Scott's Gravel-Centric Pass Hunter with Shimano GRX

By Scott

If you haven't yet heard, Shimano recently released a new "gravel" groupset composed of very reasonable gearing, hydraulic brakes, and an 11sp drivetrain. Being the luddite of the group, I felt that it was my job to try out this new group on the latest Pass Hunter prototype frame and see what the hype was all about.

Before we start going over the bike, lets just start with with what I'm used to, build wise, on a bike.
9 speed friction, canti brakes and 26" tires have been my base line for years. As part of the Brain Trust here, I do have input on new frames/bikes and I try to stay open to the new ideas that come up. So when the new frames arrived with new fangled things like thru axles and flat mount brakes, I knew I had to go outside my comfort zone with the testing equipment.

I used our Daija Far Bars as the centre point of the cockpit. My frame was built up as a gravel-centric one, so the Far Bars would be the best of ours for that sort of riding.

I went with a very 2019 set up - 24 spoke GRX wheels, 11 speed brifter shifting and hydraulic braking. Compared to what I normally ride, it was literally going over to the dark side of the cycling universe. The large hoods of the GRX brifters take a little getting used to, but the feel of them is nice so far. The feel of the brakes is really nice. I think the steep descents of Western Montgomery County will be where I'll notice any difference from the mechanical disc brakes or cantilever brakes.

Part of the prototype process is that we have to try parts that we figure customers will put on the frames. This means testing out different brakes, cranks, routing, and such to ensure that our fitment calculations are correct. In the case of my frame, we used the GRX brakes and cranks to ensure they would fit fine.

We also test out items we make, like fenders, to ensure that our computation of clearances is correct for the tires that we design the frame around. 

Igor is taking this bike up to JP Weigle's French Fender Day in CT this weekend (check out these posts from 2018 and 2017), so if you're there, say hi and let us know what you think. I'm looking forward to really putting this bike through its paces and seeing how 2019 stacks up against 2001.

You can check out the complete build list here: https://velo-orange.com/pages/pass-hunter-build-list-gravel-centric-with-shimano-grx

Chip's Crazy Bar'd 27.5+ Piolet

by Igor

Be it snow, darkness, rough terrain, or wind, Chip of WhatBars was looking for a Piolet ready to take on anything that comes up against it. Here's what we came up with!

The original idea was a bit of a spin-off from the build we did for Erick of Bicycle Nomad. Chip loved the tan sidewalls, Noir Crazy Bars with multiple hand positions, 1x drivetrain, and Tall Stack Stem, and wanted to expand on it with a few bits of modernity.

The wheels are custom built using WTB i35 rims laced to our Grand Cru Rear Hub and the front is laced to a Shimano Alfine in anodized silver. All double butted, stainless steel spokes. It's a solid wheelset that is ready to stand up to the Canadian Winter and rough fire-roads. He will be wiring up the head and taillight himself.

The MTB-rated Crazy Bars pair exceptionally well with the Tall Stack Stem and create quite the nice silhouette.

Rustines Bar Plugs match the tires pretty well!

Components are SRAM's NX 11sp series. 32T chainring paired with a wide-range 11-42 cassette.

Stopping is handled by our Grand Cru Levers pulling TRP Spyke Brakes with 180mm rotors. We considered hydraulic, but opted to go mechanical because of some of the extreme low temps his area hits. The Spyke caliper is long pull as opposed to its short-pull sister, the Spyre. We really like the dual-sided braking of the TRP offerings.

An enormous shout-out to Tommy of Cutlass Velo in Baltimore for the quick and super build! If you're looking for a premium frameset or wheelbuild from the ground up, he's your man.

Check out the complete build list here: https://velo-orange.com/pages/piolet-build-list-chips-crazy-bard-27-5

First Look at Pass Hunter Prototypes

The beginning of this week was a super colorful one! We were greeted with a shipment of Pass Hunter prototypes in a variety of colors - two of them will make it into the production run and the rest may make it onto future non-PH frames. Before we dive into these particular frames let's review on what Pass Hunting is and what makes a Pass Hunter.

A vintage Toei Pass Hunter

Pass Hunting is a French and Japanese sport of collecting mountain passes you've ridden over. The only rule is that the pass must be marked by a sign or on a registered map. Do 100 and you get a pin and some serious bragging rights. You can check out the rules here: https://www.centcols.org/regle_du_jeu/rules_of_the_game.htm

While you can ride any bike to check that next pass off your list, a traditional Pass Hunter-style bike is lightweight, climbs with ease, and can carry a day's worth of gear and food to ride out and back.

Our newest iteration of the Pass Hunter takes a leap and a half into the world of modern standards: flat mount disc brakes, thru-axles, tapered headtube, and even carbon fork compatibility on medium and larger sizes. So let's go one-by-one into each of these features.

Sparkle Blue

Disc brakes aren't new for us, but flat mount compatibility ( the new road standard) is.

I've used thru-axles on other bikes and really enjoy the simplicity and consistency of hub and rotor positioning. Here's a primer on how thru-axles work: Insert hub into dropouts, insert axle into non-driveside dropout, thru (see what I did there?) the hub, thread into the driveside dropout, and tighten. The rear uses 12 x 142mm spacing and the front uses 12 x 100mm. 12 refers to the interior diameter of the dropout and 142 and 100mm refers to the spacing. Both of these are the industry standard with a plethora of hub options in style and price range. Keep an eye out on the blog for updates to our disc offerings! We're getting the first prototypes within a couple weeks. Teaser: replaceable endcaps, custom hub shell, and shiny.

