Custom Oak Cycles 650B French Randonneur Project.

Calling my bike a tourer is like telling a Moulton owner that his bike is a folder.

Cool story bro.

It's all beard & sandals, innit.

Indeed;

Surly look decent with the crankset, I'll have to be very careful with the colour choice otherwise it'll look plain wrong like this;

Ha. The Rivendell is by far the best looking bike of those three IMO.

Surly look decent with the crankset, I'll have to be very careful with the colour choice otherwise it'll look plain wrong

Anything darker than a midtone should look alright. I think it's because the Rivendale has quite a light colour that makes the cranks stand out too much. (and that most of the other stuff on it is silver).

I have a dark paint job in mind anyway, I couldn't decided on colour so end up what colour that'll match a wide range of cotton bartape colour.

blue, red, green, purple, etc.;

I'd go with the eggplant, but have it with a touch more red and a shade darker.

Contrasting bar tape, surely?

Like a blue Singer with red bar tape.

black, with grey tape

Defo Eggplant.

Whats the saddle?
If its leather, dark brown saddle, and tape sounds nice. But whatever. Eggplant frame.

I had Eggplant on my Tokyo Fixed, look great.

The saddle will be your classic Brooks B17 Special in black with copper coating removed from the railing.

Good choice.......

I've got a lot of different brooks, and the B17 special is neck and neck with the swift titanium.......

Get it built Ed! I can't wait to see the finished article.......

650b - what size frame does it start looking plain shizzer?

Just got the word from Ryan;

you'll be glad to know Im finally starting work on your bike tomorrow :)

absurdbird, he's working on the wireless connector for the dynamo hubs for both front and rear light (internal), good shout.

What's a wireless conector?

Shocked that you're using a brooks on this! Ideale, non?

They're more comfortable, even racer back in the Golden Ages were riding on Brooks but paid to said they're on Ideale, I do love the look of the nose that look like it cut veritcally, but Brooks are very comfortable.

What's a wireless conector?

A dynamo with no wire connecting the hubs, instead the hubs mate with the fork end to connect the light, meaning no need to removed the wire from the hubs every time you removed the wheel.

A small convenience but something that'll make light work of fixing a puncture for example;

French saddle on this beat beats english. It's not a race bike anyway!

Gilles Berthoud!

Or, at least, if you must have a brooks, make it an unusual one!

Tried one of these? Would suit the bike much better than a B17 ... as would a nice black Colt.

I have a very hard time getting used to saddle in general, only a specific Brooks were comfortable particularly the B17.

Tried the Team Pro, a hair too narrow, will try that again and see how I flare.

Had not tried Gilles Berthoud yet, but would like to try, the plastic body worry me thought despite the bolt being replacable unlike the Brooks' rivet (which does look exceedingly nice), my only worry it look like it'll be too narrow and uncomfortable.

They're more comfortable, even racer back in the Golden Ages were riding on Brooks but paid to said they're on Ideale, I do love the look of the nose that look like it cut veritcally, but Brooks are very comfortable.

Rene Herse and Singer's favorite saddle.....
A Brooks B17.

A dynamo with no wire connecting the hubs, instead the hubs mate with the fork end to connect the light, meaning no need to removed the wire from the hubs every time you removed the wheel.

A small convenience but something that'll make light work of fixing a puncture for example;

Sometimes you just have to do stuff because it's cool.

Good job Ed.

Going to try and get a black Brooks B17 in titanium.

I agree, however there is such thing have overdoing it, the connector-less dynamo is probably as far as I go for unconventional design.

A dynamo with no wire connecting the hubs, instead the hubs mate with the fork end to connect the light,

A small convenience but something that'll make light work of fixing a puncture for example;

Cheers and sounds awesome. Can it power the rear and does the light have to be mounted close to the hub.

(Also let's be honest it's for looks and to save on the faff of wire routing)