Flo and Phillip have travelled across countries and continents and wanted to use their experience to create beautiful bikes that are designed to be ridden hard.

The Fern Chuck featured today has been crafted for Berliner Fahrradschau, a bicycle lifestyle fair with the latest trendy bikes, gear and technology.

Let’s take a closer look…

The Fern Chuck Build

This Fern Chuck build is a fillet-brazed beauty that weighs in at a feathery 10.5kg (23lbs).

Using Columbus steel tubing, Fern has managed to keep the weight off all while routeing the brake, gear and dynamo cables internally for that ultra-clean look.

The cable entry points at the headtube are particularly special, using the filler material to create a carbon-esque shape not seen on other steel builds.

Up the front is an SP dynamo hub with its lighting wire neatly tucked up into the fork leg. Closed dropouts designed around a bolt-up axle ensure the front wheel will not be going anywhere without an Allen key.

The dynamo hub goes on to power a German-made Supernova E3 Triple 2 light, capable of pumping out 640 lumens of light. These lights are really impressive; they can be fully submerged in water, indefinitely – while still in operation.

As Fern custom makes all of their own racks, the Supernova light is attached directly to special mounts, and the cable is hidden from view.

At the top of the fork is a pizza/porteur rack that connects off the v-brake bosses and fork crown. These racks permit a randonneur/porteur front bag which is quickly accessible while riding and is a great location for cameras, snacks and electronics.

A Gevenalle GX 11-speed thumb shifter has been paired to a Shimano XT mountain bike rear derailleur and a wide range 11-42t SRAM cassette. This is one of my favourite ways to hook up mountain bike derailleurs to drop bars as it’s really clean and simple.

The 1x drivetrain generates a 23″ climbing gear which can be considered low enough to overcome most hills given the lightweight nature of this bike.

Fern makes a unique-looking fillet brazed stem that they’ve colour-matched with their fork and cabling. These stems are custom made to length as an option for every customer.

Fern has also designed their own ‘flair’ handlebar which is a little wider than your standard road handlebar.

A small rear rack is fitted to suit some specially designed drybags – also made by Fern.

The dry bags can be optionally strapped on, providing extra luggage space without requiring a cargo cage to keep everything in check. Plus, without the bags attached, the racks look super clean on the bike.

Gramm-Tourpacking Collaboration

The Fern guys teamed up with their friend Kristin, who makes bikepacking bags under the name Gramm Tourpacking in their workshop. The suite of bags is a matching set designed to complement the sand/fluro finish of their bike.

With Kristin in the workshop, Fern is able to offer a unique product to the consumer: a custom bike, component and luggage solution.

This means Fern aren’t constrained by certain rack and bag dimensions and can go about designing their stuff in the best way they see fit.

As a loaded bike, the Fern Chuck looks incredible.

The matching bags with their sand/fluro colourway really compliment the rest of the bike. And if you pack minimal enough, there’s ample space for water and your gear.

A low-trail steering setup allows for a light and twitchy steering feel, even with the Pizza Bag filled with gear.

Should you want your own Fern/Gramm setup, you can expect to wait 12 months as a result of high demand. Fern only sells their custom racks and stems with their framesets or complete bikes.

To See A Collection of Custom Touring Bikes, Click HERE.

The post This Ultralight Fern Chuck And Matching Bag Set Is Unbelievably Lustworthy appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

This particular off-road touring bike, sometimes known as an ‘Outback’, is a fine blend of modern technologies with classical styling. Everything from the drivetrain to the tyres, rims, lights and handlebars is positively 21st-century; but the bike could somehow go unnoticed between a handful of touring bikes from decades ago.

Let’s take a closer inspection.

The Ahearne Pinion Gearbox Touring Bike

Starting at the front end, the most striking feature to me is the triple plate fork crown. This takes me straight to a particular artefact at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. You know the Wright Brothers who are credited with creating the first successful aeroplane? Well, they started in the bike business, and their most famous bicycle build also employs a triple-plate crown!

While Joseph usually constructs his own racks, this Outback is using stock Tubus racks. That’s no bad thing, the Tubus steel racks are often half the weight of everything else available and offer a 30-year guarantee to boot. You will, however, find a custom fender strut that mounts the ultra bright B&M IQ-X light in a high but forward position above the front wheel.

