57 Sunflower Porteur

This past week I built up a 57cm Sunflower Rambler as a Portuer.  What is commonly referred to as a “city bike” these days, the Porteur has deep roots as a French newspaper delivery bike.  Optimized for getting stacks of newspapers out to the stands around Paris, the Porteur is optimized for speed and all day comfort in the urban environment, yet still able to handle well with exceptional front loads, i.e. a stack of newspapers.  THis translates into an excellent bike for most people who carry a varying load throughout the day, have a stop and go radius under 10 miles and prefer the comfort and added visibility of an upright position, think commuter.

This build has been well received on our social media channels with requests for more info on some of the details.  The build was a mix of price points, focused on a safe and transportational ride that will see daily use in Santa Clarita as well as longer weekend explorations.  Pictures tell the rest of the story…

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Rambler Fork Progress

Pictures hit my inbox this morning of the forks in progress, thank you David.

Things are starting to build speed and momentum as we move through the prototyping.  The braze-ons and  main frame fabrication should be through tack up this week.  I will be in Portland towards the end of the week for inspection, and to help work out any bugs so that we can hit this with one pass on the samples.

I am looking forward to the trip in many ways.  I will be meting many of the people face to face who have only been email and phone calls, I get to see “my” designs in progress and it will be my first of many trips to Portland in the coming years.

You may have also noted the not so subtle shift in the name from Masu to Rambler, there is a bit of final work on the issue, but it looks to be the way things are heading as we close in on the final product.