Compass, to me, seems like it's in a whole 'nother realm of quality and care. I don't feel that it is affected. Just made with extreme care ... and extremely expensive as a result!!!

"Affectated?" Huh? Here in my trailer park we do without the extra syllable. Pretty sure the authors of the OED do too ...

I must say, that's a very nice color. BTW, is that bike basically a hardtail MTB? To quote Boston Harbor Sunfish Guy: "What IS that thing???"

Which part of the trailer would that be? Seriously...I don't like VO's faux retro looking stuff. They had a display at the recent Philly Bike Expo and it made me like the look even less. I do have a set of racks I bought from Rivendell. They are made for Rivendell by Nitto. Functional. Incredibly strong. Good looking. None of the faux retro. But very expensive as racks go.

How much torque are you putting on the bolts? Unlike a single-bolt post, you don't need a huge amount of torque to hold the saddle in place. In fact, too much torque increases the static load on the bolts, making it more likely that a dynamic load (i.e. pothole) will increase the load beyond the point the bolt can handle.

N.B. I haven't used Velo-Orange's post, just two-bolt posts from Campagnolo, Zeus, and Sakae Ringyo.

Thanks. It's a bike like the Salsa Fargo, designed for drop bars and full size 29er knobbies. It doesn't have the long suspension corrected fork like the Fargo which I think looks a lot better. The Specialized AWOL is a more direct comparison but it doesn't have the tire clearance of the Piolet. I really like the AWOL but didn't feel compelled to buy one. The moment I saw the Piolet I knew it was the one. It ticked all the boxes, chromoly, fat tires, retro vibe, disc brakes, and that fabulous color.

PS Here's a link to a thread that I posted in the touring forum about my Piolet. More pics and description of the build.

https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/10...ge-piolet.html

Somebody opened a zombie thread to rag on a bike company? WTF.
Hey that blue bike, you bought the frame 2 sizes too small.

The bike is the large size with a 59cm effective top tube length and a 90mm stem. I am 6' tall. All the Piolets that I've seen have that big stack of spacers under the stem. It's just the way it's built with a short non-suspension corrected fork and low top tube. It can be viewed as a design compromise but it has no ill effects on the handling and there are two advantages. One is that the front will ride a little better with the long steerer tube. The other is maintaining the handlebar to seat relationship when running a larger front tire, for instance, a 29x3 (PLUS size) on the front and a 29x2.4 on the rear. The 29x3 stands about 2" taller than the 2.4.

On this bike, my regular commuter, I have the following VO parts:
- Grand Cru 110 crank
- Tall Stack stem
- Smooth Al 26" x 60mm fenders
- Constructeur front rack

Crank: Like it. The style is not what I was hoping for, was looking for more like a vintage Sugino/Shimano/Campy look but I like the ratio with the 48t big ring, and it shifts just fine, even with STI shifters. It needed a longer BB than suggested but that's more about chainstay clearance on my frame than fault of VO product.

Stem: Love the looks, but any bars I've tried with it end up creaking. I think due to the stem, the face plate seems to bottom out on the stem. And/or the single bolt clamp to the steerer. Others have not reported this issue. I imagine I could sand the face plate down a bit and solve the issue, but meh...

Fenders: Love 'em, recommend them. A bit fussier to set up than other kinds but worth it. There is not one thing wrong with them.

Rack: Rock solid, no issues, love the style. Has served me well and I like that it includes an eyelet on which to mount my dyno-powered headlight.

VO parts ordered for the bike but taken off:

Canti brakes. I think they were the MkII and they are into a new iteration. I switched to V-brakes for more powah, liked the finish and the novel way the pads locked down after adjusting. One flaked out on me, probably due to poor maintenance, and rubbed a rim until the rim failed. Totally my fault for not paying attention and adjusting spring tension.

Saddle, model 6. Wanted to try a Brooks Swallow without the brooks price. Too narrow, mission accomplished. Otherwise no issues with the saddle.

I like their stuff and that someone is doing vintage repro items at reasonable prices. Also used their Porteur and Postino handlebars on other builds and liked them -- I don't think anyone else is doing a Porteur-bend bar like theirs, so there's that. If I lived in slightly hillier terrain, I'd consider swapping to their 50.4 46/30 crank.

Nitto sometimes wins no style points, but their stuff is incredibly well made. Light, very strong, and with precise tolerances. First-rate company.

Yep. The racks (the Nitto Big front and rear) are just that. They are even nickel plated. They were going for $190 each when I bought them. I think they are up to $210 these days.

Yeah, I see stunts like that, and I'm less likely to think what's wrong with the company and more likely to think what's wrong with OP (or, in this case, [MENTION=423766]cicliste666[/MENTION] )

Nitto products are worth every penny. They don't affect any sort of mythology or anything else. They just design and make absolutely first rate products. For one thing, their racks are much lighter and much much stiffer than the VO racks. I believe that's because they are cro-mo and in fact in some cases are butted, whereas VO's are just 316 stainless (that being said, I guess SS is a good material for a rack). Now, I wish Nitto would address the klunky look of some of its products, but that's pretty secondary. I had a Nitto rear rack a while ago and it was essentially integral with the frame. That's not the case with the VO offerings once you put a few pounds of stuff on there.

The most killer of all are the Nitto lugged stems and seatposts. Never seen them for sale but I have seen them on bikes. Anyone know where they can be had? I'm sure they are very costly but they sure do look the part.

5nm as appropriate for M5 bolts.

With breakage just-riding-along I suspect a fatigue failure.

Those are M6 bolts and should take a lot more torque than that. 5 newton-meters? Half a kg from 39" away? Not remotely tight enough!!!

The ones on my seatpost were M5 bolts. Grade 10.9. 6.6NM for 75% of proof load clamping force (lubricated).

Tiny little things.