We have a new Rawland model in.  It’s called the rSogn and for me, it’s the most exciting Rawland to date.

For those that missed our last Rawland post, Rawland are a small American company that design bikes and have them made in Taiwan in the same factory that makes Surly and others.  Rawland bikes are always designed around wide tyres, and are meant to be versatile go-anywhere bikes with off-road capabilities, potential for touring and frames light and comfortable enough to be used for long fast randonneur rides.  Many of them are designed around the 650b wheel size.

The latest model, the rSogn is typical of their bikes in all of theses respects.  It is designed around 650b wheels, with cantilever brake bosses, touring braze-ons in abundance, room for big tyres and fenders, or even bigger knobby tyres and can easily be set up with relatively high handle bars.  Read on if this is the sort of bike you’re interested in.

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We’re back from the Christmas break and things are pretty busy already.  If you are bringing your bike in for a service at the moment, then it’s definitely best to call ahead and book a day.  Over the break we moved everything out the back so we could paint the workshop floor.  We were expecting the first week back to be quiet enough to get everything back to normal, but we were swamped with repairs and we’ve only just got all the furniture back where it ought to be.  Among the things we had to install was a new workstand – stand number three. While we were doing this we took the opportunity to improve the rigidity of two of the three stands.

The other exciting thing we’ve moved onto the floor is our selection of Creme bikes.  Check out their site here.

We’re stocking their Cafe Racer models.  It is available in a men’s and a women’s version and each comes with two different build specs the more expensive Doppio model and the cheaper Solo.  They are all made from steel (our favourite material for bike frames), they have sensible wheels and are intended for regular commuting use and should stand up to it very well.

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If you’ve looked at the Bicycle Victoria site, or gotten the BV newsletter you could be under the impression that the brakes on Long Haul Truckers and Crosschecks sold in Australia are faulty.  The way the issue was reported is, unfortunately, both misleading and alarming, and this is not the case.

The issue is that some bikes were shipped from the Australian distributor without a straddle cable catcher.  This is a little hook that sits under the straddle cable.  It is there so that in the unlikely event that the main brake cable snaps, it can catch the straddle so that it cannot fall onto the tyre.  In the worst case scenario without the catcher, the tyre (if it had nobs on it) can grab the straddle and apply the brakes, which could cause an accident.

This is a far cry from BV’s coverage, which, from the way it was phrased, claimed that the brakes supplied with the bikes were faulty.  Firstly, the problem applies to only some of the bikes, not all of the bikes.  Secondly, the brakes are not faulty, but rather a secondary safety device was not supplied with all bikes – a safety device that does its job if another part of the braking system has already failed.

The majority of the Surlies we have sold cannot be affected by this problem, because mud guards, reflector mounts and fork crown mounted lights all do the job of a straddle catcher.  Both stand between the tyre and the straddle and make it impossible for a broken brake cable to cause any harm.

The Australian distributor has announced a voluntary recall (see image).  If you have bought a Surly (either from us, or from somewhere else) and you are not sure whether the missing part applies to you, then please drop in.  We’ll take a look and if there is a problem we will remedy it.

Wheel building is one of our favourite jobs.  As well as being rewarding work to get the wheel true and strong, it’s satisfying to figure out the best combination of parts and best set-up for a particular customer.  As well as the rims and hubs, the spokes and nipples are important things to think about, and choosing the right ones will make a real difference to the reliability of the wheel and how well suited it is to its intended use.  Being able to tailor all of these choices to a particular rider is what puts custom wheels ahead in the hand-built vs factory-built debate.

We’re one of the few bikeshops in Melbourne who specialise in custom wheel building and sell far more hand built wheels than factory built wheels at the medium to high end.  This post is intended as a discussion of some of the variables involved, and hopefully the huge range of possibilities will highlight why hand built wheels which are custom-built for a particular application are going to do that job better than factory-built wheels.  This post is long, and has some technical discussion of both component choices and then of the process of building itself, but it is not a how-to guide, so only click on read more if you’re keen.

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Commuter cycles is excited to be sponsoring Damon Rao at the Bike Polo World Championships in Berlin and the London Open Tournament. He’ll be riding a custom made polo bike, a Symes Whiskey. He’ll be heading off tonight for two weeks in Europe and then competing in the Australian Championships in Brisbane with it later in the year.

