Fenders and Rams

[Ryan Ray]

My hanjos do not like my Ram with 32mm paselas. It worked but the crown was too shallow to mount the good way and the original brakes are pretty low.

Has anyone put the longboards on a ram?

[Rocky B]

I think it depends which Ram you have.

The early Rams (the orange and blue ones) were designed to fit 700x28s with fenders and 700x38s without fenders...while i've heard owners of the later Rams (the green ones), were able to fit 700x33s with fenders.

 

[J L]

Ryan

Some have installed longboards, or SKS fenders on their Ram but there are also many who were successful in installing metal fenders. 

There are a couple things one can do to improve the clearance for fenders.  What brakes do you have?  The stock Shimano brakes are nice at stopping but the Tektro 539s are a good upgrade because of how they are shaped.   There more clearance in both caliper width (wider tire can be installed without deflating) and fender clearance.  The second thing to try - if I understand correctly what you meant by "mount the good way" is to shorten the daruma bolt (a file used like a saw works well) then drill the mounting hole a little wider in order to use a recessed brake bolt in place of the nut. 

I worked with this same issue on my own Ram.  I am very pleased with the Tektro brakes and although I got fenders to fit on the bike I never ride with them.

Cheers
JL

On Sat, Nov 10, 2012 at 6:39 PM, Ryan Ray <ryan...@gmail.com> wrote:

My hanjos do not like my Ram with 32mm paselas. It worked but the crown was too shallow to mount the good way and the original brakes are pretty low.

Has anyone put the longboards on a ram?

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[Steve Wimberg]

I have Longboards and Tektro Silver (not sure what "R" number those equate to) brakes on my orange Ram, and it works great with 28m Paselas. I've also put on 32mm Schwalbe Marathons for a trip on the C&O Towpath, which worked fine too. The Schwalbes seemed a little tight, but I had no problems.

Steve

[ascpgh]

Ryan:

I use the older Shimano calipers, earlier than Longboard SKS fenders and stick with 28 tires. I guess I could get the Tektro calipers, switch to metal fenders and try 32s. Two observations about that; first is that hair-splittingly close fenders will mysteriously begin rubbing the tire from as little provocation as sitting in the sun on one side too long (thermoplastic ones IME) or climbing up a big hill out of the saddle. The other irritating thing is packing up with mud as mine did on the C&O Canal path one trip. I'm better off with an excuse to look at another frame to build up that can give me latitude into the 40s with tires. All the other stuff is all bonus to me. 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[Jim Cloud]

I don't think the Rambouillet was designed to accommodate fenders with
tire as wide as 32mm. Here's the tire test that was conducted some
time back by Bicycle Quarterly: http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/BQ64TireTest.pdf

This test specifically suggests that the Ram won't fit tires larger
than 28mm with adequate clearance for fenders. The article also
indicates that the Gran Bois Cerf 28mm tires were developed for users
who could not fit the larger Gran Bois Cypres 30mm tires on their
bikes.

My original Rivendell Road Standard is fitted with Honjo fenders and
I'm using the Pasela 28mm tires with rather tight clearances. I'm
quite certain a 32mm tire would not fit my bike with fenders mounted.

Jim Cloud
Tucson, AZ

[Bruce Herbitter]

Ram was spec'd "fits up to 38c tires or 35c with fenders." This from the 2007 "webalog. You can probably use the waybackmachine to go look.  I have 37s on my Ram right now and it is not maxed out.

38s also fit a Road or Road Standard, but only if you convert to 650B :)

[Jim Cloud]

With the bottom bracket drop of a Rivendell Road Standard it would not
be a good candidate for a conversion to 650B size. Bottom bracket
drop is 75mm, Rivendell recommends BB drop of 70mm or less for a 700c
to 650b conversion - http://www.rivbike.com/kb_results.asp?ID=64

Jim Cloud
Tucson, AZ

[Michael Hechmer]

There was a lengthy discussion of this topic last year.  One poster, I forget who, had expanded the territory under  honjos by using the L bracket in front, cutting a small slit in the fender and mounting the bracket inside the fender and away from the crown.  I believe that would make 32s feasible on my Ram, but I have since purchased some of the Grand Bois 29mm tires and found I like them much better than Pasellas.