The wheels are another talking point. This touring bike is using Derby 35i carbon fibre rims. Not only are these rims ultralight (485 grams), but they’re also super stiff and wide, matching appropriately to the Schwalbe G-One 27.5 x 2.8″ tyres. The tyres are pretty special too as they’re one of the only gravel-specific tyres in this wide dimension. A series of micro knobs create a much lower rolling resistance when compared to standard plus tyres that are designed for trail use. That will make this bike perfect for rough roads like the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan or Carretera Austral in Chile!

The frame breaks into two halves to reduce the pack-size for flying. S&S couplers fitted to the top and down tubes permit the bike to fit into a box with regular check-in baggage dimensions (26 x 26 x 10″). This means no oversized baggage fee and makes travel to and from the airport logistically easier.

The Honjo H-95 fenders are wide enough to clear the plus-sized tyres… with space. Over my years of bike travel, I’ve found fenders to be absolutely invaluable – it’s cool to see fenders on fat-tyred bikes too!

That motor-looking component is a Pinion gearbox. This is a replacement for derailleur gears on a regular bicycle. A series of cogs sit inside a weather-sealed container with 18 different gear options. It actually offers a gear range wider than any derailleur system too. You can read more about Pinion gearboxes HERE.

You’ll also notice that the bike employs a belt drivetrain. I’ve been using belts since 2010 and have found that they significantly exceed the lifespan of a regular chain drivetrain. I tend to get over 30,000km on a single belt which can sometimes last the duration of a multi-year tour across continents!

The bike is using Paul Klamper cable disc brakes that fit nicely to the sliding Paragon dropouts. I particularly like the super neat fender strut mount at the top of the dropout. The thru-axles front and rear are another modern feature on this classically-styled ride.

The bike is finished using a Jones Loop handlebar that is quite high in proportion to the seat which should provide a comfortable position for all-day riding. Word from Joseph Ahearne is that the seat and seatpost are only temporary. I look forward to seeing this bike covered in dust and mud!

Head HERE For More Custom Touring Bike Builds

The post This Ahearne Pinion Gearbox Touring Bike Will Blow Your Mind appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

I’ve been following Mark’s adventures over the last decade, starting with his original cycling around the world record. Mark rode across Europe, the Middle East, India, Australasia and North America in 194 days on a regular touring bike with four panniers, all unsupported. This record was particularly appealing to me because it came at a time when I was just getting into bike touring – the ideas of crossing continents with 30kg of equipment in tow helped me envisage what I could one day do with my bike…

My interaction with Mark was very pleasant despite him having a complete doozy of a day. Just hours earlier one of his support vehicles was struck by another vehicle from behind while Mark was only five metres away. The campervan ended up being completely destroyed, and fortunately, nobody was injured.

The Melbourne drivers were showing their absolute worst form (as usual) by yelling out their windows, honking at us and passing with just centimetres to spare. I am truly embarrassed to be Australian when I see how poorly we treat cyclists; there is honestly nowhere on Earth that you will be treated worse. Other than the potentially fatal hunks of metal flying past, the winds had picked up and were rushing at our faces at more than 30km/h. Despite these setbacks, Mark remained calm for the most part.

As I love the gear and tech side of things, let’s take a look at the kind of bike you need to average 240 miles (~386km) per day for 80 days.

The Mark Beaumont Bike: Koga Kimera Premium

Mark has a long-standing relationship with Dutch bike brand Koga. His original cycling around the world record (and Alaska-to-Argentina ride) was on a Koga WorldTraveller touring bike equipped with Rohloff 14-speed hubs. This time he’s on a carbon Koga Kimera Premium road bike to optimise his cycling speeds.

Made in the Netherlands, the Koga Kimera is custom-painted bronze, blue and white to match the logo of Mark’s title sponsor, UK fund management firm Artemis. A large number 80 sits at the headtube as a reminder that Mark’s goal is to take a full 43 days off the current round the world record. At the seatstay area of the Kimera is a small Scottish flag revealing Mark’s identity.

