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Jah kinda. I don't recall mentioning but mine had decals referring to Cycles H. Humbert from Vezeronce-Les Avenieres and other decals I took for quite random ones. Same 'Racer' and 'Sted' decals as your's, mine also had 'Solstice' instead of your 'Saros'. Couldn't find any info on the brand Racer which is why I think Fonlupt that was mentioned earlier could be pegged as the maker. Very many similar details.
Didn't fancy the lavender and gold paintjob so repainted it. -
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Nice hack. Actually copied from the 90's pro peloton.
That's my gf's smallish Miyata with 40cm dropbars. Had to get creative with the tight turns and trying to fit a Carradice handlebar bag between the bars on a front rack.
It worked ok but with plenty of room for improvement. I should have used Nokon housing or one of those noodles with a little flex. The noodle for the derailleur worked great for the derailleur but kindof interfered with the brake levers return. It didn't return all the way by itself as the noodle didn't have enough give. I also always adjust my gf's brakes to the loosest spring settings so the lever feel is feather light but at the expense of lever return. It's tricky but worth the effort. I usually get lazy with my own brakes so I just put the spring in the middle canti stud hole and have a bit more lever resistance.Edit. Forgot to answer the actual question. No, there's no difference in cable friction.
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The truth right here. Not much experience with barends as I wrote earlier but I'd like to think thumbies are comparable in feel. SunTour XC Pro thumbies and a load of XT thumbies have that same mechanical confidence in index mode in my experience. Even some crusty Campy Euclid(?) thumbies really came to life after some basic rinsing with WD40.
Shimano brifters, which I prefer, feel quite sensitive to wear as they get sloppy and imprecise as you put it after heavy use. Just built a new bike with GRX600 brifters and a Ultegra RX rear der and the shifting is so crisp. It's just bang bang everywhere. Wish I could have new brifters everyday.
I'm no Campy fanatic but that's a whole different cup of magic. -
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Function is probably good, can't really say as I haven't tried. It's just that I usually spec my riding position so that I'm most comfortable in the hoods or ramps, not the drops. Coming up on a steeper or more technical section it's so easy to just make some hand gesture towards the left barend and it drops to the 30t but I couldn't think that I would be comfortable making as many shifts as I do to the rear from a barend. Hydro's are great because I can ride the brakes without them actually braking and I'm already there if I want to shift. Just something I've gotten use to after some odd years with this bike.
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The barend for the front has it's roots with a well-hated front derailleur, the 5800.
For all the trees in Finland I couldn't get it to work properly with the RS785 hoods, probably also due to the actuator arm hitting the tyre. Swapped out the 5800 for a Shimano Z-series but I guess cable pull has just evolved too much in 40 odd years. Hence, the Ultegra 8spd era barend.
I love it for the front der, especially because I use chainrings from different makes without chain guides and rather custom chainlines and chainring spacing. The barend doesn't give a shit, it just works. But I would never use it for the rear, brifters ftw. -
Good to see some love for Elder. You don't see me rocking any other bandpatches ;)
Now about the clearance on the Stav. I'm rather obsessed with tyre diameters, specifically effective outer diameters rim+tyre. I knew that something in the range of 622x45-50 worked best for me with the bb-drop of 70mm. Needless to say switching to 584-wheels with a tyre like a WTB Horizon was out the question as it would lower the bb way too much. I had such good experiences of 3" tyres and drop bars on my Monster Marin I decided I'd do the same with the Stav. More flexibility with two wheelsets for different purposes.
I was on the fence if I would build a 559 or 584 wheelset but chose the new industry standard because of more options in the rim and tyre department. The 2.6" Mezcal is pretty bang on 66,6mm and is close enough to a 622x45 tyre depending on tyre sag. Perfect.
I was going the make the front fork myself but couldn't pass on a killer deal for the one I have now. Konga made, Pacenti MTB crown, Reynolds 631 blades and all the braze-on's I wanted.
The rear triangle though I made myself. Twice actually...
