It is official. Spring has sprung. Today was sensational! As soon as I'd got the domestic chores out of the way (ok, some of them), I grabbed the bike and headed out in a t-shirt and shorts to enjoy the sun. It was great so great to feel the warmth of the sun on my face, and the wind in my hair after months of wrapping up! A combination of the day-job, and a bad back have made it difficult to make the progress I'd have liked to with Such, so this weekend I was determined to get some of those issues ticked off the to-do list.
First up was fitting of 'guards and a rack - though I must admit to an ulterior motive: I do plan to go on tour later in the month.
I started with the rack but soon hit a snag, the rack I had chosen, a Tortec Tour Ultralite, would not fit without a compromise of a 2mm spacer each side - this being a result of a little fouling between the rack leg and the dropout. A Tubus Vega with "plate ended" legs as opposed the the "squashed tube" of the Tortec would fit perfectly, so I'll swap the rack for one of these in the meantime. That said, for production, the rack mount point will be modified a little to accommodate Tortec-style rack legs.
With that disappointment, I moved onto the 'guards (or fenders for our friends Stateside!). This was a pleasure. The design of the mounting points requires a little more effort in fitting the rack, but the end result is arguably a lot tidier and crucially does not interfere with the rack mounts (the disc caliper already being well out of the way).
I'm particularly chuffed with how the seatstay bridge mount point has turned out. It does require drilling the 'guard, but it eliminates the nasty bridge bracket that is required when attaching to a brake bolt, and also results in a much more rigid (and consequently rattle free) installation. But mostly (I think) it just looks really tidy.
Purely by coincidence, the Kinesis DC19 fork uses a similar arrangement with the 'guard mounting points halfway up the inside of the fork blades, so this maintains a visual symmetry. Neat, huh? We are looking at alternative fork options, including steel and Ti, hopefully we will be able to replicate this feature.
With disc brakes, plenty of clearance for cushy, pothole-friendly rubber even with full 'guards (32c Vittoria Randonneur Hypers on there at the moment, and loads more room), a completely fuss-free, clean belt-drive, single speed drivetrain (alternatively Alfine - belt or chain, or conventional derailleurs), a silky Ti frame and ready to tour or 'cross if that takes your fancy - is this perhaps the coolest commuter for London?
