fenders | Ocean Air Cycles - Click to Shop

Fenders On the Roadeo

There was a break in the weather we have been having on the coast, fog and mist, but rain is coming. Yesterday I hit the LBS and they had 45m wide Planet Bike fenders that would fit my Roadeo, kind of a shocker that anybody sells fenders here in SoCal, let alone wide ones. I wanted to get these to fit with my 33.333 wide Jack Brown tires, but that was not going to happen so I relented and swapped the 29mm Roughy Toughy tires onto the bike.

These went on super easy compared to both SKS and metal fenders I have put on in the past. The only modification required was bending the mounting tab in the front to clear the headset and filing the slot for the brake bridge a little deeper to improve tire clearance.

The limiting factors for clearance on this bike are the brake selection and the placement of the rear brake bridge. I went with the Shimano 57mm reach calipers for the improved stopping power of other brakes at this price point. I would love to have a set of the new Paul Racer M brakes, but they are out of budget for this year. That being said, I was still able to get a 45mm fender into the caliper with minimal fender squeeze. There is plenty of room for the 29mm tires. The shape of the brake caliper below the mounting bolt is where the space constraints start. The Shimano caliper is very meaty in this area and eats up almost 4mm of space. When this combines with the fixed arc of a plastic fender you lose tire clearance quick.

End of the story, they work and I will be out in the weather next week. Enjoying the sunshine for a day, and hoping it will last

Rack Mount for Dinotte 140L Tail Light

While I have loved my DiNotte 140L tail light for a few years now it has been a mixed relationship due to the mounting. If you are not familiar with these lights they are extremely bright AA powered LED lights with a very simple O-ring mounting system. While elegantly simple the mounting requires attachment to a round tube, i.e. handlebars, seat post or frame tubes. Not so easy when you have an assortment of racks and bags that can block the light from behind defeating the whole purpose. I have a Old Man Mountain "Cold Springs" rack on the back of my Rawland. This rack combined with my saddle bag has always left me a bit challenged with mounting solutions that leave the light visible, yet allowing for a secure place to mount the battery pack and panniers.

Then I had my eureka moment while modeling ideas with a short piece of scrap dowel. I will expand on my love of dowels and wood for prototyping in a future post. This time I only needed a short piece less than 2 inches long, drilled a hole through the center, and filed some grooves in the top side for O-ring retention. I ran a long M5 bolt through the mounting track on the rack and bolted the mount between the rack and wheel.

I used the light this week in the rain on multiple rides, and it worked fantastically. The cord is the perfect length to put the battery pack into the side pocket of the carradice bag, and everything has stayed in place.

This light when mounted well will not blind approaching motorists but they will have little excuse to not see you. I have found that even on the lower powered non-blinking settings cars still give far wider birth when passing then with any other tail light in my collection. Hopefully this or a similar solution can be adapted to help you better mount your own tail light far a safer night ride.

Bikes in the Garage – Rawland dSogn

My Rawland dSogn has been one of the best value bikes I have ever put together. I was able to pick up the frame and fork as a blem in the fall of 2009 and build it up almost completely from components I had in the garage, keeping the utility to out-of-pocket cost ratio very high. These were designed to be run as 650b mountain bikes with a heavy nod to the bridgestone Bridgestone XO-1. Many of the bikes designed and sold by bridgestone during the 90’s were intended to be as versatile as possible and not just a “mountain bike “or “road bike”. The sogn’s design intent was to be everything from your dirt road touring to daily commuter. While designed for 650b x 55mm tires, the disc brakes allowed me to easily build mine up as a 700c x 42mm and still have room for fenders when things get wet. The rest of the build settled into the following after a few changes:

Handle bar: Nitto RM013 Riv Dirt Drop
Levers: Shimano Tigra
Shifters: Shimano Bar end / Suntour Barcon NOS
Cables/Housing: Jagwire Ripcord
Stem: Velo Orange
Tape: Soma Thick and Zesty
Bell: Crane Brass (mounted to drilled and tapped spacer)
Headset: Chris King Sotto Voce
Brakes: Avid BB7 Disc Road
Seatpost: Salsa Shaft
Saddle: Brooks B-17
Bottom Bracket: Shimano cartridge
Crankset: Shimano Shimano LX vintage 94bcd
Pedals: Sakae Low Fats (I have wide Feet)
Tires: Jack Brown Green – Panaracer FireCross – Schwalbe Marathon Extreme
Rims: Velocity Dyad 40h
Hubs: Whit industries M16
Bags: Carradice Nelson longflap and Carradice Hobo bag (Rivendell Prototype)
Racks: Old Man Mountain Sherpa rear and Bruce Gordon front

I have used this bike as my weekend produce hauler, after work mountain bike, 200K ride, mixed terrain bomber, commuter and rain bike. While the ride is not nearly as lively as the Roadeo, it is still far better than either the Surly Cross Check or the Haro Mary that this bike replaced. The steel frame is comfortable for long days in the saddle, especially with loads, and does not leave me feeling beat up.

While not my “One” bike, this one has come close, and there are only a few tweaks I would make if it were ever to be replaced. I would not say it is perfect, but when cost is factored in, as well as level of expectation for an off the shelf production bike it is an excellet value.

Wet Sunday Surf Check

I ended up putting the fenders back on the Rawland last night. 3 days in a row of wet misty mornings, with a week more due to come. Yesterday saw th MS ride come through town and I was daydreaming of being a fender salesman as hundreds went by with wet grimy stripes up their backs. Oh to spread the fender gospel, even here in sunny California