My Darling Clementine: A Saga
Mark in Beacon
Warning: VLPA (Very Long Post Ahead. i.e., A Saga.)
I used various rationalizations for buying my Clementine, despite having a perfectly functional—fabulous actually—mixte for commuting and getting about town: it could accommodate significantly wider tires; it had a much lower step-through height; it had a wider gear range. But truthfully, of course, I would have survived just fine with all these “drawbacks” on my Le Tour.
Ironically, the one thing that probably made me decide to go ahead, other than falling in love with the Clem concept and always having been a big Rivendell supporter, was the fact that it was being sold as a complete bike. (I missed that window when it was offered as a frame only—in fact I jumped aboard at the last minute, when they announced that there were still a few bikes left.) My life these days does not allow for much recreational riding or futzing around with bike builds, so this would alleviate the parts selection and build process. I say ironically because, as fate would have it, my Clementine was damaged in shipping. So not only did I have to build up the bike, I had to tear it down and ship it as well.
Rivendell was very gracious, and compensated me for my
wrench time. Plus I now have the cream fill details. Still, though I don’t plan
to ever buy another bicycle for myself, new or used, when all is said and done,
a frame only would have been the way to go for someone with lots of parts lying
around. Although I don’t consider myself particularly finicky, there are
certain things I apparently cannot abide, such as grey vinyl saddles. I am
pretty sure if it had been black, I could have handled it. And in fact, I like
the stock classic cruiser style grips and the black plastic pedals.
The only reason I changed out the pedals is I happened to have some VO Sabots not seeing a lot of use, and I have a weird aversion to pedals without wrench flats. Still, they may get switched back in at some point. Then there is the matter of building a new front wheel for my dyno lighting system, and the likelihood that I will put on some Compass Switchbacks (along with Orange Seal) this spring. My bike came with one stock Kendra tire and one Big Ben. Apparently the rear got slashed during a packing mishap at RBWHQ—yikes, maybe my Clementine was jinxed from the beginning! Anyway they are okay, but do seem a bit slow in places where I notice nice tires roll more freely. It will be fun to see what kind of difference they will make.
Shifters and Handlebars
The Sun Race shifters that all the Riv folk love did not
work for me (see the thread “Clemmin’ Around”. The latest theory posited is that these shifters may not play nice with the Altus derailleur.) I changed those out for a set of Suntour stem-mounted power
shifters, which have Clem-like proportions. And I am still closer to the gear
changers than on my Le Tour, which features a single downtube-mounted Campy
shifter! The newly freed-up handlebar real estate is now home to a mirror and a
bell.
While the power shifters work perfectly, the range is inhibited by the V design of the bullmoose bar combined with the forward orientation of the shifter clamp, so I cannot get to the biggest cog in back and stay there. Still, considering these things were designed to shift five or six speeds, and they are shifting 7 of 8 over half their normal arc, not bad. And that low gear is one that seems unfathomable to me. With a 42 x 28 low and 7 speeds overall on the Le Tour being fine for my immediate habitat, I’m not too concerned. But on principle I will eventually switch these to something that can shift into that last gear. Either that or change the handlebars. I plan to give these a good six months of every day riding. Right now I like them much of the time, but that extra couple degrees of uprightedness vs. the Albas really does make a difference, and I sometimes miss that leetle bit of lean. It’s true you can grab the crossbar on the bulls for a more aggressive position, so, we’ll see how it goes. I have a pair of non-bullmoose Boscos that would allow me to use these shifters, but I don’t want to switch, cause I feel like the Bosco bullmoose is almost an integral part of this bicycle’s design.
Saddle
That tiny bit extra upright might make a wider saddle work. I love the B67s that come on the old Raleighs (though I have broken two at the nose, probably due to leather neglect over the years). I recently sold a B68 after trying it for 5 minutes on the Le Tour and not liking it, but I wonder if it might be good for the Clem. To play it safe I went with the B17 width. I asked a friend if the springs on his B17 Flyer made a difference and he said yes, though many say no. Whatever. I think springs just look right on the Clementine. I thought I felt a little give when I threw some butt weight at it today. In any event, while I wanted to give the cheapo seat a chance, but I just could not do it. I'm a leather man.
Racks and Bags
When I saw the new Surly beer rack, I figured it would be a
perfect match for the Clems. I did spend
the better part of a day putting it on the bike. It seems over-engineered, and I
found it a pain in the neck working with the various strut attachment clamp
systems.It also required some vice for a bit of judicious angling of a few strut tubes. In the end, it sits high, but I think it is designed for braze-ons
lower down the fork. I have room to make it just a little less off kilter, but if you are not careful, you can lose the whole setup, and that happened once too often. I was happy I could get it to work and (barely) play nice
with the V-brakes. It is probably overkill for my needs, and it is not light,
but it is Clemmy. May come in handy some day.