The bike, which is actually one-of-two here in Australia, uses Shimano Ultegra Di2 electronic gearing. This is a popular choice for endurance athletes because it involves very little hand movement to flick between the gears. A set of 47mm deep Corima carbon wheels were on the bike at the time, but Mark also switches to some 32mm deep wheels in crosswinds.

The bike pulls up using Shimano hydraulic disc brakes. These brakes slow the bike at the same rate, whether it’s wet or dry. While not a necessity for the round the world record, these brakes may prove necessary when Mark is particularly fatigued.

Mark uses a Selle SMP Pro saddle. This is the same model he’s used since first getting into endurance cycling. Mark assured me he was still comfortable in his saddle 39 days into his ride. While many SMP saddles have one distinct ‘upright’ cycling position, Mark said he can ride further forward on the nose of the Pro too.

As Mark is cycling for hours per day in the dark, he uses an Exposure Strada 1200 lumen front light which has a road-specific beam that runs at maximum power for three hours. The rear light is an Exposure TraceR which can be seen flashing a kilometre away.

The cockpit is relatively simple, just a set of Profile Design T1+ carbon aero bars, and a Garmin Edge 1000 GPS computer mounted to the stem. Mark didn’t have any road maps on his computer as his support team are assisting with all the turns. He had a top tube bag strapped behind the stem which stored a few essentials like his iPhone.

There are two reasons why Mark’s bike has aero bars: to reduce the frontal area of his body (free speed) and to give his wrists, shoulders and back a break from the usual position in the brake hoods. You might be surprised to find the aero bars sit up quite high compared to a time-trialist at the Tour de France, but remember this is a bike that travels at 25km/h (15mph) for 16 hours at a time – Mark’s position cannot be at all extreme.

Another advantage of the electronic groupset is that Mark can have gear shifters at the end of the aero bars. This allows him to continually optimise his gear without wasting energy moving around on the bike.

Unfortunately, my side profile shot of Mark’s bike didn’t work out too well, but this is what the complete bike looked like 39 days ago in the studio. Notice the bunch of spacers under the stem and the wide 28mm tyres used to smooth out the roads.

Wishing you all the best for the second half of your ride, Mark!

Click HERE To See The Custom Bike Rob English Used For The Trans Am Bike Race

The post Mark Beaumont’s 240 Mile/Day Bike: Around The World In 80 Days appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

Rob English is currently preparing to tackle a 6920km (4300mi) ultra-endurance event called the Trans Am Bike Race, which traverses the USA from west to east.

To get some insight into what it takes to compete in this event you should check out my short video with 2015 winner Jesse Carlsson a few days before he departed.

With master-level frame building skills and a handful of friends in the bike business, Rob has been able to create his ultimate bikepacking bike for the Trans Am.

The drawings for this bike don’t really look to be anything special, with somewhat typical road bike dimensions across the board.

The geometry is perhaps a little more ‘endurance road’ focussed with a lower bottom bracket height and slightly longer head tube to fit a more voluminous frame bag.

For the steel connoisseurs out there, the frame tubing used is a mixture of True Temper S3 and Columbus Life.

But what sets this bike apart from others –  the small details.

The front of the bike immediately indicates that this bike is built for speed.

A set of Enve SES Aero Bars juts out the front with blip shifter buttons on the ends to control the gears. You’ll also notice the brake/shifter units are button-based – this is because Rob’s bike is using the new SRAM eTap gear system which uses wireless signalling to change the gears.

That’s right, there’s no gear cabling to be found on this bike!

Rob collaborated with Kaibab Customs to create an aero bar bag which is perhaps a bit different to anything you’ve ever seen. From above you’ll see the lid is a map case that lifts to open a feeding box that is strapped directly to the bars.

The fork has come from Parlee who is one of the only companies making aero disc brake forks.

Normally, the brake cable routes up through the fork, but this fork has been modified so that the brake cable exits through the crown. As the Parlee fork uses an airfoil shape, Rob fillet brazed a nose cone to the front of the headtube to match.

Parlee also provided the aero fairings for the front and rear disc brake calipers.

Rob isn’t carrying any sleeping gear as he’s planning on staying in hotels/motels every night. That means he can get away with minimal bag storage.

