The Campeur, as the name suggests, is a touring bike for paved, or unpaved, roads. It can carry a substantial load for long unsupported trips, yet handles beautifully even with no load. In fact, it makes a nice gravel racer.
A little more detail at the Velo Orange blog.
Andrew
"gravel racer"?
Chris does like to create an image.
I wonder about the longevity of the eyelets on the rear dropouts, look at how delicately they are attached.
http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...eur-frame.html
Last edited by LeeG; 09-27-12 at 08:37 AM.
a cross bike with dt shifters.
I mean, I rode dt for years and years, but dont really have an urge to go back, especially not on dirt, nor in traffic (as I did all those years).
I like all bikes, this certainly has the retro look, right down to the drilled chainrings.
Nice looking frame set. Great tire clearance and at $600 not a bad price either. It would make a nice tourer, but I'd do bar end shifters.
I'm getting this odd sense that a few of your don't realize it's just a frame set. . .
Andrew, were you at Interbike? That photo was shot there. It looked to be a very nice frame/bike at a good price. I didn't spend a lot of time there and didn't pay attention to the quality of eyelets on the dropouts. They had another Campeur even more decked out with racks and bags as I remember, as well as a nice display of their products. It was a good selection of high quality parts for touring and town bike.
That is some ugly ugly brake cables. I just assumed they did 'em that way in the olden days becasue they didn't have a choice.
"be careful this rando stuff is addictive and dan's the 'pusher'."
pretty fork
It would seem to me, that if you are going to cast a dropout, it would have been a good idea to incorporate the eyelets with more meat around them just for the aesthetics as much as anything else. Those look like they have been brazed on to standard dropouts, which must add to the production cost and jigging.
I don't go much on the retro brake levers and cables either. Aero levers might have been a better choice there.
Dream. Dare. Do.
no, they are obviously cast in. Those are a standard dropout, although I have never seen the version with eyelets before.Originally Posted by Rowan
Yup
I'm guessing it was an aesthetic decision to have the eyelets perched up like that but on a frame designed to carry a significant rear rack load it's the last place a few millimeters of metal should be missing.
Not offering a threadless fork simply reduces potential sales.
I realize that the dt shifters and brake hood choices are completely up to the owner, but I certainly agree on threadless. I guess they basically wanted this bike to have the retro look, and the stem certainly is a big part of the immediate look of the bike.
I think time spent worrying about the strength of braze-ons is pretty much time wasted. Brazing is a strong method of attachment, braze-ons rarely fail, and in the absolute worst case, if they do, it's rarely catastrophic and can be remedied with a p clamp.
While I agree that threadless is ultimatum the better system, there are enough people still enamored with threaded headsets that it does make sense.
considering that fork probably costs them less than $20 in bulk, they probably should have a threadless steerer option
It's not the strength of brazing or braze-ons that's in question but longevity of that specific eyelet given the very small area of attachment. A bottle cage or cable stop braze-on doesn't get the same loading as the dropout eyelet with 40lbs bouncing on it for months on end.
Yup. That's the first thing I noticed. There may be people who like threaded headsets but I doubt that you could sell too many bikes too them since they haven't bought a new touring bike since 1983.
I also noticed this "kickstand plate, because touring bikes should stand up" and then their picture shows a bike leaning against a fence
Stuart Black
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I love the DT shifters, the wires coming out of the brake hoods, and the handlebars.
I'd buy that bike just for the crankset.
However, the product is a frameset.... that reminds me of a Miyata 1000 with a French fork and fatty downtube.
Rivendell does well enough for themselves. Maybe VO's problem is that they don't charge enough?
Yeah, one might prefer fewer retro features, but that is what VO does, sell stuff to retro grouches.
The eyelets are fairly standard, depends how good quality the forging is. Most drops on cheaper frames are pretty cheap affairs with obvious distortions. If this is as high quality as the look, there is probably little to worry about. Unless the eyelets are flawed, the bolts blow out before the eyelets. The whole eyelet assembly is undersized for the purpose, nice for fenders, not for racks. But the chosen dropouts are probably strong enough if good quality.
I live in Baltimore and have been down to Annapolis several times to visit his shop. The frames are nice but not, in my opinon, up to the stress of long loaded tours. All the stuff is made in China but what isn't these days. This stuff has a cheaply made look that other stuff dosn't. The initial finish looks good but I am unsure about longevity. These things are built for looks not the long haul.
Has anyone actually had a properly installed rack snap eyelets? How much crap are people carrying that they're breaking these eyelets? I've never really been troubled by any of my 1" threaded bicycles either... and changing stems in either setup is still a bit of work. I'd take this frame over a long haul trucker myself if I had to choose between the two. Old school worked well enough back in the day and people like the look. It's odd that VO sells so many threadless stems that they wouldn't do the threadless option for this frame.
There is now a guest blog post by Nicholas Carmen (who blogs as Gypsy by Trade) on packing the Campeur bikepacking (MTB) style.
The excitement to load my bicycle with expedition-grade racks and plastic waterproof panniers has waned, and is countered by a fascination with ride quality, rather than load capacity. My cycling interests have wandered off-pavement and over mountains, onto the Great Divide Route and the Colorado Trail, and a lessened load has become my best friend. A lightweight bike allows greater access to new terrain and reduces fatigue on both rider and bicycle. A smaller load equates to a lessened frontal face and an aerodynamic profile in headwinds or when riding fast. The bike is easier to lift over fences and rocky trails; best of all, it is fun to ride. With a quiet lightweight bike and larger volume tires, I can go anywhere.
More at Velo Orange.
Andrew
Funny how stuff that's been proven effective and functional for decades is now relegated to "retro grouch" status even here in the touring forum.
Those "braze-ons" aren't brazed on. They're part of the casting, and should be strong enough for anything reasonable.
And threaded headsets are easy to work with, easy to repair, last more-or-less forever (if you're using roller bearings) and allow easy stem height changes.
IOW, "new" is not necessarily "better". Which doubtless gets me written off as a retro grouch. *shrug*
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