Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

Hawkwood Mercantile do some similar smocks.
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16711129/

That is if you enjoy toe overlap.
26x2.15" with guards and no overlap is bliss!

Thanks for the kind words.

@nogk: The stem is a Zoom steel stem.

@Josh: Can't take all the credit as the Pelago 45mm fenders are quite a good starting place. Good radius for the 35mm Paselas. Yes, they did require drilling and some faffing but good quality aluminium fenders.

@MisterMikkel: The toe overlap came as a surprise but I hope it won't be as bad with size 4 shoes as it was when I nearly crashed clipping the front mudguard with size 10 hiking boots :D
The new owner seemed very pleased she won't have to commute on her mountain bike this coming winter, not to mention retiring her nackered old Miyata.
She says 40mm studs is borderline during the winter, anything bigger just slows her down B-)

This is so good. At first I was surprised by how much I like it, since I normally don't like that orange version of the Macho Man, but then i realized that you removed the white paint around the drop outs, which makes a huge difference imo.
What front rack is it? Custom made?

My wife rides an XS Omnium CXC with 37mm tyres and mudguards and have never complained about the toe overlap. I was just trying to make a point about the "ideal" commuter bike.

Yeah, first thing I did was go to a store that tints spray paints and bought a can with quite a decent match. Those white details around the dropouts are a real turnoff for me too. Just looks so much better this way.

The rack is custom, made by me once again. Just a quick platform for the basket as I don't like the Wald hardware. More stable bracket for the front light too.

Please could you and @grantdavis28 put up some pics and tips on how you made your own racks...they look great and with anything off the peg you've always got some compromise somewhere.

Something specific you're interested in? I've been using a Oxy/MAPP-gas setup for five years now, mostly brazing brass but also silver when I can get my hands on some. Good flux will always make brazing easier and acetone is good for keeping things clean. I use cheap steel tubing, gas pipe or whatever you want to call it, 10x1 or 8x1mm. Got a cheap Bahco tube bender and the rest is pretty much filing and sanding. A proper vice is a must and is one of the best tools you can have.
Best tip is to watch some videos to get some basic technique and then just get going. The learning curve is very steep and it just gets easier with every rack. It's not like you're making a frame so you can't mess things up too bad.

I'm not very good at documenting my work any more but I have some random pics in a separate Flickr-album.

impressive! some really nice things on that album!

Thank you, interesting stuff!

Good stuff.

I might overestimate my vocabulary.

So very jealous.

Im itching for a space to start making thing right now.

Aha thanks, I'm not in a position to start brazing bits, but I could bend, crimp, drill, file, sand and paint! So a tube bender and some bits of tube...

Custom rack stays are already a good start and I've seen some more and less creative solutions to full racks made without welding or brazing. Good luck!

Wow! That looks so much better without the white "socks"

If you check out bagmaker TimTasReks Instagram, you can get a lot of inspiration from how he fabricated custom racks using lock nuts and bolts, a tube bender, hacksaw drill and a vice.

He did eventually switch to brazing though.

Cool, cheers

Right?

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Mudguards with such wide tyres look a bit ridiculous. It’s perfect like this.

Really? I need a source for this

Also I don't actually care really it looks great

Would prefer guards, but that's because it still sometimes rains where I live.
And because I believe in values and traditions!

Mudguards and paint?
One or the other, never both!

Can anyone ID the brakes? The brake pad holders are chefskiss.gif