The Kaibab Customs half frame bag uses a bolt-on design (as opposed to straps) to connect to the frame for that ultra-clean look. The Xlab Stealth 200 top tube bag also fits onto two bosses and is said to reduce aerodynamic drag from the stem and headset spacers.

The carbon aero box is pretty special too. It’s been made by Ruckus Composites to Rob’s exact dimensions in a way that hopefully doesn’t hinder his speed.

Rob actually made a styrofoam version that Ruckus were able to match and turn into a box. The rear bag is mounted using a steel frame that Rob constructed specifically to ensure there was no bag ‘sway’. It’s been triangulated using a saddle rail mount.

From the front and rear, this bike looks particularly fast. The frontal area of the bags is all confined within Rob’s body area.

The front and rear lights are made by Exposure (Strada 800 / Blaze) and Rob will charge them both along the way in motels/restaurants. By going dynamo-free, Rob is actually saving about 5 watts or in terms of speed, resulting in a speed increase of between 1-2%.

That’s not much, but when you consider how long this event is – time certainly adds up.

The Trans Am bike uses deep-dish carbon DT Swiss ERC 1100 wheels that weigh only 1530 grams (3.4lbs) and are optimised around aerodynamics.

These wheels are paired to 28mm Schwalbe Pro One tyres that DT Swiss say are faster and more comfortable than narrower versions.

Rather than using rubber tubes, this bike is set up tubeless. Road tubeless can be a bit hit and miss, but it can undoubtedly reduce tyre rolling resistance.

The total bike weight is just under 10kg (22lbs) including all bags, lights and pump. That’s rather impressive considering so many carbon disc brake road bikes tip the scales over 9kg (20lbs).

Good luck and enjoy the Trans Am, Rob!

To See More Amazing Custom Bikes, Click HERE.

The post English Cycles Aero Trans Am Bike: The Fastest Bikepacking Bike? appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

Today we’ll take a close look at Brian’s latest work, a custom Chapman Cycles touring bike that does a great job of blending modern tech with the classic styling of the past.

Chapman Cycles Touring Bike

We can start up the front of the bike where one of Brian’s custom fillet brazed racks is fitted. Designed to fit both a randonneur-style bag up top and a set of front panniers below – this touring bike is ready for short and long haul trips. And should the pannier section not be needed, it’s detachable too.

A dynamo light mount extends out front to provide a nice unobscured beam on the road, a Schmidt Edelux II putting out almost 100 lux light.

Brian has made the most out of the Cinelli tandem crown by fitting some of the electronics inside it. All you can see is the B&M connector ready for a USB charging cable, but inside the 1″ steerer tube is a custom charging setup thanks to the crew at Sinewave Cycles.

This allows for 3 watts of power at 20km/h, enough to charge a phone in a couple of hours. Brian found that a rubber Lezyne pump cover is a perfect fit for the B&M connector too.

Brian’s bikes are often lugged and brazed – this bike is no exception with Richard Sachs Issimo lugs. Not only does this style of construction look stunning, but it allows for extra paint detail should the customer request it. There’s nice paint detail at the seat tube and top tube intersection, and just the right amount of pinstriping for the length of the fenders.

On the non-driveside seatstay sits a large Lezyne Road Drive pump that has been colour-matched to the rest of the frame. This setup looks classic and offers a practical location for a hand pump that will actually get to the appropriate tyre pressures.

You’ll notice that a twin-spoke holder is brazed onto the driveside chainstay to keep some spare spokes. Having the spokes mounted to your bike is certainly a better solution than damaging them in your bags. This particular location was selected as the non-driveside was already occupied by the disc brake caliper and a frame pump.

This Chapman Cycles touring bike is finished with a relatively modern Shimano 105 road triple groupset (10-speed) complete with integrated shift/brake levers. There’s a matching rear rack which is two-tiered and hugs the custom-painted metal fenders perfectly.

A black Brooks saddle, custom quill stem, Nitto B135 Randonneur bars and set of Compass tyres complete this beautiful build.

See More Beautiful Custom Touring Bike Builds Right HERE.

