Custom Oak Cycles 650B French Randonneur Project.

i can't imagine that bike with black tyres

Mainly other audaxes, and commutes generally, I've been riding it all the time.

Mainly the commute to Surreys add to it.

i can't imagine that bike with black tyres

Seriously, I kept looking at it, and it still look terribly wrong, and so skinny! they look like 32mm rather than 42mm.

can you not get the red ones any more?

The Grand Bois Extra Léger only come in black, but they weight 357g compare to the original that weight 412g.

Good thing is, the thread thickness is exactly the same as the original Hetre; it's the sidewall that's thinner.

Where is the best place to get hold of all these 650b tyres here in the UK?

Little bird said Kinoko stock the Grand Bois.

Mainly other audaxes, and commutes generally, I've been riding it all the time.

Mainly the commute to Surreys add to it.

I didn't realise it was also your commuter.

How is the paint holding up? Modern paint being shite and all?

Reckon the paint is fine, there's noticeable chip around the bike from the usual abuse and collision, but otherwise still look great.

I just cleaned the BB area for the first time since it was made as the dust finally hid the 853 letters, amazing how much a decent mudguard can protect your drivetrain.

BB still spun smoothly, I don't care what people says about external/press fit, the square taper are still extremely reliable.

Just over 10,000km (10,023km to be precise) since new, I have to retired the original red tyres, picture show tyres at over 8,000km, it's now quite bald and starting to collect some debris that used to be pushed away by the thread;

How many punctures?

8.

I was getting them a little more regularly between October and January due to the balding of the tyres.

Getting more and more tempted by a bike built around these or similar.

^^ any pinch flats?

None, tyres' too wide to get it, even at 10psi.

Having said that, the lower psi work quite well when you do get a puncture, when I was 3 miles to work, I felt the unmistakable "grind" feel that an underinflated tyre make when you get out of the saddle, it was able to hold in enough air to get to work before it deflated completely.

I felt the unmistakable "grind" feel

A horrible moment for any cyclist haha

In other news, completed a 1400k randonneur

great read- bravo

Right now is a good time to talk about the issues I had with the Pacenti PL23; cracks.

After the LEL, my rear wheel was continually going out of true and I have to adjust it every once in a while, at that point it had over 2,300km in it, the front was perfectly fine, but the rear is troublesome.

On a mechanic stand, I discovered crack, at least a handful of them around the spokes.

It turn out that the classic construction of the Pacenti rims find the bracing angle and high spokes tension of the modern hubs to be too severed and end up causing the crack, I had a conversation with it with Jan Heine whose test wheel have the same problem.

Right now it's running a 105/Velo Orange rear, it's heavy but it's bombproof, but the front is still perfect.

Just Riding Along have built me a new rear wheel with Hope hubs, as I trusted them to tensioned the spokes correctly (since the magazine article came out, Pacenti have now stated that the spokes tension should be much lower than usual on the rear), hopefully this rims will go past 2,000km without issues.

I cannot recommended Just Riding Along enough as they're brilliant to deal with and talk to, especially with their experience of wheelbuilding.

Here's the article (photo of cracked rim is mine);

1 Attachment

He doesn't mention the Ambrosio Keba... because it's heavy (600 grams !) I guess but it's inexpensive, seems bombproof and has a great profile.
As told in the article, I'd be relunctant re-building a wheel with the same rim if nothing was done to solve the cracking problem. I hope yours will last more than 2k :/

The new rims is free and build by a different wheel builder, the front one still in excellent condition apart from the smooth braking surface (was machined).

Let see how that fare, if happened again, might go for A23.

Just riding along were fantastic with me too Ed. A23 are a great rim.

Just riding along were fantastic...

+1 super helpful.

Little bird said Kinoko stock the Grand Bois.

They only had one pair. And they were 32c 700. So not sure if they're actually stocking them or just had them as one offs.

Any feedback on the Brooks C17 Ed?

Haven't paid for it yet, riding on Selle Anatomica which is a massive improvement on the Brooks (saddle is actually levelled for once), the C17 appeal because it's not leather and should be perfect for the NFE.

Hopefully next week I'll try it on the fixed wheel bicycle.

Ah, ok. Thanks.

I've been reading about Rivet saddles. Look good and at a decent price point too... Very good reviews from everyone as well.