From Joe to Clem

[Derek Atkins]

Hi all. Picked up a lightly used Joe Appaloosa complete last year and enjoyed tinkering with bar set ups and cruising around town. However in the end it was too similar to the other bikes I have from a purpose standpoint. Luckily I picked up a blemished Clem Smith Jr from from the guys at Walnut Creek a few weeks ago.

Why go Clem? In the end, wider tires (I didn’t have anything between 50ish on my all road steel and my fat bike). I’m in West Michigan so we have lots of options from miles of gravel to rail trail to singletrack. The Clem lets me sit pretty in that 2.3 range, stretch out with those chainstays, and have a great all around town, gravel, singletrack dirt-forward option. Not that the Joe couldn’t, but I like the options the Clem give me to go with more rubber. I think the only things I’ll miss is the double top tube and those beautiful lugs :(

Now to some questions...
1) I’m poaching parts from the Joe when I can. I have the Silver triple from Riv. Will that work on the Clem or will the chainline and clearances get missed up because the Clem has a wider back end? Anyone know if I can switch the Silver triple to a double with some creative gearing using what I’ve got? Or am I better off finding a true double?

2) I have the stock AlexRim i19s but I’m worried about running wider than 2.1 tires on them. Should I be?

Thanks for the help!

And if anyone wants a 58cm Joe with choco-moose bars let me know!

[Joe Bernard]

Joe and Clem both use 135 OLN rear spacing so no problems with chainline.

You can do all sorts of double combinations with the two bigger rings on the Silver cranks, or set it up wide/low like Clem completes come with a granny ring, middle ring and outer guard. The completes use 38-24, which works great.

[Abcyclehank]

Hey Derek,
Happy to hear of another WM Rivendellian. Your logic makes sense to me. I have a Moonlander for winter riding, Bombadil with 2.3” tires, and a few 33mm go-faster versions.

If you know anyone looking for a clean XL Moonlander (2nd one) let me know; I have picked up a Jones and have a 2nd dyno hub fat tired wheel for it. Essentially making the Surly moveable.

Also if you want to part with your chocomoose cockpit I have practically every imaginable bar/stem combo you could desire.
Feel free to hit me up for other part desires or needs.
I can save you some money and will pay it forward to RBW with my next frame purchase.

Sincerely,
Ryan Hankinson
West Michigan

[Abcyclehank]

Derek,
Riv just posted a “new” low double version Silver crank with a chainguard. That would be brilliant on a Clem. Might be interested in your JA crank too.

Ryan

[Collin A]

Derek,

I agree on the rational for wider tires (right now its the only thing keeping me from buying a hillborne). 

In response to your questions:

1. When I ran 650bx2.4s on my 52 Clem, I had chain rub between the tire and chain using a 110 BB when in my lowest gear (throwing on a 113 BB solved that). Looking at my Clem right next to my computer, I see no issue with having a triple as my 38T chainring mounted inboard has 6.5mm of space between it and the chainstay and the bashguard mounted outboard has 11.7 mm of space between it and the chainstay (this is slightly smaller than a 44T chainring, so the clearances would shrink, but it should still work. Gearing wise, the wider and larger diameter tires will slow you down a smidge, so that 44 tooth may not see much use (and may be worth adding a chainguard instead).
2. The width issue I cannot respond to directly, but if you go tubeless, no more worries of pinch flats (not sure if those rims are tubeless compatible though).

Hopefully this helps

Collin

[Collin A]

I have the standard build silver wide-low double on mine, which is the same crank arm as the silver triple (i'm 95% sure)...

[Derek Atkins]

Thanks Ryan! I’ve seen a few Rivs bopping around and a guy from here in GR rode one at Barry Roubaix last year. The Joe was my first dip into the Riv world.

I have some Billie Bars and Bullmoose bars waiting in the wing, but I appreciate the offer on the other set-ups.

If there’s ever a West Michigan Riv gathering let me know!

[Derek Atkins]

Thanks everyone for the comments and help! This is my first time posting so I’m not sure if this is going to everyone or what. I think I’m going to keep the triple and see how it works. I put it on the Clem with no chain and it looks like there shouldn’t be clearance issues with the frame. I guess once I get wheels, tires, and a chain on I’ll know more.

I don’t really need the triple set up so worse comes to worse I guess I’ll set what I can do to make it a double if I run into any issues.

Derek

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