Alex Wetmore is always busy with something... - All Comments

re: Christine's New Bike

Andrew — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:42:23 GMT

Nice!

If you don't mind, may I ask what Christine's PBH and height are? I'm planning to build a Buena Vista for my fiancee, and I'm gathering data to try to decide what size frame to buy for her.

Thanks!

re: Christine's New Bike

Steve Chan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:45:37 GMT

That's a nice bike - at first I was a little surprised that it wasn't outfitted with a dynohub as well, but then things became clear! There was a Buena Vista frameset at the LBS near my old apartment, and had I seen it in time, I would have bought it and built up a very similar bike for my wife as well.

re: Christine's New Bike

AlexWetmore — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:05:01 GMT

They are from Jitensha Cycles in California.

re: Christine's New Bike

Bob Clark — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:15:06 GMT

Where did you find the handlebars? I've been looking for something like those for a while.

re: Christine's New Bike

AlexWetmore — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:23:27 GMT

Yeah, they are oriented as they are to allow the dropout adjusters to work. The right dropout adjuster hole wasn't drilled quite straight, so the adjuster ends up in the upper half of the slot instead of the middle. They are well seated (better than it looks in that photo).

re: Christine's New Bike

Fred Blasdel — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:37:36 GMT

I saw that first picture but thought it was just a Honjo-style fender stay clip — I didn't notice the fillet-brazed noodle!

You should be careful about making sure that the teeth on the anti-rotation washers ares well-seated in the dropouts. I would swap them L-R so that the tooth was on the inside, but that might interfere with the dropout adjusters on this frame.

re: Christine's New Bike

AlexWetmore — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:48:21 GMT

Christian -- It was the right price, available frame only, and had all of the right brazeons. I always prefer to buy locally when I can, and having one of these built up to test ride at Free Range Cycles just made the decision that much easier. The Handsome looks good, but I like to inspect bikes in person when possible. You might have noticed that I'm picky.

re: Christine's New Bike

AlexWetmore — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:45:30 GMT

Fred -- For another bike I made a special bolt on part which ran housing the full length of the chainstay, but allowed the cable to exposed on the downtube. That worked well. There is a photo of it here:

alexandchristine.smugmug.com/.../11485257_TSETx

and here:

alexandchristine.smugmug.com/.../11024831_Zrjw7

Sorry about the lighting, I took that with a flash on a late night point83 ride. I'll probably make another one for Christine's bike until it is ready for powder coat, and then I'll move the stop.

re: Christine's New Bike

AlexWetmore — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:42:55 GMT

David -- Christine is 5'1" and this is the 50cm frame. For 5'6" I think the 54 would be right, if not on the small end. Size based on the virtual top tube length and the type of handlebars that you'll be using.

re: Christine's New Bike

AlexWetmore — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:42:06 GMT

Jimmy -- Yup, there will be dyno lighting front and rear. I'm waiting for an IQ Cyo that I've ordered to arrive. It will live under the rack (which I've started on...and it will be a bit more artistic than my normal racks).

re: Christine's New Bike

David T — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:22:05 GMT

Any advice on sizing the buena vista? My partner is 5'6" and I'm between the 50 and 54.

re: Christine's New Bike

Fred Blasdel — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:47:03 GMT

The Nexus cable routing sure is a pain in the ass, especially if like me you hate the idea of running full-length housing.

For a long time on my Kogswell I had a stub of housing a few inches long at an angle between the chainstay cable stop and reaction arm. Eventually I realized that it wasn't actually doing anything: if it's short enough to not totally bind the cable, it's also not long enough to keep the cable run the same length.

I found that I had to adjust the cable anyway every time I touched the wheel, so I just stopped using housing there at all! The cable runs through the BB guide straight into the hub.

Sturmey Archer makes clamp-on chainstay cable stops, but it seems like they might all be designed to clamp too close tot he dropout for our purposes.

re: Christine's New Bike

christian — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:06:02 GMT

That is a nice frame. Did you choose it over any other comparably priced mixte options (okay, the only one I can think of is the Handsome She-Devil www.handsomecycles.com/index.php ) or buy it because it was available locally?

re: Christine's New Bike

Jimmy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:56:18 GMT

Dyno lighting on the front rack at some point?

re: Christine's New Bike

AlexWetmore — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:25:32 GMT

Sure, but I like building forks and racks.