By the way Jipe, I tried to change the thread title, but it doesn't seem to be allowed. It was a mistake to include the word "incoming", in hindsight.

I swapped out the stock saddle for my trusty Brooks B67. The nose of the Porter saddle wasn’t really long enough to help carry the bike anyway. May as well go for a bit of compliance instead.

I also added the bottle pouch, as the top tube braze-ones are busy holding my FoldyLock holster.

Lastly, the flat kit at the top/back of the seat tube.


8 miles of commuting and 22 miles with the bike club unpowered this evening. What a great bike!

Comfort is definitely not a strong point of the Vektron due to its very stiff aluminum frame and very stiff straight aluminum fork.

The wide balloon Big Apple help but aren't sufficient to make it comfortable.

I mounted a Cane Creek Eesilk+ seatpost which isn't too heavy and ESI Fatty's grips that weight less and provide a much higher shock absorption than the original Ergon grips.

The Tern Go-To Bag arrived today for the front luggage truss. It seems very well-made and well-designed, as it should be, for $155.

I’ll use it as my work bag for the rest of the week.

Looks nice, but I'm predicting "Final form 2," "Final final form," "the REAL FINAL FORM," etc 😂

Klick Fix compatible bags come in plenty of sizes, and if you buy the adaptor plates you can turn any bag you like into a bike bag.

This particular bag started life as a LowePro compact camera bag. I picked it up in a secondhand store for a couple of dollars and bolted an adaptor plate to its back. It’s just large enough for basic tools, lights and an inner tube.

That looks dialed-in bro! Superb commuting setup, better than panniers, and I'm a diehard pannier fan, but those are quick on and off, and more usable in a work environment than carrying a pannier. Front bag weight not being steered mass, should also be better.

Nice. I will consider that as I have a ton of top-quality camera bags bought cheap at the local thrift/secondhand store. I like that, your superwide 1X gearing (what teeth are your low and high cogs?), and your rack stays at the proper angle for best fore/aft stabilization. I don't like that the government(?) riveted on an ID tag into a hole drilled into your frame tube, but I guess that is the lowest stressed part of the frame. Is that for licensing/registration, or theft recovery?

Hahahahahaha the tag is an old one from a long defunct Belgian cycle registration scheme, found on the cobbles at a flea market in Brussels. I picked it up as a souvenir and to point at when ranty drivers go off on one about how all cyclists should be registered/insured/number plated/branded with an iron/flogged in the stocks. The mounting point is one of four screws that Tern for reasons unknown fitted into the central beam of their Link frame, two on each side.

As for the gears, the cassette is a Microshift Advent 9 speed 11-46T block. At the time that photo was taken (it’s the most recent one I’ve got showing that bag, despite it being my most used one) I still had the standard Tern 52T chainset fitted. Since then I’ve swopped it out for a 47T Litepro chainset.

Tag: Funny.

11-46, ooo that's nice, about exactly the same range as my 2X setup on my folder. And only 9 speeds, economy. Good to know if I need a lower-low. I just need to upgrade the cassette body from 7 speed to 8+ speed.

Thanks.

Post-trip report:

The Vektron performed well. I rode more gravel than I thought I would and some of it quite steep. The relatively slick tires weren't ideal on this. I had to walk up one hill and had to be careful descending it in the other direction.

We rode through some rain too, so the chain was filthy when I came home. It had the original grease on it, so I suppose that was to be expected. I gave it a proper cleaning with the Park Tools Cyclone Chain Scrubber filled with Vitamin G. (gasoline) It works a LOT better than water & dish soap that Park recommends. When I'm done, I pour it out on some weeds in the driveway cracks.

Next was a citrus degreaser sprayed on the sprockets. The jockey wheels in the derailleur were particularly bad. Finally, a dry-type chain lube.

I won't ride this bike much in gravel from now on, if I have a choice. The Aventon Level.2 is better at that, just because its chain/derailleur is so much higher.

My daughter was riding the single speed Lectric XP Lite folder. It's about the same weight, but is bulkier. Its battery is a little smaller (though higher voltage) but she used a LOT more juice, as the motor was doing most of the work on every climb. That's not a great bike for really hilly areas.

Folding and loading this bike is much easier than the Lectric too, thanks to the magnets and rubber strap to hold it closed.

It's about due for a tensioning of the shift cable, as it barely will go into the low gear now.

Uftda. This works much better with just a rag.

That's the degreaser I used on the sprockets; didn't even need a rag. But it's a LOT more per gallon than Vitamin G.

I may try brake cleaner next time, since I got the guard that protects the brakes and tires from dripping and overspray. (although it doesn't feel as nice on the throat and lungs as that nice degreaser)

The chain lube I used is also from that brand.

Gasoline: Be careful, that might damage the plastic parts of the chain cleaner over time, if not dissolving, making more brittle; I had that happen with a nalgene bottle with 92% alcohol which the material was actually approved for. Plus it contains benzene which is dangerous stuff. My local Goodwill store often has at the end of summers, mostly-full bottles of tiki-torch fuel that people don't want to store until next summer, which is 98% mineral oil (very gentle and low evaporation) with 2% citronella or lemongrass oil, which easily dissolves the 75W-90 gear lube I currently use on my chain, and doesn't harm the Park chain cleaner. I'm planning to go back to melted wax next season.

The gas worked so well I would be happy to replace the chain cleaning machine every couple years. Your point about benzine being hazardous is well-noted though.

Mineral oil or diesel would work great, (I used to use it on motorcycle chains) but they don't leave the chain clean afterwards; there is a different kind of oil residue on it. I'd rather have it 100% clean so the only lube on it is what I put on for the pivots.

Re. melted wax, are you talking about the exotic bike-specific $ilca stuff or something more cheap & common?

Yes, mineral oil leaves a residue, which is fine if re-oiling it. For doing wax, I'll do a final clean with something cleaner.

For 15 years I used melted candle wax on my race bike, my first new good bike, for cleanliness. Relubed about monthly. When I moved, I got lazier and used various oils, plus thinking the chain would last longer, plus it rains here more. On the race bike, I was clueless about checking chain stretch, I continued using that same chain until I noticed slight cupping on the rear cogs, which, being UniGlide (no hyperspaceglide ramps), I simply reversed, and put a new chain on it, same time as trading out the biopace double crank for a triple, as I had moved from flatland to hill country. The original nickle-plated Shimano chain, I must have put 75,000 miles on it. When I pulled it off, I noticed cupping on the chain rollers, though didn't notice earlier because those rollers were still glass smooth on the outside.

Anyway, fast forward to recent years, and tests on Zero Friction Cycling (?) showed that simple candle wax gave better chain life than oil lubes (though expensive formulations were better, I think with PTFE and moly or tungsten disulfide powders). So, planning to go back to wax; Cleaning the chain with oil is easy, but it really sludges up the cogs, chainrings, and derailleur pulleys over time, a lot more effort to clean, which I theorize is due to the metal particle dust in suspension, turns the oil to paste. I think with wax, that dust just gets shed, this based on the fact that I saw very little in metal powder at the bottom of the melted wax, same batch, 15 years. Also, I theorize that melted wax, once cooled, forms an additional "bushing" inside that oil lacks, which may help durability. Anyway, I'm going back to simple candle wax, I also have a block of paraffin wax I think, cheap at goodwill, I think it's canning wax or similar, same stuff I think.