Nobody Walks in LA - Bearclaw Thunderhawk

Shifter upgrades and the dropper are on hold till the Corona passes. Bike is in for a build now. Bike repair shops are still up and running over here and I got in just in time before LA went on lock down.

In there meantime, exercise is allowed, and we're very lucky to be close to some good rides out the front door...

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I'm going to live out my custom bike dreams vicariously through you. Subbed.

PNW make some pretty nice bits - is that the suspension dropper? I always wondered why droppers didn't have the option of an inch or two of squish since most of the internals could probably already facilitate that, but then I suppose the sort of companies who make droppers also make a shitload of rear shocks in short travel configuration...

I was just looking at the PNW suspension dropper. I hadn’t originally considered it but it’s now on the list.

Will stick to a trusty Thomson for now though until future funds are more certain!

Impressive view

Moar pics of that ride?

@e54 Thanks. Here’s a couple more snaps from the ride..

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These pics all from Kenneth Hahn park, one of the only kind of wild and sizable parks within the city of LA. Most of the park has developed around the bowl of a now empty reservoir. In the 60s, and as result of oil drilling nearby, the reservoir burst it banks emptying millions of gallons in less than an hour, and washing away a whole nearby neighborhood. Now it’s a beautiful and little used patch of green between Culver City and South LA where I live. Now we’re in lock down I can get in about 12 miles and 1200ft of climbing in a little over an hour from my front door. So lucky. At dawn and dusk you can see coyotes loping along the ridge lines, with the city and the Hollywood sign in the distance. Pretty wild.

nice pictures and interesting story

A couple of updates. Figured if I'm doing it I might as well do it properly. :)

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So new R8020 shifters and brakes, and the GRX mech that will let me use a 11-42 cassette with the 50/34 double up front. Should see me up anything.

nods approvingly

Any reason you went for R8000 hydro over the GRX equivalent? I thought the latter has the servo tech, smaller hoods etc etc.

Got a decent deal on the 8020. Grx would have been more than twice the price and I couldn’t justify it. These hydros already a big step up from the Shimano 600 levers and cantis I ride everyday so I figure it will still be quite an improvement.

I’m looking for a modern decaleur bar bag. Any suggestions out there?

Gilles Berthoud do all black versions of their range now. Now sure if that's modern enough for you though!

All decaleur, no rack?

The Berthoud ones are lovely but need a front rack.

The Enve gravel forks have mudguard eyelets but nothing on the fork crown.

There may be a solution using the hole in the centre of the underside of the forks shown below, though I expect this is for drainage and not tapped.

Or using the mudguard mounts for the struts of a rack with the upper section supported by a decaleur style mount where you would fit a headset spacer.

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@eyorecore did a nice job on an improvised decaleur here:

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/329970/?offset=50

I'd still need to figure a rack to support though. Anyone tapped that hole underneath the fork crown for a thread before?

but need a front rack.

Don't they always though (at least traditionally)? Or you'll also consider a bracket like a Klickfix?

Some variation on this? You’d just need some aluminum rod and an inexpensive tubing bender. The lower end could mount to your fender mounts instead of the canti posts.

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@Eeyorecore Yeah that looks like what I'm after.

And with a bit more investigation I happened upon this beauty.

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Not exactly what I need as I don't have a fork crown mount. But this design looks awesome. Now looking at alu rod and the tubing bender.

The rack above is from Ren Cycles if anyone's interested. Nice but pricey!

https://www.rencycles.com/store/ren-gx1-titanium-rack-rack-only

The above, on the Royal H was just made from a spare fender stay. Survived a 20 mile trip with growler and a six pack in the handlebar bag. Most of the weight is taken up by the decaleur anyhow, the rack just keeps the weight off the wheel. I think I paid about $25 for a tubing bender, works fine.

Dredging this up! Bike still in the shop. My efforts to reuse a set of Easton SL70 wheels meant a global hunt for a 12mm adaptor for the front axle. The only shop on the planet that has the right one is in Cornwall so rather than burn the air miles and pay 5o quid delivery for a 25 pound part, I'm treating myself to some Hunts.

https://us.huntbikewheels.com/products/4season-gravel-disc-road-cx-wheelset-1589g-24deep-24wide

Which look lovely, are serviceable, should be strong enough, and light for the price.

Getting close...

Just a note that aluminium rod might not be a long-term choice for supporting a bar bag. I made a support for Carradice, which looked quite similar to the above, but upside down. It lasted a while but eventually snapped. Any design that repeatedly flexes aluminium tubing at a bend is probably likely to break eventually as it fatigues more easily than steel.