AHH max tire width and touring ability

[Nathan Phipps]

Hiya. Long-time fanboy, first-time owner here. 

I’ve recently acquired a newer MIT A Homer Hilsen as my first Riv -  very fun bike, and I suspect it will help me explore which Riv is for me - and maybe it’s the AHH. We shall see. I tend to prefer cantis, and all things equal, the Sam would likely be my choice, but I got a great deal, so I went for it. 

Query 1: In any case, I’m curious what tire/fender/brake combos folks are running to maximize tire width (I *think* it’s 42 w/ fenders) - I’d also be curious on max tire width without fenders (I’d guess a true 47mm). It’s got the 41.5 (or so) Fatty Rumpkins on currently, and I may just add some VO Zeppelins and go from there. 

Query 2: Have folks loaded their AHHs for touring? If so, with how much gear? The latest Riv catalog claims 40lbs as a the right max load (set against 55lbs I believe for the Sam). I did an S24O this weekend and had roughly 40lbs before I added firewood. Handled fine, and I know weight rating are generally conservative (though maybe not Riv’s?)

Many thanks for the information.

-Nate
Ann Arbor, MI

[Nathan Phipps]

Ok, photo for some attention ;-)

[Shoji Takahashi]

Hi Nate,

Looks great! I have a Toyo-built AHH. Clearance is 38 with fenders. (I've never tried to max out tires w/o fenders.)

I've done light camping with AHH. For me, AHH did get squirrelly with heavier loads that my Hunqapillar could handle without fuss.

Tailwinds,

Shoji

Arlington MA

[Bill Lindsay]

Be careful with that basket setup.  The diving board on your front rack is already sagging.  Run only really light loads in that basket, unless you invest in a sturdier front rack.  That looks like a Nitto M18.  Something like a Marks Rack could be run with 2 pairs of struts and would be much much sturdier.  Something that attaches down low on the fork tips would be even better.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Nathan Phipps]

Good looking out, Bill. I picked up the bike on Friday and had to throw together a camping setup for Saturday, so there were some compromises - you know you have good bikes friends when you can source an M-18 and a basket in 90-minutes! That said, I would like a sturdier setup.

Let me know if anyone is holding at sturdier rack!

[aeroperf]

Close to what you want, though probably not exactly:
I have cats, so I took a couple of boxes of kitty litter and broke it up into plastic bags, each with two pounds.  I then tried various loads, front and rear, on my Homer and on my Sam.
What worked best for me on the Homer was no more than 10 lb. on the front and about 25 lb. on the rear.  Anything more on the front didn’t feel good to me.  I could probably have put about 5 more pounds on the back.
It was set up with Continental RideTour 650b x 37C (584x40) tires and Velo Orange Zeppelin 52 fenders, Nitto front and an Expedition rear rack.  This is a 2019 MIT Homer 51.
Here it is as a work in progress, so you can see how the fenders look.

[James Warren]

Nate,

You can do a huge range of things on that Homer. It's outstanding. And it looks like you've already proven that with the firewood S240. Go for it. And if you reach a limit, you'll know it* and find a solution when you encounter the limit. (*Because, you've already indicated that you are used to perceiving handling.)

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[James Warren]

Ah yes, Bill advises well. What you can do for safety while you have this rack is loop a strap from the rack to the stem and make sure it has tension. (I use a John's Irish strap for this purpose.) Then if there is any rack breakage, the rack won't move down and stop the wheel and cause a crash.

And your bike photo is amazing. It makes me want to go ride. Your bike model is what the Bike Snob has been enjoying for maybe a year now, and he's done quite a few blog entries about it.

-Jimmy

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[Nate Phipps]

Thanks, Jimmy et. al. - I'm looking forward to putting it through the paces! I'll be doing an unloaded gravel ride this week as a point of contract to a loaded night out. 

And I do plan to add the obligatory tombstone-to-bar strap as soon as I can find on long enough. 

[Nate Phipps]

Reporting back: I was able to get VO Zeppelins to fit up with 41.5 (or so) Fatty Rumpkins that measure 40 on the calipers. Clearance is not ideal, but no rubbing at all - totally functional. With the Tektro 556s, I had to use the L bracket instead of my usual DIY fender daruma to allow the front of the front fender to clear the tire. 

I did a 60-mile moderately paced mixed surface ride this past Friday and certainly did not feel like I was held back by the Riv. The experiment continues!

-Nate

Please forgive brevity and typos. This message was sent from a phone. 

On Sep 29, 2020, at 7:35 PM, Nate Phipps <nphi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks, Jimmy et. al. - I'm looking forward to putting it through the paces! I'll be doing an unloaded gravel ride this week as a point of contract to a loaded night out. 

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