The post This Chapman Cycles Touring Bike Perfectly Blends New Tech With The Past appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

Not only has it travelled well over 100,000km, but it’s been built with:
– Drop bars, butterfly bars, flat bars, riser bars and these alt bars
– Downtube shifters, barend shifters, MTB shifters and grip shifters
– Continental Gatorskin, Schwalbe Marathon Plus, XR, Extreme, Racer, Supreme, Mondial and Almotion tyres
– 10-speed road groupset, 10-speed MTB groupset and a Rohloff 14-speed internally geared hub
– Standard chains as well as Gates Centertrack Belt Drive and CDC
– Various Rohloff shifter locations with drop bars
– Velocity and Mavic touring rims
– B&M and Supernova dynamo lights
– Brooks, WTB and Giant saddles
– Pedal Power Plus and Cinq USB charging systems
– Cantilever brakes and v-brakes
– Planet Bike and SKS fenders
– Various clip-in and flat pedals

Basically, I’ve been tinkering with the specification since day dot.

After using the Rohloff hub for a number of years, I decided to take my bike to a local frame builder to get the frame modified to suit the hub. Through this process, the builder cut off the old dropouts, installed some Rohloff sliding dropouts, fitted some Rohloff cable guides and inserted a split in the seat stay so that I could try Gates Carbon Drive. I’ve been really happy with this combination over the last seven years.

I’ve recently switched from drop bars to Velo Orange Crazy Bars. What was really important to me was the ‘hood’ position from my drop bar. That’s where I like my hands to sit most, and this handlebar replicates it perfectly. I’m not 100% sure if I will use these handlebars in the long-term, but I’m really enjoying all the new positions at the moment. We’ll see over the next few tours.

Another thing that I am really liking is how easy it is to change my brake cables with standard v-brake levers (as opposed to road levers). I also find that these brakes offer much less cable friction than my outgoing road brake levers.

What Would I Change If I Built A Custom Touring Bike In 2017?

Having played around with so many setups, most of the parts that you see on the bike are as good as it gets for touring. After all, this bike has been refined over a really long time to suit my personal preferences.

I would definitely use disc brakes with my next frame. They are much more powerful, they work better in the wet, the pads last longer and I found them to be extremely reliable on my Co-Motion tandem on a two-year bike tour.

Since riding a handful of modern touring bikes, I’d also prefer a frame that is more laterally stiff. Frames with larger diameter / thicker gauge steel tubing will reduce the slight twist I find when I’ve got a heavy front and rear load. I may even try a nice triple-butted aluminium touring frame.

But otherwise, I like the geometry and fit of my custom touring bike.

Gates have a new belt system out called the Centertrack CDX:EXP and I’d love to give this a go on my next touring bike, along with a Pinion 18-speed gearbox. I’m also keen to try out some Velo Orange Mojave or Widefoot Litercage bidon cages with Nalgene or Kleen Kanteen bottles.

My Custom Touring Bike Specification

Frame: Modified 62cm Surly Long Haul Trucker
Fork: Surly Long Haul Trucker
Headset: Hope 1 1/8″
Stem: Thomson Elite 120mm
Handlebars: Velo Orange Casey’s Crazy Bar
Grips: ESI Silicone and Fizik Bartape
Seatpost: Thomson Elite 27.2mm
Saddle: Giant

Gears: Rohloff Speedhub 14 speed Internally Geared Hub
Shifter: Rohloff Grip Shifter
Front Hub: Schmidt SON28 Dynamo
Rims: Shimano A719 700c 32h
Spokes: DT Swiss Competition
Tyres: Schwalbe Almotion

Brake Levers: Avid SD5
Brakes: Shimano XT

Crankset: Shimano 105 Triple
Chainring: Gates Carbon Drive Centertrack 50t
Cog: Gates Carbon Drive Centertrack 20t
Pedals: Shimano XT T780

Fenders: SKS Chromoplastic P50
Charger: Tout Terrain The Plug III
Lights: Supernova E3 Pro Dynamo (not in photo)
Bidon Cages: BBB Fuel Tank XL
Phone Mount: Quadlock

Weight: 14kg or 30lbs

The post My Old Custom Touring Bike (Rohloff Hub and Gates Belt Drive) appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

Renovo Hardwood Bicycles have been handcrafted in Portland (USA) over the past decade. Using ‘nature’s carbon fibre’ in combination with the latest computer-controlled woodworking machinery and adhesives, Renovo say that their frames are as light as steel, stiff as carbon and superior to all at shock and vibration absorption. Not only that, but the thick hardwood used in these bikes can have a greater damage tolerance than other frame materials too.