Plastic fenders are OK, but I have found them more difficult to keep in alignment than metal fenders.

Michael

On Saturday, November 10, 2012 9:39:40 PM UTC-5, Ryan Ray wrote:

[Toshi Takeuchi]

I don't know about the Riv Road, but I just showed that the Ram (while not fitting in the recommended drop range for a 650b conversion), with 42mm 650b Hetre tires has a bottom bracket height of 260 mm, which is within the range of the acceptable minimum as defined by Riv. (see www.cyclofiend.com/Images/rbw/.../original_N_3_DROP.pdf)

The bike rides great and fits longboard fenders.  As the lucky owner of both a 54cm 650b A Homer Hilsen and a 54cm 650b Rambouillet conversion, I see no reason to wrangle with riding 32s vs 30 and getting fenders on the Ram (other than the change in wheels) when the conversion rides like a dream. I live in prime bike riding territory in the Oakland hills, and if anyone wants a test ride let me know.

Best,
Toshi Takeuchi in Oakland, CA

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[Steve Palincsar]

On Mon, 2012-11-12 at 17:06 -0800, Jim Cloud wrote:
> With the bottom bracket drop of a Rivendell Road Standard it would not
> be a good candidate for a conversion to 650B size. Bottom bracket
> drop is 75mm, Rivendell recommends BB drop of 70mm or less for a 700c
> to 650b conversion - http://www.rivbike.com/kb_results.asp?ID=64

Is it lower than a Rambouillet? Because people have successfully
converted those.

[James Warren]

And to strengthen the argument by 2 mm, the Ram's BB drop is 77 mm, while the aforementioned Riv has 75 mm.

 

This 650B Hetre Ram development is messing me up: temptation to do it versus "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." I'm right about at my 5 year anniversery of my commitment to Jack Brown greens on the Ram.

 

-Jim W.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Toshi Takeuchi
Sent: Nov 12, 2012 6:45 PM
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [RBW] Re: Fenders and Rams

I don't know about the Riv Road, but I just showed that the Ram (while not fitting in the recommended drop range for a 650b conversion), with 42mm 650b Hetre tires has a bottom bracket height of 260 mm, which is within the range of the acceptable minimum as defined by Riv. (see www.cyclofiend.com/Images/rbw/.../original_N_3_DROP.pdf)

The bike rides great and fits longboard fenders.  As the lucky owner of both a 54cm 650b A Homer Hilsen and a 54cm 650b Rambouillet conversion, I see no reason to wrangle with riding 32s vs 30 and getting fenders on the Ram (other than the change in wheels) when the conversion rides like a dream. I live in prime bike riding territory in the Oakland hills, and if anyone wants a test ride let me know.

Best,
Toshi Takeuchi in Oakland, CA

On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 5:06 PM, Jim Cloud <Clou...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> With the bottom bracket drop of a Rivendell Road Standard it would not
> be a good candidate for a conversion to 650B size.  Bottom bracket
> drop is 75mm, Rivendell recommends BB drop of 70mm or less for a 700c
> to 650b conversion  - http://www.rivbike.com/kb_results.asp?ID=64
>

[Bruce Herbitter]

The Road does well as a 650B convert. Several have posted to the list on how their bikes came out.  Here's mine showing RBW Maxy Fastys (36s) It has over 3,600 miles since the conversion.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9535930@N07/7030586049/in/set-72157612148124190

On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 5:06 PM, Jim Cloud <Clou...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> With the bottom bracket drop of a Rivendell Road Standard it would not
> be a good candidate for a conversion to 650B size.
>

[Jim Cloud]

I may have given the impression from my last post that I was
interested in converting my Riv Road to 650B. I have zero interest in
making a conversion on my Riv Road. It's a very nice bike as it's
currently equipped and the conversion to a 650B tire size isn't an
avenue I wish to pursue.

Jim

On Nov 13, 3:35 am, Bruce Herbitter <bruce.herbit...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The Road does well as a 650B convert. Several have posted to the list on
> how their bikes came out.  Here's mine showing RBW Maxy Fastys (36s) It has
> over 3,600 miles since the conversion.
>

> http://www.flickr.com/photos/9535930@N07/7030586049/in/set-7215761214...

