Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

I'm all for tinkering - my question was more about whether using a much shorter stem could be used to help compensate for a lot of weight on the front wheel

It won't, the trail still remain the same.

Shortening the stem length is solving a different problem. One that isn't a problem and that doesn't need solving.

I was trying to think of some off the peg frames that are front load biased.
I could only think of these.
Can anyone add to the list?

Velo Orange - Polyvalent
Velo Orange - Camargue
Soma - Grand Randoneur

the VO campeur, velo routier and rawland

@amey wanted to see my 650b hacked bike.

Here it is taking a rest on funky old bench whilst I ate a 'nana and worked out which direction the rain was heading.

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That fat tyres must've slowed you down considerably.

I'm running them at 60/70 psi whilst the roads are wet and shitty. I do loose a bit of speed on good surfaces with that but not a lot.

Thanks dude

Very nice, I'd love something like this for the winter

Blackie:
(check out there outlet here http://finest-limited-cycles.com/outlet/ )

If you need/want a mount for your front light and don't want to spend the $ on a Paul Comp Gino.

These do something similar if you've not got a spare boss (but do have a qr front wheel).

Is having a front light at the wheel level a good idea? seems like its too low for cars without having them too high to see the road. i could be wrong if anyone has experience.

I have one mid fork level pointing the way home, and a flashing one on the bars so I can be seen. The wheel, fork does cast a bit of shadow to the nearside but not too bad. A light with good bright beam and decent light spread, cateye 300 works fine for me.

German dynamo lights are designed to be fitted at fork crow level, so I guess they shouldn't be much lower than that? I did that little hack on the (Straggler) crown mount, we'll see tomorrow.

Closer to eye height is better for your main light. They're alright for a 2nd light. If you put a strong light on there the angle will dazzle and carry long shadows and scare small children.

If your main light is on your dropbars it can get obscured at certain angles by your hoods+hands. A light on the fork crown or leg can be seen from those angles through the wheel.

I had mine usually at mid length, the idea is to spread the beam more, and I can make out imperfections on the road, quite useful for spotting potholes.

Course this work best with decent light that's bright enough to look like a motorised vehicle.

Would 'close to eye height' would mean little or no shadow detail at the road surface and a consequential loss of depth perception?

I know coal mining and cycling are different, but helmet mounted lamps (close to eye height) seemed to coincide with tripping over obstacles and tool/working errors, whereas a hand held lamp (waist height when walking, held by an apprentice for other work) seemed to allow better judgement of distance and uneven ground.

Worked in the dark too much, tend not to cycle at night by choice...

As Ed says, some shadow can be helpful.

Note 'closer' not 'close'.

Read fail on my part...

Ooooooo build thread? Any more pictures?

On that 650B Concorde

I hit a rich seam of functional on flickr.....