Thanks for these additional photos; some of the details I missed before are quite striking -- the dropouts, for example. I wish I'd thought of the SON hub-light connection system for my Matthews.
I see the hangar. My "Ls" are mounted considerably higher, but this is valuable primarily for a fixed drivetrain, which has to derailleur to hold the chain off the ground. But the Matthews (9-sp) has the same thing anyway. On Sun, Aug 7, 2016 at 12:22 PM, René Sterental <orthie...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > Here's a small update on the rear fender line adjustment, as well as the > tubing & geometry specs. Also added some more photos with additional > details: > > @Patrick, I took a couple of photos of the chain hanger on the inside of > the right rear seat stay so you could see it. > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/orthie251/28752232741/in/ > album-72157672057814225/ - scroll to the right for the new photos. > > Added photos from the bottom bracket shell with its integrated cable > guides that I didn't notice until last night, the details of the front and > rear dropouts, which I think are just gorgeous, and the fix I did to adjust > the rear fender line. > > This bike came with Wabi-Sabi... whether on purpose or not. As you all > know, getting the fender lines to be perfect is quite time consuming, and > when on top of that you have to fabricate a rack that has to match the > exact curvature of the fender, it gets even trickier. You can see from one > of the photos I posted yesterday that the rear of the rear fender angled > away from the wheel, and since the wheel has the tan sidewall, it became > very noticeable when I took the photos. On first inspection it wasn't > noticeable at all, especially since the fender line seems to change all the > time depending on the angle you are looking at the bike; only when looking > at the rear wheel head on, aligned with the rear hub, did it become > obvious. So I had to do something about it, which also meant that I would > add my little "personalization" to the build. 99.9% Steve Rex + 0.1% René! > > I spent all afternoon thinking about it, what could I do, what options > were there, and came up with the following two options: > - Remove the bolts that attach the fender to the rack, adjust the > curvature of the fender per Jan's instructions, and see how far off the > fender is from the rack; hopefully, the distance can be addressed by adding > some washers, more on the rear rack stay and less on the front rack stay, > so the fender can be attached again but this time holds the correct fender > line. I proceeded to do that and took some photos to send Steve to discuss. > - The second option I came up with was to adjust the fender line as above, > and then have Steve drill a new hole on the bottom plate of the rack where > it attaches to the top of the rear dropout. I figured that this would allow > the rack to pivot around the seat stay braze-ons and though tricky, would > allow it to adapt to the fender line. > > I called Steve to discuss these solutions, after telling him that this was > just me trying to improve an aesthetic element, and that put in perspective > of the whole bike, it was a super minor detail, but at the same time, with > such a work of art, I wanted the fender line to be OK. He quickly dismissed > my second option, stating that I had overlooked the fact that rotating the > rear rack downwards would tilt the horizontal bag stays down, which would > be worse aesthetically. I had totally overlooked that detail and > immediately agreed. He approved my plan to add spacers to the rack stays, > and told me that once I had made the adjustment and had the thickness > needed, he would make me a couple of custom extensions so it would be > smooth and match the rack. I loved that idea! > > So, this morning I proceeded to do that, and found that I could get the > fender line corrected by using the valve locknuts and a thicker leather > washer I had bought some time ago, whereas the front rack stay just needed > a thin leather washer with the valve locknut. This is a perfect solution, > and next week I'll call Steve so he can fabricate the custom > washers/extensions so it will look even nicer. > > While I was on the phone with Steve, I also asked him about the tubing he > used. He said all the tubes are True Temper and gave me the following > specs, which I did my best to capture accurately: > - Top Tube: .9-.6-.9 - 28.6mm > - Down Tube: .9-.6-.9 - 31.8mm > - Seat Tube: .9-.6 (the BB lug doesn't require the tube to be thicker on > that section) - 28.6mm > - Chain Stays: Round-oval-round - .8 > - Seat Stays: .7 - 16mm > - Fork: Kaisei "Toei Special" Fork Blades sold by Compass, I believe. > > This means that the frame is more like my Atlantis than my Homer, at least > in terms of tubing thickness. Since I'm not planning to load it as much as > I'd load the Atlantis, I guess I'll have to compare it to both the Homer > and the Atlantis once I ride it. And I still have plenty of weight to > lose... > > Here are the geometry specs to fine tune the frame for my fit: > > - Head tube angle: 72 deg. > - Seat tube angle: 71.5 deg. > - Seat tube length: 60cm C-C > - Top tube true horizontal length: 58.6cm > - Top tube inclination: 2 deg > - Head tube length: 20.8cm > - Seat stay length: 55cm > - Chain stay length: 46cm > - BB drop: 67mm > - Fork Rake: 70mm > - Fork Trail: 35mm > - Stand-over height: 84.9 (per spec, I haven't measured it with the > Compass Babyshoe Pass tires yet) > > I'm glad you've enjoyed the report and the photos! > > René > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. 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