[Leslie]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leslie_bright/4407972696/ 

Ram w/ 700x32's under aluminum VO fenders.  The rear was fine, but the front was tight;  ended up switching to a 28 up front.

SKS fenders, I think would have been easier to get to fit.   I think the people that have been running Jack BRowns under fenders have been either using the SKS fenders, or have modified the fenders to split at the brake.


+ + +


Toshi,

You've inspired me...   I've got a package from RBW enroute, new set of Tektro calipers (and a few other bits).  I've switched my Bombadil's tires out from the Neomotos to my set of Conti Tour-Rides.  Once my brakes arrive, I can swap calipers and borrow the Bombadil's Synergy wheels to check it out w/ my particular frame.   If it goes as well as yours did, my winter 650b wheelbuilding project will change course, instead of a 2nd set of heavy-duty wheels for the Bomba, I will return the Synergys to the Bomba and build a road set for the Ram, so I can switch between my 700c and the 650b...

-L

[James Warren]

Leslie, that is a great bike. So it has the Hilsen lugs and the mini-rack mounts. Was this one of the last Rams they sold, and were those features sold on more Rams than just yours? Or did you get the mini-rack mounts as a special add-on?

We had a discussion about rack mounts on the Ram a few months ago, and I could have sworn that I had seen at least one late model green one that had them for mini-racks. Great bike. Makes me want to ride right now.

-Jim W.

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jimcw...@earthlink.net

- Remember, my friends, it is better to feel fast than to be fast.

[Toshi Takeuchi]

Yes, beautiful bike and nice color. I hope the conversion goes well!

Toshi

[Leslie]

Thx guys! 


Jim,

It's one of the last ones, that I obtained through Mountain Sports Ltd in Bristol; I brought it home as a boxed frame.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leslie_bright/4320448965/in/photostream/  

Braze-ons were on there, didn't have them added.    In some of the RR's that were talking about the Ram as a coming model, it was mentioning a couple of models of the Long Shen crowns (are still used on some customs).   I asked Grant about the change from the earlier crowns to the later ones; he explained that they changed over now having a series of crowns for their normal models, the last of the Ram's, the Hilsen, the Atlantis, and even the Bomba... each different sizes/widths, as needed.

A bit ago, we'd started trying to figure out how many of each color were made, is up on the Cyclofiend page:
http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw/rambouillet/     Mine is the last one on that list.


Will report back....

[Ryan Ray]

That's my favorite color and you got the brazons!

I just bent my front fender a little and now have no rubbing.

Proof: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanrray/8179906675/

- Ryan

[Leslie]

Funny:  the green was may favorite color, until I saw the orange:  hence, my orange Bomba...

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/leslie_bright/6982957135/in/set-72157623199721925/)

Still love the green; but glad to have orange too. 

[Ryan Ray]

I really want a green Bomba too. http://www.flickr.com/photos/orthie251/4455401305/

- Ryan

[Ryan Ray]

Thanks all,

I've decided to go with upgrading my brakes to Tektro 539s, switching to P45 SKS fenders, and keeping my 32mm pasela TGs (jack browns once they wear out). If anyone wants to sell me some Tektro 539s cool but I'll pick up some on ebay tonight otherwise.

Thanks again,

- Ryan

[JL]

Ryan,  

Unless you find a used pair, buy the brakes from Rivendell.

Does this change mean that you will have a set of honjos up for sale?  I am looking for some.

JL 

[Ryan Ray]

Turns out I already had r538s on my bike so the brand new r539s are superflous right? Oops. Well I'll see tomorrow. Otherwise it's back to small fenders and 28s on my new-to-me Ram. But I think it's going to be fine. I'm getting an extra 5 mm of clearance by getting the p45s and the new brakes are known to work just fine with them. I might get sheldon's just for convenience.

I can't wait to ride this bike into the ground!

- Ryan

[Leslie]

Correct: the 539's are updated 538's, that have a bit of a lock on the quick-release on the caliper.   

I just switched my 538's for a set of 559's from RBW, so that I could switch to 650b's on my Ram as an experiment.

But you're right, most important is, ride it and enjoy....

[Ryan Ray]

For future reference the next time someone starts a thread like this: 559s, 32mm Pasela TGs, and SKS p45s on a Ram work great.

- Ryan