Another justification for the Clem was that, with the wider
gearing, it would become my Burley Piccolo engine. I had to drill out the holes
slightly on the bottom of the Moose Rack to accommodate the bigger bolts required by the braze-ons, and without fabricating new struts
for the top attachment to reach, I needed to use that handy set of braze-ons
just a ways up the seatstay, instead of the usual spot near the dropout. To get it dead level I would still need somewhat longer struts,
but—level enough for now, I think (though like the front also a tad higher than ideal.)
The backobike bags are one of my favorite bike accessory purchases of all time. I love these things. I use them a few times every day. The only issue I have had is that one of the webbed straps that hold the bags onto the rack started to fray. My theory is that it is a case of square peg, round hole. I bought a couple spares from Riv, and they are meatier. I also used a piece of climber’s rope, which is of course round. Works great. And my new jumbo grabby sack fits right in. When I stop on the way home from work to pick up groceries, if I need extra carrying capacity, I can sling that on my back for the remainder of the ride home, freeing up the pannier.
Fenders
The Cascadia ALX 27.5 wide aluminum fenders appear to be of good quality, and to my eye they look OEM on the black Clem. I did run out of fender stay for the rear fender, which made the perfect fenderline elusive. I used a zip to attach to the seatstay point (though the next day I found the perfect little black piece of angled metal that would have worked for my initial design idea--see the Clem fender thread, where the curved seatstays present a slight installation issue.) Aside from the shortish fender stays, the the fenders themselves should be as long as these fenders are with the pre-installed mudflaps. Which means you either have to take off the factory flaps and install longer ones, or bodge on to the existing flaps somehow, or…do nothing and live with it.
Still to come: I have a Shimano Dyno hub and an Alex rim ready to build, and I will be getting a B&M Luxos B light.
The Ride
The ride itself manages to be stately, steady, and fun at the same time. Carving turns with the big bars and big tires and long wheelbase is a blast. It responds nicely when you increase the wattage, but it is also a bike that encourages coasting.
Will that stateliness ever become second nature for me, or will I still occasionally experience a twinge of self-consciousness or being slightly out of sorts with such an upright stance? Hard to say. I plan to give it six months with the Boscos. Will it be the bike that replaces all the others? Maybe some day, but not any time soon. I’m just not ready for that kind of bike monogamy, that commitment.
A few more photos here:
https://goo.gl/photos/Xyf3kVj4ENcXVSiw5
Notes about the photos: Google no longer has a caption feature. Note the stairs in the first photo. The second set, up to my apartment on the third floor, is narrower, steeper, and has a 90 degree turn into the door at the top. I am obviously not concerned about weight on my bike while riding, but when you add all the stuff that makes a bicycle viable as your main means of transportation, it can become a consideration if you live in an apartment.
I took the bike on my favorite local loop, which encompasses
Main Street and trails along the Fishkill creek and the Hudson River. Most of
these photos were taken today (I have Mondays off) at the new eagle viewing shed near the estuary at
Denning’s Point. At the last minute, I threw a pair of binoculars into my
pannier, as it is high season for eagle spotting. Sure enough, I saw one. Though my camera is by no means a telephoto, you can make it out. Not meant as a dis, but that crank spider is crapsmanship of a high order--as many free-form facets as one of Grant's ax spoons.The bridge in the background of the last photo is the Newburgh Beacon bridge, which I traverse on my daily commute. Oh, and I was smiling for my close-up, but the camera missed it.
Jim D Massachusetts
Mark in Beacon
David Banzer
David
chicago
Tim Wood
On a fender note, to my eye the rear could be sucked in a bit and that would give a bit more stay length. Those aluminium Cascadias are nice btw, I should have got those over the plastic ones.
And you're right, The sprung saddle really does suit the bike.
Nice work!
WETH
I enjoyed reading your saga and viewing the photos. I don't own a Clem(entine) but can appreciate your epiphanies, frustrations and joys. I look forward to reading more updates as you get better acquainted with your darling.
Erl
Bob Ehrenbeck
Mark in Beacon
Mark in Beacon
Mark in Beacon
LLM
On Monday, February 8, 2016 at 5:53:34 PM UTC-5, Mark in Beacon wrote:
Warning: VLPA (Very Long Post Ahead. i.e., A Saga.)
I used various rationalizations for buying my Clementine, despite having a perfectly functional—fabulous actually—mixte for commuting and getting about town: it could accommodate significantly wider tires; it had a much lower step-through height; it had a wider gear range. But truthfully, of course, I would have survived just fine with all these “drawbacks” on my Le Tour. <snip>
