Show off our bikes! (page 4 of 9)

Mine ready for the 11th!

How much did your panniers cost?

Mine ready for the 11th!

How much did your panniers cost you?

A little over 200 € for the whole set (saddle 55 €, handlebar 75 €, frame 25 € and 35 €, stem 25 €)

Let me introduce you to the MBK Greenfield T204DF—it's not a bike, it's a tank! A real war machine! 21 speeds! Actually, it's my partner's bike that I just pulled out of the basement while I wait to take my Giant TCR to the repair shop. I paid 50 quid at Mondovélo, raised the saddle a bit, added a few panniers, pumped up the tires, and it even has a kickstand—it's awesome!

My bike ready to go ... after lockdown! It's a Decathlon mountain bike from 1989!! with front and rear racks added, plus two MSX panniers from a German brand.

Mine’s a Histoire bike, the big touring model. I got it for Christmas and so far I’ve just been using it as my commuter bike. I’ve decked it out with Brooks and Berthoud leather accessories, a platform rack, and a few other bits that give it a vintage look! Starting in August, the plan is a four-month tour de France... though given the circumstances, I might end up sticking to my region for now. ^^

Hello

Great bike

Where did you find your front rack with a platform?

Thanks and have a great weekend

Hello

Great bike

Where did you find your front rack with a platform?

Thanks and have a good weekend

Hi, It's a Tubus "Grand Expedition"—you can find it here: https://www.cyclo-randonnee.fr/porte-bagages-tubus-144/porte-bagages-avant-tubus-grand-expedition-front-2481.html

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Thanks, the front rack and some of the accessories were ordered from Cyclo Randonnée

For platform racks, you need to be careful because I realized something: they significantly reduce the fork's flexibility, and you feel the vibrations much more. This is due to the rack's attachment, which is fixed to the fork legs but also has a brace secured at the top of those same legs, locking the fork's flexibility. It's something to consider, in my opinion

Hi David,

I suggest you attach your rear rack to the fork arms rather than the top mount (JDD), as shown in your edited photo below.



If there are no eyelets, you can improvise with zip ties, like I did to install the front rack (Blackburn Outpost Front) on my wife’s bike with a suspension fork (next 3 photos).



Anyway, you’ve got a great bike, and I hope you enjoy many long and beautiful rides with it.

Hello

Thanks, seems interesting 😊

have a nice Sunday

For telescopic forks, since they're structurally designed to be very rigid (stanchion inside the fork leg), attaching a mudguard to a low point plus a high point or attaching it elsewhere won't make any difference. For non-telescopic forks, the fork's flexion is less than the compression of soft tires. To achieve flexibility or softness, it's better to fit soft tires inflated to the correct pressure rather than fitting super-rigid, highly inflated tires and looking for deformation in the fork or frame. This was actually measured here.

Anyway, comfort and the absence of pain on a long ride have little to do with the bike's flexibility or softness. What matters are the bike's geometry and adjustments based on the cyclist to ensure a good fit. Some people complain about back, arm, or hand pain, yet tick all the boxes usually associated with comfort—steel frame, leather saddle, wide tires—but have a bike that's too big or a poorly adjusted position.

Comfort and the absence of pain on a long journey have little to do with the flexibility or softness of the bike—it's the bike's geometry and adjustments based on the cyclist that matter

yes, with one small caveat: stiffness *can* still become an issue on unpaved roads. That said, I can confirm that personally, I’m more comfortable on my non-suspended bike with a custom frame than I was on my old hybrid and full-suspension MTBs with frames that were just a bit too long for me. That’s the whole point of custom frames for cyclists—especially for those of us with body types that don’t fit the average mold—who are planning long-distance trips.

My ride.

Rando-Cycles, designed and assembled in 2012. Over 70,000 km in travel mode. A tank that goes anywhere, no serious breakdowns. 18 kg empty. Steel frame. Hand-built wheels, replaced 3 times. Rear rack: Tubus, front rack: Surly. Rigid fork. Brooks or Berthoud saddle. Ortlieb panniers—not the best model, but chosen for their low-key color. Classic Shimano drivetrain. Indestructible Campagnolo pedals.

The ultimate luxury for our bikes: custom frame and Rohloff hub. Downside—they’re heavy: 15 to 16 kg. On the plus side, I swapped the V-brakes for hydraulic disc brakes—absolute bliss on descents with a loaded bike.

What's the advantage of this hub?

Some people criticize it for being expensive, but I only see advantages: a chain that wears out slowly because it's single-speed front and back, the rear sprocket is even reversible; gear shifting while stationary with the twist grip, 14 continuous gears, and you can shift up or down multiple gears at once. The only small drawback (if you can call it that) is that you need to change the oil like a gearbox roughly every 5,000 km. It's easy to do; I've done it on the side of the road once—the equipment needed is lightweight: a syringe and two small 20 ml bottles, one for flushing and one for new oil. My partner found it amazing compared to derailleur shifting. On our bikes, it's installed as standard with special rear dropouts, but you can fit it on a bike with a standard rear dropout. With 26-inch wheels, it's best to use rims designed for it to avoid issues with the angle of the spoke heads, which could otherwise cause spoke breakage. Another advantage is that the rear stays are symmetrical on our custom-made bikes, and all the spokes are identical. There must be a post on the forum about Rohloff hubs or others comparing them to derailleur gear shifting.

Here’s "MAVAEL", our tandem and its trusty trailer! Aluminum frame, Hope 200 mm disc brakes; with both of us on the scale, it’s 180 kg including all our luggage. For the rear, we’ve got a "Halo SAS" downhill wheel—pretty sturdy, but a bit heavy! It’s got Marathon tires. For our rides the rest of the year, we’ve got another tandem, a "LOOK A2", with 700c wheels—don’t worry, it’s much lighter!!

Hi there, farrhad tx 400 ready to go 😛 well, we'll see

Comfort and the absence of pain on a long journey have little to do with the flexibility or softness of the bike—it's the bike's geometry and adjustments based on the cyclist that matter

yes, with one small caveat: stiffness can still become an issue on unpaved roads. With that said, I can confirm that personally, I’m more comfortable on my non-suspended bike with a custom frame than I was on my former hybrid and full-suspension MTBs, which had frames that were a bit too long for me. That’s the whole advantage of custom frames for cyclists—especially for women cyclists—who have body types that don’t fit the average mold and are planning long-distance trips.

I have the same problem as you, Monique—my legs are too long, or my torso’s too short, take your pick! That means on most off-the-shelf frames, I end up with either the right seat tube size but a top tube that’s too long, or the opposite. I can tweak the stem and saddle setback, but it’s never perfect. So in the end, I contacted Fabien Bonnet in Grenoble to make me a custom frame. It was supposed to be ready by mid-April, but with this pandemic, the tubes and parts are taking forever to arrive. That said, since I can’t ride anyway...