14 July, 2009

Also, we an have almost firm deliver date on the 650b Polyvalent frames. They are about 90 days out. I will get additional confirmation and commitment soon and then we can accept pre-orders. As I wrote earlier:

The main differences from the photo are that the color will be dark gray and there will be an extended head tube. It will be available in four sizes initally, 51 x 54cm, 54 x 56cm, 57 x 59cm, and 60 x 61cm. Remember that it's designed for city bars so the top tube is longer than on a rando frame. We'll add more sizes on the next run.

The introductory price for the frame and fork will be $400, plus shipping. That price will go up on subsequent production runs.

I still don't understand a 73-degree seat tube angle on a city bike meant for high bars -- it seems like a shallower seat tube angle (maybe even as shallow as 70 degrees or so) would "pivot" the rider around the bottom bracket and serve two useful purposes: (1) put the rider in a more powerful position; (2) allow the rider to put a toe down from a properly positioned saddle. I don't see the downside, so I wonder what I'm missing?

Chris, what's the chance that you'll sell the Poly as both a frameset and as a semi-complete bike via a recommended bomponent kit? Having a pre-picked kit that would allow people interested in this type of bike to build up a bike for, say, under a grand (which I would think would be very achievable), would make this a no-brainer.

Chris, my memory is failing - did you at one point say you were looking at a mixte version of this bike or am I badly confused? I think this frame looks beautiful and I think it will still look great in the gray you have planned. I'm just curious about a mixte version of the same. Thanks

The Mixte is lugged and used different geometry. The pre-production prototypes are now being built. I'll post more info as soon as they arrive. I wouldn't expect the frames to be available until this winter.

"Dutch or British" frames doesn't really mean anything. Why is it you always have to drag British bicycles into this? Couldn't you be more specific and say that yours in not a Roadster frame, which is a specific bicycle and not typical of "British bicycles."

For some idiotic reason a certain model of Raleigh Lenton and the generic "British roadster" are believed to be typical of British bicycles. There is no need to re-write history to make a point about frame geometry.

Nor is the roadster typical of european bicycles as is often the claim made by the bloggers and fashionistas who promote inappropriately heavy and wheel floppy dutch roadsters as the ideal transportation.

It would be a lot better to just come out and say that your bicycles are not slack roadsters because you've put some thought into their design as opposed to peddling 5olb fashion accesory dutch bicycles to people who don't know anything about bicycles.

Anon 5:47: A 50 lb. Dutch bicycle may not be a bike you like (or I for that matter). It is, nevertheless, a bike. If someone who owns one knows about it, that someone does, in fact know about bikes. Perhaps not much about bikes you and I like. But certainly about the bike that person likes.

Re: The vitriolic comments regarding the "Roadster" style bicycle -1. The wheel flop you describe is easily rectified by choosing the proper tyre width to offer the appropriate amount of "pneumatic trial". You don't need to be a lawyer to understand the concept of pneumatical trial, but I think it helps.

2. In my own testing I found that the standard diameter gas-pipe tubing, slack angles, and long wheelbase gave a most enjoyable "planning" effect, and I can easily outclimb any of the sub-18lb. racing bikes in my stable. I'm not sure if they indeed did "plan" on this effect, but nonetheless it is so clearly there, and not just in my head.

As pictured, the Polyvalent looks like it has a 3-speed rear hub. That makes a lot of sense for a city bike but there seem to be very few 36-hole 650B rims out there (other than a few old stock Velocity Dyads) and all internal-gear hubs from Sturmey-Archer and SRAM have 36 holes unless I am mistaken. The Alfine comes in a 32-hole version but it is 8-speed and quite expensive.

There are no pre-built 650B internal-gear wheels out there to my knowledge.

Will you be offering a pre-built 650B S-A 3-speed wheel on either a VO rim or a new run from some other supplier?

Chris: Starting Velo Orange makes you something of a revolutionary in a bike world still dominated by racing wannabes and WWF-inspired graphics.

Why not have a pass hunter, city bike and touring bike called liberte, egalite and fraternite respectively? And why not sell bikes or parts named for Robespierre, Danton and Napoleon.Or something named Charenton?

OK, I was being drole. On a more serious note, I want that red, white (OK, it's silver) and blue bottom bracket. It will go perfectly with one of those old Zefal Competition pumps. Now, as to why anyone would want to match a pump to a bottom bracket...je ne sais.

I'm really interested in this bike, what are the frame dimensions? You say the frame is based on "constructeur frames" can you be more specific? Running a search on Google doesn't turn up much on constructeur frames. Is this pretty much a variant on French porteur bikes or is it specifically based on a frame by Rene Herse or some other manufacturer? Can you give a little more detail on how you came up with the geometry?