Velo Orange 'Campeur' vs. the Clem

[Wayne Naha]

In the interest of being thorough.  There was a thread comparing the Clem to the Surly LHT.  So what about this one?  It seems pretty cool.  Available ion a wide range of sizes, has a pump peg, kickstand plate and a variety of rack and fender mounts.  $520 for the frame.

Clearly, Clem is going to be a bit more stout.  But the Campeur is no lightweight, with a stated weight of 28.1 pounds.  I like the Clem's dropouts and rack mounts better.   Is there anyone who has ridden the VO?  Or had the chance to give a good looking over?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[drew]

My friend has a camper. Inspected but never ridden. Fiancé has a Clem proto. Inspected and ridden. Both are great looking bikes, and by all accounts great riding bikes. I think stoutness would be the main noticeable difference. The campeur reminds me of vintage touring bikes, like a miyata 1000 of something. Straighter too tube, drop bars in mind, classic looking. I can't really see wanting to take it on rough stuff, but I know people do.The Clem has more of a vintage mtb thing going on and is a bit chunkier all around, especially in the fork. I think the clearances are way bigger on the Clem. The parallels between a Clem and a lht are probably closer. In my mind the campeur is sort of like a sam. Again, a lot of conjecture here on my part

[Chris Lampe 2]

I engaged in a brief correspondence with Nicholas Carmen of the "Gypsy by Trade" blog and he said the Campeur was the best handling bike he'd ever ridden.  He also has several blog entries on the bike if you want to dig for them.  I believe the blog entries reference Santa Fe and summer but I might be mistaken about that.  

I think VO's Camargue would be a better comparison to the Clem and it has comparable tire clearances.  I believe the Campeur maxes out at 38mm.  Also, VO states that the Camargue was designed to handle just like the Campeur but with 60mm tires.  

If you scroll down a bit, you'll find some of Nicholas' comments on the Campeur:  https://gypsybytrade.wordpress.com/tag/vo-campeur/

[Dave Brandt]

I can only speak about the Campeur, which I owned for a couple thousand miles. I ran Schwalbe Little Big Bens (38mm)on it road nicely unloaded. Once loaded I felt the front had a lot of frame flex. I preferred that bike to have the load up front and since having a couple touring bikes since I would not recommend that Bike for loaded touring.
Nice commute bike for a reasonable price.

[Eric Daume]

Yeah, I think the Camargue is probably a closer analogy to the Clem than the Campeur.

I just put up a one year review of my Camargue, although reading it now, I realized I mostly talked about the Albastache bars (<-- Riv content):

http://bikingtoplay.blogspot.com/2015/06/velo-orange-camargue-one-year-review.html

Eric

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[Philip Kim]

Makes me think about mine a bit. Also agree that the headtube is too short. They could've just extended the headtube more so the bars could get higher without using so many spacers. Also which they had slacker seat tube, which could remedy the shorter top tube. I had to push my  C17 back a bit to get a better fit.

I went to the VO headquarters and the Campeur and Polyvalent were very tempting choice. The Campeur color is awesome, and has thoughtful brazeons, but I wanted more tire clearances so I opted for the Camargue. The Campeur can run 38-40s, but it seems more pavement-oriented.

[cyclotourist]

Score on the fez!!!

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Cheers,
David

Member, Supreme Council of Cyberspace

"it isn't a contest. Just enjoy the ride." - Seth Vidal

[Jack B]

I own the VO frame you mentioned, but only have been riding it a month or so. It's a good bike, maybe even a great bike, but it's no Riv.

Before I knew about the Clem, I convinced myself I couldn't afford a Riv, and bought the VO on sale in December and then built it up over the last few months as I found deals on new & used parts. Then just as I was finishing the build, I had a chance to test ride a Sam, and man I think I should've saved up for that bike instead! I haven't ridden a Clem, so can't honestly compare it with the Campeur, but have to assume it still has that "Riv feel" that we hear about on this group.

I have the VO set up with drop bars, after mostly riding an old Trek TX500 bike w/ Albatross bars. I have the drops raised up quite high with a technomic stem, but it still feels like a big reach.... maybe that's just because I'm used to the upright bars, but I didn't feel that way on a Sam with drops.

I think the Clem has the VO beat on aesthetics, hands down. Better looking fork, lugs, colors, nice looking swoop on the seat stays, just more handsome all around. Mine is the 63cm size and it's funny to me how it doesn't look like a tall frame... maybe that's good, but I think I'd rather see a taller headtube and a sloping top tube, which would help get the bars up too. I think a tall Riv (e.g. 62cm Sam) does this really well. Clem doesn't have that size option, so maybe not a fair comparison there.

All of that said, the VO is great at a lot of things: Carries a load, no probs with heelstrike on my panniers. All kinds of thought put into it about racks, fenders, wheel clearance, etc.  It's worth mentioning that it is built for Canti brakes, which could be a deal-breaker for some. I think you could swap out for centerpulls up front, but the rear would be trickier.

[Sarah Bogdanovich]

I used to have a 63cm campeur and it was great. Very nice fit/finish on the frame. The only reason I sold it is because I found a deal on my dream frame - a STT Rivendell Hillborne in orange. Tire clearance on the VO will be less than you find on the Clem. I don't think you will regret the campeur, but it isn't a rivendell :)