The head tube uses a tapered design for greater front-end stiffness while climbing and carbon fork compatibility. The upper is 1 1/8" and the lower is 1 1/2". Both use external cups.

If you can't tell, we've been really into wishbone seatstays (Neutrino and Piolet). While the tooling and manufacturing process is complex, the result is a rear end that is elegant, lightweight, and strong.

The fork has rando-rack hourglass braze-ons, fender mounts, and 3 bolt mounts for our Mojave Cage and other cargo cages.

Clearances are generous and great for chipseal, gravel, loose limestone, pavé, and of course, asphalt: Medium, Large, X-Large clear 650x47 with fenders), and Small and X-Small clears 26"x48mm with fenders. If you're part of a go-fast crew that uses carbon fiber road wheels, then they fit 700x28 with fenders and 650bx32 with fenders, respectively.

Pistachio Ice Cream

We've mocked things up already to test clearances, alignment, and compatibility and everything is pretty on point. Destructive testing has already been completed and components are trickling in to thrash them around in the real world. We'll have one or maybe even two complete builds at this year's Philly Bike Expo, so you can touch and prod them in real life. That is, once we decide on the two production colors...

Brick Red

Autumnal Action Arriving

By Scott

As August rolls into September, the heat and humidity is finally breaking (after a spring/summer with greater then 51 days over 90 deg) and fall can be seen gently approaching on the horizon. Kids are back in school/or about to go back to school and for many people, a "new" year is starting. In our end of the bike world, I find that fall is kind of a new start as well. We've traditionally brought out new frames in the fall and this year will be no exception.

In a month or so, we'll have the Neutrino Mini Velos arriving. We're so honored that there has been so many folks who grabbed onto the Mini Velo concept and have already pre ordered one. We've had folks get in touch with us with technical questions and we can't wait to see how some of these builds come out. To get your Neutrino fix, check out these amazing builds from two of our partners: Blue Lug and Road Runner Bags:

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=9108763%40N08&view_all=1&text=neutrino

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=9108763%40N08&view_all=1&text=neutrino

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Brad Adams (@bagsnbikes) on Jul 30, 2019 at 8:25am PDT

The annual Coffeeneuring challenge should be coming up later in September. I always love a coffee or tea and a bike ride, so I love this combination and the challenge is a good excuse to try a new coffee shop.

The Philly Bike Expo is only 10 weeks away (November 2nd and 3rd). We've been working on a new booth display/set up for this show and we're really excited about it. We'll have our largest booth ever at PBE and we should have a new frame to show off as well! We'll tease photos and details about it as we get closer to the show.

We're discontinuing the Campeur frameset. Simply put, the demand for another production isn't there anymore. The Polyvalents have been successful and they fill the same space for use. The sizes we have left are currently on sale so if you've been on the fence, this should put you over.

We'll still provide in-house, custom build options while frame supplies last.

Lastly, we'll be closed Monday September 2nd for Labor Day (Labour Day in Canada). If you need your order to go out this week, place it before 3pm EDT on August 30th. We'll be back in the office on Tuesday at 9am. We hope everyone can get out and enjoy a long weekend and some wonderful weather.

Keith Barr Randonneur

by Igor

I first met Keith Barr at Cutlass Velo's open house a few months back. He brought this gorgeous, raw randonneur he had been working on. Fully integrated racks, fenders, all of the braze-ons, and lots of custom machined pieces. Last week I had stopped by Cutlass once again to bother Tommy and lo' and behold, the randonneur was in the stand getting buttoned up for D2R2. The warm lighting and beautiful wood tones of the historic, converted mansion really exemplified Bryan Myer's (Fresh Frame) copper paint and oodles of silver components.

From Keith:

"Amelia’s travel bike was functionally built as a randonneuring machine that can accommodate custom carriers front and rear for occasional fully loaded touring. Built from Columbus, KVA, Reynolds, and Vari-Wall, the tubing selections were based on a combination function, aesthetic, and nostalgia. Though strong, the rider’s challenges with a structural knee issue prescribed a few aspects of the front end. The bike needed to climb well at low speeds under load with zero pedal overlap. The low trail (35mm) helps to keep the fender away from toes and work with the rider on ascents. From an aesthetic perspective, I love some of the old stamped Prugnat lugs, though the function of the old seat lugs are pretty lacking, so I added a proper binder, a few fillets, and a new point to these S4s. To make things a little cleaner in the rear, the S&S couplers presented the unique opportunity to easily thread the rear brake cable through the seat tube. I really had fun with the build, so there are a number of less than necessary embellishments throughout. Bryan Myers at Fresh Frame set it off with some pretty amazing paint. Cutlass Velo in Baltimore built up some badass wheels with Velocity Atlas hoops, White Industries T11, and SON Delux SL hubs. The Velo Orange Grand Cru Stem with Brass Bell really fit well with the feel of this bike, and I love the VO Retro Cages."

Polished, stainless wraparounds, filled lug windows, and filed lugwork make the seat cluster a real beauty.

 The rear brake is routed internally through the top tube and pierces the seat tube. Love the cable stop.

More filled windows around the dropouts.

Keith opted for our Grand Cru Leather Handlebar Tape.

While Keith is planning on making a stem, he opted for our Grand Cru Quill Stem and a Brass Temple Bell until his custom one is completed.

Double Retro Water Bottle Cages.

The original TA crankset hardware wasn't great, even new. So he swapped it out for our 50.4 Hardware. It all works perfectly with his 11 speed Campagnolo Potenza group.

Keith made a whole touring rack set, but opted for a simple handlebar bag for the ride.

Dave of Waxwing Bags made the classic handlebar bag.

All in all it's a fantastically capable and beautiful ride. Happy riding!