I took a nice long ride around town to feel out and tweek the seat and handlebar settings yesterday. Byron was swift, responsive and smooth all the way through about 15 miles in the afternoon. I will be working on the ride position for about a week or so before I commit to trimming the steerer tube. He is going to provide a great city ride and seemed quite comfortable at the coffee shop,
but true to his namesake will probably be more at home a the local pubs.
As I mentioned he is outfitted with several parts from VO. I had tried and liked the Porteur Rack , beautiful stem and fenders they make,
so I decided to give a couple of their more "gutsy" components a try. I bought both the bottom bracket unit and headset from them for this bike and am quite pleased. What attracted me to them both was the fact that they are made with "oversized" bearings. Now I'm no real technician and can't specifically tell you what that means in millimeters, but after 40 years on the street and adjusting and wearing out bearings that most cyclists don't ever touch, I think oversized is worth trying. The bottom bracket fit in just fine like it should with a normal Park tool. The headset required a little coaxing with a mallet and 2X4 to seat the bearing races, but was no real problem. The finish on the headset has a true "mirror finish" and is beautiful.
I suppose the proof will be miles down the road on the bearing issue, but I'm as pleased with both products as I have been with their more cosmetically inclined accessories.
I also tried their seat post, which has a little more setback than most and am really pleased with the double bolted design. This is the first I have used with more than one bolt and really like the action on this
The finish is first rate and the hinge provides true micro adjustment of the seat angle.
My tush is going to love this very soon and I keep finding more things to excite me about this build.
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