Jeff Lyon 650B L'Avecaise - it's been a long time coming!

[somervillebikes]

My 650B L'Avecaise finally hits the road after nearly a year languishing in my basement due to several build revisions and delays. I thought I'd give a summary of the build and my impressions after the first hundred miles.

62x57 main triangle has 8/5/8 down tube and 7/4/7 top tube. 72/73 ST/HT angles, taken from my Rawland Stag which work great for me. Fork was built with Kaisei Toei Special fork blades and Grand Bois crown. Trail is somewhere around 32mm, slightly lower than the Stag’s 37mm.  I don’t know the rest of the tube specs and I don’t care, I let Jeff make all the decisions based on how I wanted to use the bike. I had the usual assortment of braze-ons built into the frame, plus some extras for generator wiring and a modified seat-stay mounted Lezyne pump. Paint is a vintage VW/Audi blue, and was done by Keith Anderson. Initially I was going to set up the bike with a stock stem, but decided after receiving the frame and lusting over the VW blue in person to have Jeff build me a custom stem, paint matched to the frame. The Lezyne Road Drive pump is also paint matched.

Built it up with Shimergo 10-speed 11-28, coupled to a Rene Herse 42-28 double on a Phil 113mm Ti BB. This is my first ever build with Campy Ergos, and so far I like them but am still getting used to needing to use my thumb. Shifting with the JTek shiftmate has been flawless.  Wheels are Pacenti PL23s built on SonDelux/White T11 hubs/Compass BabyShoe extralights,  taken from my Rawland Stag (still no cracks on the version 1 PL23).  Campy Record Ti seat post, Berthoud Ti saddle, Grand Bois parallel Maes bars, Grand Bois M13 rack, Honjo hammered's and cheapo Tektro cantis (which work just great for me) finish it off.  Weight with everything except the h-bar bag and water bottles is 23.5 lb.

The bike has exceeded my expectations. It climbs great, feels light on its feet and is completely stable. As fast as the Rawland. Not a hint of shimmy, I can ride it no hands at any speed. Not sure if it's because of Jeff Lyon's design, the Miche roller bearing HS, or both, but it's a relief not to have shimmy. The fork is compliant, and I haven't experienced fork judder despite cheap cantis on such a lightweight fork with long steerer (1” threadless, standard thickness). It basically feels like my Rawland, without the shimmy and brake judder, and with a more compliant front end. The Rawland is a great climber and a fast bike, and I wanted to recapitulate that with the Lyon. It also improves upon the Rawland in its feel with a full front load— maybe it’s the slightly lower trail, maybe something else, but I can barely tell the difference between no load and 5 lb in my front bag.  With the Rawland, the weight didn’t hurt the handling much, but the more weight that was in the bag, the more the steering felt sluggish.

The bike will be on its way to Brian Chapman shortly to have a modified VO decaleur made to fit my larger Berthoud GB28— no stock decaleurs will work properly with this bike and that bag. Until then, I’m using the tiny Berthoud mini86 that doesn’t use a decaleur (I love this bag, it’s super secure with a toe clip strap, but it’s not always big enough). 

Pics:

No shimmy at any speed:

For lighting, I'm using the new "unswitched" hanging Edelux II mounted to the M13, controlled by a stem switch that Tom Matchak and I co-developed (we're manufacturing them in small batches to sell-- product and website launch are going to be real soon).

Cockpit with stem switch:

Sharper shot of the stem switch (shameless plug for upcoming product launch :-)

Generator wiring:

This Pixeo generator taillight is getting replaced with my own CNC-milled taillight soon (another new item I will be selling alongside the stem switch… coming soon!):

[Justus Gunther]

The painted to match stem looks great. I like how you used cloth tape at the end of your bar wrap. I was just thinking this morning how bland electrical tape looks, I might have to try it.

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[Guy Washburn]

Stunning bike Anton!

Cheers to Jeff's building and your integration.

Beautiful work!

Guy

[Michael Arciero]

Thanks Anton. I've been anticipating your review; especially the comparison  of ride and performance with the Stag.

Mike 

[John]

That looks very nice.  Can you comment on how much clearance you have in the cranks/chainstays/tires area?

[Richard]

As I remember about 6mm clearance with RH crankarms. Very low Q factor, which I like.

[Richard]

Clearances are just right with 42mm tires.

[somervillebikes]

John, Richard,

My L'Avecaise crank arm clearances appear identical to yours in your photo, but I have a little bit more tire-to-stay clearance with 650x42B Baby Shoe extralights.

Anton

[Richard]

On Monday, June 15, 2015 at 11:39:36 AM UTC-4, somervillebikes wrote:
> John, Richard,
>
>
> My L'Avecaise crank arm clearances appear identical to yours in your photo, but I have a little bit more tire-to-stay clearance with 650x42B Baby Shoe extralights.
>
>
> Anton
>
>
> On Monday, June 15, 2015 at 8:19:26 AM UTC-4, Richard wrote:On Monday, June 15, 2015 at 6:19:35 AM UTC-4, Richard wrote:
>
> > As I remember about 6mm clearance with RH crankarms. Very low Q factor, which I like.
>

My setup is similar to Antons. Shimergo 9 speed with a RH crank 46×30. Tektro 720 cantilever brakes. Placenti rims with White Industry hubs, and 42mm Hetres. The superlight steel tubing makes the bike easy to "plane". No complaints on the livily ride.

[Philip Kim]

That stem and stem cap combo is so good!