Symes Whiskey - Photo by Damon Rao

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As I’m sure you’re all aware by now, Cyclocross is the new black.  Or the new tweed ride.  (Or something cool anyway.)  Just ask these guys….  Hipsters discussing CX

The Brunswick Cycling Club is running a great 3 race series which we’re using as an excuse to host the inaugural Bicyle Black Market – an opportunity for all of us to either fill up (or clear out in the case of stall holders) our bike parts bins.

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Surly’s Long Haul Trucker (LHT) is our reference point for touring bikes and they make excellent commuters as well.  As a general rule the requirements of commuters and tourists are similar -  the bike should be comfortable, should be able to carry a reasonable load, should be robust and reliable, should fit moderately wide tyres and mudguards and should be fast and efficient enough to cover large distances at a decent clip.  The LHT does all of these things and is versatile enough to be set up to match the needs of a lot of cyclists.  We build, and sell, more of them than any other bike.  We’ve mentioned them a number of times in this blog, but we thought it was time to write more comprehensively about our thoughts on them, and where they sit in our line-up.

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We’ve just finished an exciting build. We used a 650B randonneur/porteur frame made by Velo Orange, called the Polyvalent. Ours might be the first in Australia. We’ve built it up as a showcase for some of the VO gear we stock (and as a great bike in its own right). It has a big VO Porteur front rack, VO cantilever brakes, headset, saddle, rims, etc. It has a dynamo hub, is shod with Grand Bois Hetres and stays upright while stationary thanks to a Pletscher bipod kickstand. It will soon have a VO chain guard.  We installed a B+M Lumotec IQ Cyo just under the floor of the rack, and a B+M tail light on the rear mud guard.

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We’ve just got a nice new bike in, but in very limited numbers. It’s
a KHS Flite Tr-101.  It’s very similar to the Long Haul Truckers
(LHTs) we build a lot of (including two recently for a couple doing a
trip through Mongolia).  Like the LHTs we can customize them to meet
specific needs (the Mongolia trip bikes needed stronger wheels and
dyno hubs).  However, it’s ready as is, to take touring, with both mud guards and a rear rack.

Like the LHT it has room for wide 700c tyres and fenders, drop bars
with bar end shifters, all the braze-ons you need for racks,
mud-guards, etc and very wide range gearing with a triple chainring
crankset.  Both are made out of oversized cromoly tubing which should last forever if it’s well looked after.

Here are the specs for the KHS out of the box:
http://www.khsbicycles.com/05_flite_tr_101_10.htm

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You are no doubt aware of the Paris end of Collins street, but did you know where the Paris end of Brunswick is? The Commuter Cycles workshop! Yes, we’re helping bring Parisian style bicycle hire to Melbourne – as part of the RMIT’s Common Bike bicycle sharing project. 

You may have read about it in recent press,  RMIT is running a pilot for Bicycle sharing, in the hope it will encourage more folks to consider getting around by bicycle, and to use the service for short trips around the city. 

The various bike hubs allow people to pick up a bike and helmet, and drop them off on the other side of town. Sure beats a taxi, or relying on Melbourne’s PT network. 

Fingers crossed, the success of this program will encourage the bean counters to take this on as part of Melbourne’s long term infrastructure. 

For more information on the project, pop in to the hub (Our Workshop) or check out the common bike website. After a $5 registration, each ride under three hours only costs a gold coin. If you drop the bike off to a different hub, or stay out for an additional hour, another gold coin covers costs. 

For more information, registration, bikes- drop into the hub at Commuter Cycles or read up on all the details at 

commonbike.com

If you’re after a bike that gets you to work, and down the coast or into the hills on weekends, this bike is for you. The Long Haul Trucker is a rock solid bike that’s built for doing the heavy work, and it doesn’t weigh a tonne.

The LHT, built by Surly, has a solid steel frame with the sort of geometry that allows for relaxed riding. It can be built up for touring – it’s designed to take loaded front and rear pack racks – and full mudguards. It even comes shipped with spare spokes clipped to the frame! Perfect if you break a spoke in a town with a bikeshop that only has minimal supplies.

We’ve just sold one of these workhorses to Casey, who rides from Coburg to Yarraville daily. And as you can see, he needs a bike that doesn’t complain when it’s carrying a full load.

We can also get the Long Haul Trucker frame naked, if you want us to do a complete custom build.

Price: $1700 – with 3 months free servicing
Full Specifications: at Surly’s website
Recommended accessories: Topeak Super Tourist Rack, Axiom Mudguards