Varonha Frameworks winter bike / FW Evans 650b conversion rat bike fun

Nice find! This is gonna look very good with the new wheels! I like the paint, are you sure you want to mess it up straight away? Are you sure making it rusty makes much of a difference for bike thieves ?

That's super lovely!

Yeah, it's a little too nice.

Not looking forward to ruining the paint at all.... but needs must.
I have no use for a nice-looking vintage tourer; I need a piece of shit with big tyres and mudguards, so this frame is doomed, I'm afraid.

WARNING: This thread will contain images that some viewers may find distressing.

So now you'll need the brake bosses repositioned right? What tyres you reckon will fit in there?
Will you also get mid fork mounts?

Yeah the plan is:

• Reposition canti mounts
  
• Cold set rear from 130mm > 135mm
  
• Add dynamo routing (inside of fork and maybe for a rear light as well)
  
• Extra bottle cage under the down tube
  
• Rack mounts on the forks
  
• Mudguard mount under the fork crown
  
• Possibly some denting in the stays for bigger tyre clearances
  
  

I might also ask if Winston can braze on one his little stainless steel hearts, like he did on my Varonha!

Re tyres: I'm hoping at least 40mm but I think it would need 48-50mm to get the BB height back to where it is with 700c / 28mm. Have started a wanted thread and a couple of people have already offered to lend me tyres to try for size before I buy anything. Need to get the wheels built first obvs.

Great! Looking forward to this

WARNING: This thread will contain images that some viewers may find distressing.

I am in tears

; )

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To misquote Mr D Mustaine "(Puppy) Killing is my business... And business is good"
Looking forward to progress.

Business is booming!

Question time:

Can anyone recommend a decent mid-range rear dymano light... compatible with Shimano Deore LX hub / B&M front light?

Cheap enough to put on a 'beater', good enough to last for years, and bright enough for country lanes at night.

Cold set rear from 130mm > 135mm

why?

Add dynamo routing (inside of fork and maybe for a rear light as well)

Will make this bike look good and attractive to thieves ;)

Mudguard mount under the fork crown

For SKS?

My Shimano dyno hubs have been faultless so far.

-cos my rear hub is 135mm, silly!
-Added burn marks in the paint always increase aesthetic merit ; ) (current thinking is to leave paint on during the brazing, and see if it looks bad enough like that without having to strip it all off).
-No, I still have the grey PDW from the Dawes... But will drill holes. As an aside, the seat-stay mudguard mount on this frame is quite cool. I might post a photo of it...

they are great right.

Yeah mine's lasted 10 years and counting, and has been thoroughly abused. They're indestructible.

What rear dynamo lights are people using?

I like my Supernova e3 tailight for road.
like 12g and really bright.

Use a SON for mixed / off road.

Using a BM µ on my commuter together with a IQ-X at the front. Really nice combo but maybe a tad upscale for what you are planning.

If you plan to use a rack maybe get the small BM toplight?

Cheers both : )

If you plan to use a rack maybe get the small BM toplight?

Actually hadn't thought about where to mount it yet.
Mudguard might be best; I'll be keeping them on all the time, but will probably want to remove the rack occasionally.

I like my Supernova e3 tailight for road.
like 12g and really bright.
Use a SON for mixed / off road.

SON are easily the neatest but prob too expensive for this.
E3 looks good but are apparently not compatible with B&M front lights. Useful.

Will probably go with a B&M Secula, unless I can find something neater.
The wiring on them is quite inelegant:

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no. You need B&M for B&M. go Secula.

I think you're right. Thanks for the help : )

Herrmans H-trace mini is lot more elegant and very cheap at least in German shops. Has worked well with B&M IQ series at least. Pelago actually specs it together with IQ-XS I think. I have wired mine to go inside the Gilles Berthoud mudguard so you can make wiring not to stick out of the light at all.

literally no need to look at anything but secula, shrink wrap cable to mudguard stay

Thanks, looks much neater than Secula.
There's also this from B&M... I think it's new for 2022. Also quite neat but might be a bit high on the mudguard to be much use under the rack. Hard to tell.

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Anyway, thanks all. Lots of good options : )

So... finally some real progress to report. And some issues.

Firstly, the wheels are finished, thanks to @arup who's done an amazing job.
Secondly, I borrowed some 42mm WTB Resoloutes to check clearances. Massive thank you to @Glws for that : )

The 42s fit nicely but I wouldn't want to go any bigger than that with the frame as it is.
Especially on the forks as there's only a few mm either side. The chainstays are the next tightest place... I might be able to squeeze in some 47's, but not sure.

The problem with the 42s is that, despite being 42mm wide, they are actually only 35mm tall - which is no good for getting the BB height were I want it. At the moment the BB height is about 26cm (from the floor to the centre of the BB), and I would like it to be more like 27cm. So: taller tyres needed.

Gonna go see Winston tomorrow and get him to look it over. Will probably try and find a wider fork on ebay etc, and hopefully dent the chainstays a tad more. If it needs anything more brutal then I might sell the new bike and look for a frame with less BB drop (easier said than done when it comes to getting sellers to measure accurately).

Also, the new bars arrived, so I put together the cockpit and stuck it on to see how it looked.

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