seajaye

short answer: no, but here are some pictures of my 52cm v1 build i just finished about a month ago. its first brevet was last saturday.

john hawrylak

SeaJaye

Your light mount look great & rack and bag looks like VO products. I have the VO rack with integral decailluer & their bag on my 88 Voyaguer. Ome question:
How is the light mounted??
What is the stem length??? Looks like 10 cm.

John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ

seajaye

thanks john! i got a lot of the bits (including the light mount) during VO's garage sale a few months back.

the mount is VO Rack to Light Bracket. on the rack end, i used a typical M4 bolt with presta lock washers to space it out from the rack, threaded through the rack, and then a locknut on the other side. on the light end, i had to drill out the hole a bit to fit the bolt for my edelux. some washers and another locknut here.

the only problem i've come across is that once the light and mount is tightened, there is no adjusting the beam by hand. i used to be able to do this with a fork-crown mount on my old bike, but not anymore with this type of rack mounting. (any tips would be appreciated).

re: stem length. you're good! 10cm / 100mm. it was a guess-and-test off of reach measurements from my old bike, and turned out to be a good length first try.

Spoonrobot 

Is there an alternative to cantilever brakes for the Grand Randonneur? I've been putting together a build list and was just curious if anyone has used anything else. I'm planning on running 42mm Hetres and fenders and from what I can tell there aren't any alternatives for that set-up. I've heard mini-v style brakes might work without the fenders but don't have any positive confirmation if they will with the fenders mounted. Cantilever brakes aren't a deal breaker, I just don't like them very much.

rhm

V-brakes fit on the same bosses as cantilever brakes will generally fit on any frame designed for cantilevers, provided the same wheel size is used. I have V-brakes and fenders on my commuter bike, which has 50 mm tires. It's a bit tight (the brake cable actually touches the top of the fender), but it's not a problem. With 42 mm tires you should have no issues.

MoonJW

Resurrecting this post.

I'm building up a 58 size "v1" with 42mm tires and saw this. Are you still happy with the berthoud fenders? Any regrets? My rides have quite a bit of chipseal and am feeling a little skittish.


Many thanks.

dgerton

No regrets @MoonJW. They are fine fenders in terms of material quality, finish, fit, and hardware. I'd buy Berthouds again.

Chris Pringle

We have Berthouds fenders on one bike. Good fenders overall, but they tend to rattle a bit at times even though I've tightened all the screws and have used leather washers. They are also a tad heavy since they'real made of stainless steel. I would highly recommend the Tanaka aluminum fenders available from the Soma store. I believe 26” fenders are interchangeable with 650b wheels. With a set of leather washers, they're very quiet and offer excellent wheel coverage.

guidoStow

I have had great results with the Honjo 50mm smooth fenders and 42mm Baby Shoe Pass tires on my GR. I used the VO Daruma at the fork crown, and the Compass eyebolts at the fender, the rest of the hardware is stock. No rattles or unusual movement on chip seal, washboard logging roads or 40mph downhills...

thebulls

I bought Velo Orange 700Cx48 fluted fenders because they were on sale and I figured they'd be in the ballpark of correct size. They have worked fine and apparently safely on: Soma GR; tires=Hetre's, Babyshoe Pass, or Pacenti Pari-Moto's; rims=Velocity Synergy or Compass Grand Bois. Same fenders have worked fine on a Gunnar Sport converted to 650B and on my Burley Duet tandem.

dgerton

If you have a rattle something is probably wrong. I ignored a rattle and tin-canned a front fender a few years back. I still have all my teeth but boy was I lucky.
@Chris Pringle, I used the hardware set that came with the Berthoud fenders but used cork washers and the the fork crown wedge that Boulder Bike makes. I didn't have a problem with rattles. I didn't weigh them, but I'd agree with you they feel a tad heavier. So do the VO steel fenders, but both feel lighter than Tanaka to me. <-- That's very subjective because the VO and Tanaka fenders were 700C, I didn't weight them, and I imagine we're talking less than an ounce difference.

I'm riding a frame I built now and am rocking' the same set up as @guidoStow except hammered instead of smooth. Very nice combo. They feel lighter despite being the longest out of the bunch. I might not have ever tried the Bethoud and Honjos, but I found both on sale for about the same price as VO. They're generally more expensive than the rest and with the smooth finish it's hard to justify the price difference.

DIMcyclist

I totally agree. Conversions can be very good, but a purpose-built frame IS worth the effort.

In the interest of building a better commuter bike, I experimented with 650b in 2008/ 2009 on an old Trek 820 frameset. I chose the 820 for its basic versatility, figuring it would make for a solid test-bed and wasn't disappointed; after a year or so I decided 650b is kind-of a perfect urban wheel size. Since then, I've converted a couple of bikes to 650b: another Trek 820 with a larger frame that fit me better (I transferred the components from the first one and eventually re-sold it, with its original 26" wheelset), & an '84 Univega Rover (possibly one of the strangest frames I've ever owned); and, while they rode fairly well, they did have their quirks.
Btw, the Univega was built up mostly from spare parts left over from the two Trek builds:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...over-10-a.html

After I built the second Trek, I did a lot of research into Japanese 650b frames of the '70s & early '80s; Toei, Watanabe, Maruishi, Bridgestone, etc, and discovered any number of early "MTB/ ATB" frames that were most likely originally designed around 650b rather than 26" wheels. These seem to have been re-purposed commuter/ touring frames, with geometry that really doesn't make much sense in terms of mountain bikes, and which disappeared from the market by around 1985 or so. Anyway, to cut a tedious tale short, the research led me to the Univega and eventually to my '84 Panasonic:

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...eye-candy.html

It's a modified, semi-custom frameset, 72-degree H & S tubes, w/ 65mm of BB drop; I've been riding this honey around for the past six months, and it's great; its ride qualities are comparable to my Soma Smoothie, albeit in a non-sport frame. As far as concerns Soma, they'll always get a 'thumbs up' from me; I've never ridden a Soma that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed (including both the GR & the 650b Saga). At the moment I'm really curious to try out the Wolverine.