AlmostTrick

And I'm glad you didn't! Everyone has a point of view on this stuff. I sincerely enjoy, and am open to, hearing them all.

Thanks, Chas. I will add your experience to my list of anecdotes. You never know, maybe one day I'll even try some CF on for size. Again, that is.

Previous commuter: 2005 Marin Lucas Valley. CF seat stays and fork. It's true, 8 years and nearly 16,000 miles of commuting and I had no issues with failure. But justified or not, I was beginning to have concerns.



Present commuter: 2015 Raleigh Roper. Reynolds 525 Chrome Moly steel. About 1 pound more than the Marin, and that's with disc brakes.



Pedal On!

Lurchaddams

Are you stillriding the roper? How's it holding up? I actually just bought one, I'm still waiting on delivery but am curious how the performance is holding up over time. I'm planning on logging a lot of commuting and adventure miles on the bike.

Also thanks for the quality post I've enjoyed reading through it and checking out the pics.

AlmostTrick

The Roper has about 2300 miles on it and has performed well... I've been plenty satisfied with it. No problems except for the original brake pads made too much noise and had to be swapped out. Oh, and an occasional click in the BB has developed. If/when this gets worse I'll have to pull and reinstall it.

Robert C

I looked at the link the OP posted and I didn't see an eccentric bottom bracket, the specs say

That being said, I have an eccentric bottom bracket on my commuter, It makes for easy belt tension adjustments. In the last 3000 miles I have had to adjust it twice, it takes less than two minutes to make the adjustment.

Lurchaddams

AlmostTrick, have you done anything about the bottom bracket clicking? I just hit 1,100 miles on Mr Roper and I'm getting a clicking on my BB too. I'm just wondering in reassembling the BB would be worth it to fix.


Aand a photo of the trusty steed.

AlmostTrick

It won't hurt. When I reassembled my original unit it quieted it but only for only a few weeks. Then I replaced it with an inexpensive unit from my local shop. After a few months it too started clicking... really badly!


I reinstalled again, without any lube if I remember correctly, and so far so good. I've researched a bunch on these clicking press fit BB issues, and am not convinced there is any One True Way. It does make me appreciate the old school, serviceable BB's though.

milhaus3

Kudos to the OP. Sweet looking bike. I'm just about to pick one up on discount, and want to reproduce the fender action - looks amazing. Could you be more specific as to the kind of paint and fenders you chose? Could you have painted the stays orange as well?

AlmostTrick

Yeah, I seen they went on deep discount a while back. Lucky you!

Fenders are Planet Bike.



Paint is Krylon Fusion, made for plastic. No primer needed.



You must sand the fenders with fine and then extra fine sanding cloth, and wipe clean with a tack rag.

Stays need medium/fine sanding, and must be primed. After that you could certainly paint them any color you want. I've been extremely satisfied with how well my fenders turned out, and how well they have held up. And I'm a finish fanatic! Make sure to post up pics of your bike when you get it!

milhaus3

Thanks! Are those the Planet Bike Hardcore rather than the Cascadia II model of fenders?

Also, I assume there's only one shade of orange in Krylon Fusion. They're for plastics, so do you think they'd suit the stays, or should I go for a different type of paint for those?

AlmostTrick

Hardcore in 45mm. I shortened the rear fender several inches.

Color is "Gloss pumpkin safety orange". After fully dry, I lightly sanded (extra fine) and coated with matt clear to match the matt finish on the frame. The paint should work fine on the stays, but you'll need to sand and prime them first.

Lurchaddams

AlmostTrick, what size tires and what size fenders are you using?

I was putting off adding fenders to my Roper because I live in Denver and it doesn't rain a lot. Well I say it doesn't rain a lot, but then I've been stuck riding in enough rain storms commuting this year that I think it is time to finally add the fenders to better battle the upcoming Spring showers.

What size tires and fenders are you riding?

I recently put on Schwalbe Marathons 700x35 and I'm too lazy to think about what size fenders will fit my ride and thought you might have a good answer since it is the same bike.

Aaand some pics of the ride since I messed up the link to the last one.

The image with the rack is the most current status of the setup.



And some trailer action