rings and comes with a polished alloy chain ring guard. The 46/30 rings give almost the range of a triple when used with a wide cassette, while the chain ring guard helps keep your pants clean. This is a great crank for city bikes and utility bikes.

The 46t ring is specially designed to shift properly in the middle position. (A regular 46 outer ring won't work because it's spaced for the outer position mounting.) I want to use it with a VO chain guard on my own city bike; that will be a sweet setup.

 

Classic 50.4 BCD cranks, like the TA, Stronglight 49D, and others are still sought after by randonneurs and cyclo-tourists. These cranks offer tremendous versatility (chain rings from 26t to 62t fit). They are also light and have very narrow Q-factors, or tread.

While the new Grand Cru Crank looks like the classics, we have made several important improvements. They are cold forged 7075 aluminum alloy. The rings are thicker so they don't flex as on classic cranks. The BB taper and all threading is common sizes, no need for special tools and BBs. The rings have modern shifting aids so shifting performance is much improved.

The VO double cranks are not yet available

Wheel Stabilizer

I don't usually order accessories or components that I've haven't tried, but we'd received a fair number of e-mails suggesting that we stock wheel stabilizers. Tom has been lobbying for a year to add them to our inventory. What the heck is a wheel stabilizer?

Wheel stabilizers are common on European utility bikes. They are a spring connecting the fork to the down tube. They add a subtle self centering action to the front wheel, making loading and unloading of a bike with a basket, or say....our Porteur rack....much easier. You don't fight the bike while putting stuff in it. The front of the bike stays put. The spring offers some resistance to steering, so it counteracts deflections from hitting potholes and road debris, too.

It's pretty universal - any bike with a down tube of 1-3/8" or smaller can be fitted. It connects to the fork via the brake pivot hole. The hole diameter is made for nutted calipers or a M6 bolt. For recessed mount calipers, minor modification with a drill is necessary. It's rust resistant, includes all the required brackets and hardware, and has a pinch guard to cover the torsion spring. Not bad for $10.

Since we added them to the site a couple of days ago, they've been selling very well. Who would have thought?

Update: We sold out. More are on order, but no ETA yet.

Gran Compe ENE Mini-rack Details

The Gran-Compe ENE racks arrived today. These are much like the Mafac mini-racks and are designed to support a handlebar bag. (More info about the Mafac racks can be found here.) ENE racks mount directly to Gran-Compe 610 and Dia-Compe 750 centerpull brakes. There is no direct attachment to the frame so they can be used on any bike so long as the brakes fit.

They are chrome plated steel and the platform is about 140mm x 70mm. The  upright is about 75mm high. So they are the right size for an average handlebar bag, but too small for anything larger. There are four 5mm light mounts under the platform, two on each side. The rack sits level on most frames. At 160g these have to be among the lightest racks ever made. Cost is $50.

The tag on the rack reads, "Designed only for GC610 & DC 750 brakes". Of course we tried it on several other centerpull brakes and managed to mount it on various Mafac (including Racers and Raids), Weinmann, and older Dia-Compe models. The mounting tangs are 68mm c-t-c, but can be flexed to spread or narrow a little.

On another subject, we just received more Montmarte, Left Bank, and Porteur handlebars. A lot of you have been asking about these, so they'll probably sell fast.

118mm Bottom Brackets

  We just received 118mm Grand Cru bottom brackets. They are available in all thread-types:

• Standard BSA (or ISO)
• French thread
• Italian thread (On sale!)
• Threadless, which fit Swiss and several other odd sizes.

118mm BBs have been a little hard to find, but it's a very common size on older bikes, especially those with classic European cranks. They will also be used with our new 50.4bcd cranks.

BTW, we are overstocked on Italian thread BBs so they are on sale.

All Grand Cru bottom bracket have oversize sealed bearings and boron-steel hollow axles. Both cups are alloy. The quality is first rate. Axle bolts are included. 258gm average weight. JIS taper.

A customer recently pointed out a troubling comment on a competitor's web site. He was speculating that our BBs were simply re-badged versions of some lower-quality BBs he sells. Not only is that untrue, but anyone in the bike biz knows it.

VO 37mm Hammered Fenders

We asked VO customers what width the next model of VO hammered fenders should be, and 37mm was the overwhelming choice. They just arrived. The pattern is a little different from our 45mm hammereds; the indentations are smaller and the there is a smooth band at each side. We think it's a cool look that's a little sportier than the Honjo 35mm that we also stock. We recommend using them with 20-28mm tires, 700c.

