New Frek in Town

[Steve Frey]

I needed a winter project so I decided to build myself a French Porteur-inspired, 650b Frek. Actually it would be more accurate to say this was inspired by some of the modern 650b front loading, urban bikes by Mitch Pryor and others rather than by any actual French porteurs. Above all, I wanted something totally functional for commuting, hauling groceries, and running errands around town rather than a faithful reproduction of any particular historic bike or stye of bike.

It started out as a fairly beat up old Trek 420 and a spare fork from a Rawland Stag. It has a few new parts, but much of the build came from the donor Trek and spare parts I had in the house. Some highlights:

-          MAFAC Raid centerpulls on brazed on posts

-          Dyno-hub powered front and rear lights

-          2 x 8 drivetrain with crappy Suntour front and rear derailleur controlled by old MTB friction thumbshifters

-          Velocity A23 rims

-          Soma B-line 650b x 38 mm tires (they actually measure about 36 mm on the A23s)

-          VO Postino handlebars

-          Soma Deluxe Porteur rack

-          VO fenders

 

In addition to the brazed on posts for the MAFAC Raids, I also added rack mounts to the fork, split cable brake stops on the top tube, a rear brake cable hanger, fender mounting bosses, and provisions to internally run the wiring for the lights. And of course all of that necessitated a new finish. I went with powder coat since this bike is all about utility.

 

So far I’m pretty happy with how this all turned out, though I may end up threading the steerer and converting it to a threaded headset and quill stem for purely aesthetic reasons (the Rawland fork has a 1” threadless steerer).

 

I’ve only had it together for about a week, but it’s already getting ridden regularly as my commuter, grocery getter and around town errand runner. It rides really comfortably on the B-lines and handles well, even with a couple bags of groceries on the front.

Steve

[rcnute]

Tasteful and refined!

Ryan

[somervillebikes]

+1 on what Ryan said!

I also have Postino bars on my 650B porteur conversion and find they provide a very nice riding position for urban errands, without being too upright.

Anton

[tymn...@gmail.com]

Another Frek, nicely done.  I'm hoping this winter to get at least one Trek frame converted over to 650b.  I've just got so many projects in the works.

Tim Fricker

Vienna, VA USA

On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 2:18:32 PM UTC-5, Steve Frey wrote:

[David Cummings]

Love it! Thoughts on your choice to put the light on the side rather than in the center of the rack?

[Nick Favicchio]

Steve, was it the Frek that was in BQ that got jacked or was that another one? Ever get that one back?

Sharp bike! I've got a Trek 620 I keep meaning to put to the torch, thanks for more ideas :).

[Steve Frey]

Thanks! Yeah, I really love these h-bars. They're low and forward enough to let you get out of the saddle and honk when necessary. I'm still more of a drop bar guy overall, but for running around in the city, these are great.

[Steve Frey]

In the center, that geyser of water that shoots off of the front tire when it's raining is all flying back right into the light. Basically the center is the dirtiest place to put it. I think the light is also much better protected from bumps and knocks and tip-overs on the side. I've ridden in the dark a bit and it lights the road very well as it is. I suppose it's a little less visible from the right side, but it's visibility from the back and front that matter most.

Steve

[Steve Frey]

The Frek featured in BQ is still in my fleet. It's my favorite bike and gets ridden a ton. The stolen one was the first Frek I ever did and it was never recovered, but that's okay because it gave me the excuse build the one featured in BQ which improved on the first one in several ways.

Steve