First try which you can see pics of a bit further up was too hastily done. I brazed the chainstays centered on the Konga yoke but that resulted in horrific q-factor. Going from a 109mm UN91 and the Spesh cranks I had to widen the bb axle to 122mm and switch to low profile Ritchey Logic Compacts and it just felt so wrong. I like a pretty narrow q-factor, feels better in the knees.So with 5 days left before leaving for a 1000km tour I couldn't help but to start from scratch. Luckily I had some Zona chainstays left over and Konga mailed me some new seatstays. You know that saying, measure twice, cut once? I didn't even measure the theoretical q-factor once :D
Anyway second times a charm and everything worked out great. I could even go back to the 109mm bb and Spesh cranks.
The bike worked great on both tours last summer with 622 and 584 tyres. -
The PBP crown fits a pretty wide tyre, probably a 2.0", haven't given it much thought as long as I could match the frames clearance. The 42mm I have now fits easy.
Fenders are Pelago 45mm which are a bit undersized for the current tyres but fit with room to spare. I actually need a longer L-bracket for the front so I can drop the fender a bit for a nicer fenderline. -
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405mm ac and a smidge over 60mm of rake. I don't have a fork blade bender so I maxed out the pre-bent ones I bought.
The CrossCheck fork that it replaced had 400/45 iirc. Don't remember the exact numbers for the original but I think they're 410 ac and 2.5" rake according to the catalogue. So pretty low trail except for the CC fork which was just a four year compromise/exercise in procrastination. -
Some more snaps on Flickr .
The frame had some obscure decals before repaint. Plenty references to Cycles H. Humbert from Vezeronce-Les Avenieres, but Google turns up nothing.
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Made a new fork for the 'Dale more in line with the original one. Longer a-c and higher rake is definitely noticeable and feels much more stable. Also made a new rack to boot.
Snagged a French mystery cx frame off eBay in December and painted it. Weird trackish geo but feels fast!
Couldn't forget about my gf so built up a new winter commuter for her. Quite the tank but a good steady ride.
Plenty more pics on Flickr
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For sure! It's a real ripper high bb eurocross machine. Darts around potholes and apexes like a champ.
I think the fork is some OEM deal. It's a Easton EC70X that's never been painted. Not sure what brands used these as stock but surplus none the less. I think it matches nicely with the frame modifications.
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Picked up a frameset recently, plan was to make a cheap gravelmuncher from mostly leftovers. I've had this plan for years to have fewer bikes but more wheelsets so I can change according to what I'm riding. I can tell you right off that doesn't work.
Much more fun to have more bikes :DSeems like Finnish brand Tunturi were years ahead of their time in the late 90's. Long toptube (610mm), clearance for 622x45mm, slack ht. Pretty much every gravelendurancebike right?
Still, the geo didn't suit me. Weird handling and way too long despite shortish stem. So I proceeded to chop off the headtube and shorten the frame, also decided to modernize the headtube standard from 1" to 1-1/8". Ended up having to adjust the downtube as well but I think it turned out pretty good.
Also received some CrMo-tubing so I finally have tubes to make stems with proper tolerances. Pretty dodgy to make them out of mm-spec tubes, 29mm ID steel tubing doesn't really want to grab onto a 28.6mm OD steerer tube no matter how many clamps you braze on.
So I made this classic 100mm -10deg stem with internal steerer clamp to complement the build.
Don't think I'm gonna paint this one just yet, kind of like the look right now.
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Glad you liked the Marin. It's from the '91 brochure, aptly named Limited Edition. Found it in fully original and practically mint condition, ridden only a few times.
I was planning on keeping the 105SC groupset but after a donor Battaglin with 6400 fell into my lap I decided to switch it up as I fancy the looks better. I think this is the only picture of it in it's original form.
There are some more pics in my Flickr album.
Lookswise they are quite close yes. But as the maker of your lowrider legs I must chime in and say that yours are much sturdier than Pelago's new Pannier Support. Yours have a total of seven mounting points whilst the Pelago only use three. Sure, it utilizes those pretty nifty modular bits at the fork end to fit a multitude of different forks but is nowhere near as good as a custom fit!
Always enjoy seeing your Stavanger, a real beaut!