Current Projects chat and miscellany

Reply from Omnium:

Thanks for your email. I understand your frustration, as our details aren't as precise as they could be.

We have successfully mounted a 40c gravelking and a plastic mudguard in the fork. You're probably experiencing clearance issues due to the fact that metal guards are often wider than plastic because of the curl on the inside edge.

Regarding the track crankset spacing issue, we have specified the q-factor in the description, implying that track cranksets wont clear the chainstays. Primato's run at 129 which is super narrow, and Sram Omnium track cranks at 145.

We've already decided that the next batch of frames will have crimped chainstays for better chainring and spider clearance.
Regardless, we'll be sure to update the text to something more straightforward. Thanks again, and good luck with your build.

To be fair, there is a reference to q-factor on the webpage. I am not entirely sure it was there when I ordered, but if it was I may have discounted as referring to the q-factor of the cranks that came with the full build.

I have responded to the above email. In short:

1. I pointed out that I had to squish the Velo Orange mudguards to get them in the fork. These mudguards are about 47mm external width, so those 40c Gravel Kings must barely clear even plastic mudguards.
   
2. The q-factor is not really the problem with fitting the Miche Primato Advanced (at least with a 165mm crank length). Any chainset with a 42mm chainline and more than a 47t chainring would hit the chainstay. Any 144BCD chainset with a 42mm chainline is likely to also have the spider hit the chainstay.
   
   

Apart from this issue I am very happy with the frameset. With 35mm tyres it just glides over the bumps, and full mudguards are excellent things! The noise associated with the imperfect chainline seems to have reduced, so I may get away with it. In any case, it is not too expensive to fix the problem.