Tag Archives: Components

Paul Neo-Retro

I have the Neo-retro(seen above) on the front and the Touring canti on the rear. Seems to be a pretty popular touring bike set up. The idea is the on the front the Neo-retros will provide more leverage and more stopping power, and in the rear the Touring canti will still be a strong brake but also provide a slimmer profile and be less in the way of rear panniers.

Getting my hands dirty removing the old off the rack brakes i could see the low quality of them. Then unpacking these to install, big difference. Even compared to something like a Tektro, the Paul brakes are way better looking. And even though I dont know everything about brakes, these are not difficult to install and work very well.

These stick straight out and away from the frame. The Touring canti stick up and at an angle.

Made in USA

paulcomp.com

 

Brooks Champion Flyer Special

If you read anything about touring you’ll read about someone praising Brooks for making saddles that work very well with riding long miles and long hours. If you read a lot about touring you’ll get bored with all the praises Brooks gets.

I just rebuild my old touring bike with a nearly new everything. On the list was the saddle. I chose this saddle because my friend Johnny, who is one of the the most knowledgeable bike people I know, rides one. We had stopped on the street to say hi and I seen he had one on his bike. I had considered maybe getting a Brooks before but hearing him say a few good things and seeing how perfect his looked I figured it wouldn’t be that big of a mistake to buy one. Luckily I bought this for less than full retail. Otherwise I might have bought the standard B-17 to save money but after putting the Flyer Special on my newly rebuilt bike I was surprised to win a standard B-17 in a raffle. I see a big difference seeing them side by side. I don’t think I’d like touring on anything Brooks makes that doesn’t have springs.

Now I say all this having never done any touring on any Brooks saddle. But I have been having a good time riding around on my days off and feeling the difference 700×32 tires and a springer saddle makes. I don’t think I made a mistake and it looks good.

Ordered from QBP

Made in England

 

Shimano SL-BS79

Shimano SL-BS79 Dura-Ace 10 Speed Bar-End Shifters.

The rebuild of my touring bike started in Summer 2009 and was not finished until late Spring 2011. I spent more time debating shifters, and delaying that purchase than any other part. I was a little resistant to using bar ends, I had become spoiled having done my last three tours with STI. This came down to money, STI is expensive compared to the other options. So, wanting to use my BL-7402 levers, my options were bar end shifters, down tube shifters, or thumbies. I was not going thumbies because I don’t want more extras in the tops, not with a handlebar bag, bell and computer already needing space. I didn’t want down tube shifters only because the only advantage I could see was they weigh a little less. So using this standard-for-touring-bikes is what I decided to use on mine. And there are not a lot of options I know of when looking for 10 speed bar ends so now I’m asking myself why am I even doing a review on theses?

Oh yeah, I like them.

Made in Japan

 

Phil Wood Rear Hub 48 Hole

I could not find a stock photo of the rear hub I’m running so I took a photo of  my own.

This is a Phil Wood rear hub. Shimano 10 speed compatible, spaced to 130mm, and drilled for a 48 hole rim.

Phil Wood is about as good as it gets.

My first set of wheels on my touring bike were 36 spoke. I got about 700 miles and my rear wheel basically feel apart. Money and time fixed it and it was not the worst thing that could have happened, but still.  I finished that tour on the rebuilt wheel with no more problems. And even did another, shorter tour without error.

Later, when I was shedding rusty parts and doing a rebuild of the whole bike I decided to ditch the old 7 speed rear hub for 10 speed. I did not want to tour on 36 spoke wheels again. I could have up it to a 40 spoke but what’s that?

I think some people have thought, Why would you want so many spokes? I equate 48 spoke wheels with two things, tandem bikes and pol0 bikes. On tandem bikes they make sense because the bike weighs twice what a normal bike weighs and has the weight of two riders on just 2 wheels. With bike pol0 there are times when the ball, the mallets or other bikes get all smashed up in wheels and those wheels take serious damage but must keep working to finish the game. You could rip 3 or 4 spokes out of a 48 spoke wheel and the chances are you could still ride it.

So with one and a half times the spoke count per/wheel as compared to a normal 32 spoke wheel means I can double the weight carried and take damage but not be stopped on the side of the road looking at a useless wheel.

Is it heavier? Just the weight of 12 extra spokes per wheel, not much.

Ordered from Phil Wood in 2009. And in that same year, on a supported group tour, I put over 4000 miles on it without fault.

Made in USA

philwood.com

 

Shimano BL-7402 Dura-Ace Brake Levers


I was once a bartender and one of the locals came in one day with an old DeRosa frame in my size. Just the chipped, dented frame, no fork, no parts. He said he found it by the dumpster at his storage unit facility. It was a 59cm and a few sizes too big for him but about right for me. I gladly bought his few rounds in trade. Told him I was going to build it into a single speed.

The next day he brought in these Dura-ace levers he had in his spare parts bin. That got him a few more beers on me.

After STI took over I guess there are some single speeds out there that got some lever upgrades.

These were on that DeRosa for a while until the frame broke, then they lived in my parts bin for a while.

Recently, I took the STI’s off my touring bike and added these levers and bar end shifters. Glad I did because new 10 speed STI’s are expensive. Thanks Brian.

In general these are everything you would expect. Works good, looks good. The tops are a little narrow compared to newer shifter/levers. I think a wider top would feel better but maybe my hands are too big, these were designed for tiny racer dudes.

Cost: free

Made in Japan