New Brakes, Gran Compe 610 CNC

I came back from vacation to find that the new Gran Compe 610 brakes had arrived. The new 610s are super stiff CNC machined centerpulls with 47 to 61mm reach.

I'm really excited about these. Top of the line centerpulls generally have better stopping power than sidepulls, but what is more important is that they tend to have better modulation. That is, the brake pressure is more linear and controllable. Paul Racers have long been the only other high quality centerpulls available and we used to sell them. But at $133 per wheel, or $143 for the high polish version, they are simply too expensive for most. Fortunately the Gran Compe 610 are only $75.

Note that the version we sell have been upgraded with VO alloy cartridge brake shoes and VO pads. This makes adjusting toe-in easy and any Shimano-type pads fit. It was really nice of the folks at Dia Compe to accommodate us in this since they also make their own brake pads.

Another neat thing about these brakes is they fit frames made for either recessed or nutted brake bolts. Two bolt spacers are included to allow them to fit most older frames, as well as modern frames. We are trying to convince Dia Compe to also offer braze-on mounts for custom frames.

The front mini-racks for the 610s are on the way. These are neat little racks just big enough to support a handlebar bag. They just arrived in the US and should clear customs in a week or so.

Vacation Time at VO

Just wanted to let you know that there will be little, if any, blog activity for the next few weeks. Annette and I are leaving for vacation tomorrow. I'm traveling sans laptop, taking only an iPad which I might turn on for a few minutes a day. So please excuse if I don't return e-mails or post or tweet for a while. Info e-mails will still be answered by the staff.

Meanwhile, Tom is visiting VO distributors in Britain and will be soon be heading to Spain for a little well deserved R-and-R.

Kyle is finishing up grad school over the summer, so is only working part time.

And Heidi is taking her 16-year old son to California for a summer-long Olympic sailing clinic; he's been asked to try out for the 2012 US sailing team in Finn class.

But orders will get out promptly as always. Perry is acting general manager and the full warehouse staff, less Heidi, is present.  King Trygve is cleaning up the glitches on the new web site while Kyle attends to final design details. Robert will be building up wheels to test the new hubs and the new VO Raid rims (they are 22mm triple box section rims that look like wider PBP rims).

Hub News

The photo is of our VO freewheel hub. They use high quality Japanese bearings. The spoke holes on the drive side are slotted so broken spokes can be easily replaced with the freewheel in place, but we are still doing strength testing on this feature. We hope to have them for sale early this fall in 126mm and 130mm spacing. 120mm spacing is also possible if there is demand.

The VO flip-flop hub prototypes are also here, but the design is undergoing some cosmetic modifications that may require a bit of new tooling, so no ETA yet.


The pictured quick release is something we're still thinking about. Do you like it?

The VO cassette hub is taking a little more time to develop than we thought. I doubt we'll have them finished before late fall.

I recently mentioned a new dynamo hub design that I thought was revolutionary and might make existing high end dyno hubs obsolete. We have a production-ready sample that we'll be testing over the next few weeks. But I can already tell you that the build quality looks very impressive and, if my calculations are correct, it will cut overall rolling resistance by more than 50% compared to any other (production) dyno hub that I'm aware of, while maintaining the same 3w/6v output. If all goes well we should have them in around 3 months. The cost will be considerably lower than existing high-end dyno hubs. We do want to be clear that this is not technology developed by VO (we're not that smart), but from a small company we ran into almost by accident.  I'm sure that you have questions about them, but those are all the specs we'll reveal for now; sorry.

Grand Cru Crank Update

I know that a lot of you have been waiting for the Grand Cru 50.4bcd cranks. I had thought they would be here by now, but the factory has had some delays in testing the new tooling. Also, factory offices moved to a new location which slowed things down. In any case, the latest estimate is that they will be done about July 25th. We'll have a few hundred shipped by air and the rest by sea. Details on these cranks can be found at this post.

The VO 110bcd cranks should be done a few weeks later. We still don't have a firm ETA on the Grand Cru 110bcd cranks, but they are in production.

We've had some major delays in getting other products here on time because of new packaging. As we sell to more and more shops all over the world we find we need more refined retail packaging. And having those boxes and tags and backing cards made has been a real bottleneck. I would really prefer to have minimal packaging, just a poly bag and header card, but shops displaying VO products are asking for packaging that's more like Campy's and Shimano's.

I do apologize for being out of so many items. The super busy spring season really cleaned us out and we've once again seen growth beyond what I'd anticipated and planned for. The good news is that we should have two containers of products, including several new items, sailing in July.