While the properties wooden bikes may sound a bit too good to be true, let’s focus our attention to what I believe is the bike’s most spectacular feature: the finish. With a mixture of wood types, grains and joins, the curvy lines of a Renovo bike are a work of art akin to the finest wood furniture!

The Renovo Wooden Bicycle For Touring

The Renovo frames are constructed by joining two hollow frame halves straight down the middle. But that’s after the crew has gone to the lumber yard to select the 16 to 40 pieces of wood that make up one Renovo frame. Every stick of wood that is sourced is tested for stiffness and moisture content. With these results, Renovo can forecast the ride quality and stiffness of the frame for each customer.

A Rohloff hub and Gates Carbon Belt drivetrain has been fitted to this bike for the ultimate in gear simplicity. Carbon belts have been known to run for 30,000km+. The Rohloff rear hub offers a wide range of 14 gears that are tucked away inside an oil bath of cogs; all impervious to the weather. This bike is ready for all road conditions!

This Renovo has been constructed with light touring duties in mind. The narrow road slicks and fitted fenders keep road grime from the beautiful wood grain finish. The bike is completed with a Salsa steel touring fork, a Co-Motion Rohloff shifter, Avid BB7 cable disc brakes, Busch und Muller dynamo lights, a Tubus Cosmo stainless steel rack and a Brooks B17 Imperial leather saddle and matching bar tape. The estimated weight according to Renovo is less than 13.5kg (30lbs).

Take A Look At More Custom Touring Builds HERE.

The post A Wooden Bicycle? Renovo Prove That A Wood Touring Bike Is Possible appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

While other students are sitting in class learning about imaginary numbers and supply and demand graphs, you could be understanding frame design, materials, tube finishing, welding, brazing, lug installation and AutoCAD. The hand built bicycle program is run by Steve McGuire (Professor of Metal Arts and 3D Design) and combines both engineering and arts students. Each student is provided with an industry mentor to help them along the way.

Willy Tan’s Bike From The Hand Built Bicycle Program

Willy went through the University of Iowa program a few years ago and constructed this touring bike for his sister. He sneakily convinced Professor McGuire that he should take the frame building course, despite being an accounting student. With a tick of approval, Willy started designing and building this extra-small touring bike to perfectly meet his sister’s needs.

The frame uses a mixture of True Temper and Reynolds 531 steel tubing connected with lugs that have been reshaped for the occasion. You wouldn’t know the wheels are 26-inch by looking at the bike – they’re perfectly matched to the XXS frame size. The key advantage to the smaller wheels is that they offer less toe overlap when steering.

Neat braze-ons and fittings have been installed across the bike to accommodate the gear cables, classic bidon cages, racks and stainless fenders. Brass tubes under the bottom bracket shell prevent the frame from rusting as the gear cables slowly wear through the paint. The rear brake cable even sneaks through the top tube for that ultra-clean aesthetic.

The silver parts in combination with the front and rear Nitto racks give this bike a very classic look. Campagnolo 8-speed shifters and derailleurs have been fitted, along with Sugino cranks that measure just 152mm instead of the usual 165/170mm. The idea is that the cranks are more in proportion with his sister’s leg lengths.

Narrow Continental Gatorskin tyres measuring 28mm have been selected, indicating that this touring bike will be used predominately for road use. A Brooks saddle and matching bar tape, along with a brass bell have been fitted to finish off the build.

Take A Look At More Custom Touring Builds HERE

The post XXS Pink Tourer: University of Iowa Hand Built Bicycle Program appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

The Voyage is their touring frameset. Built using double-butted Tange Champion steel tubing, this frame is designed to be as lightweight as possible for a load-bearing touring bike.

The Victoire Voyage Touring Bike

The fillet-brazing of this frameset perfectly matches the painted Velo Orange stem. To demonstrate the custom nature of this bike, no headset spacers are used – instead, the headtube length has been tailored perfectly to the height of the rider. The two vertical bars coming from the front rack are called ‘decaleur’ mounts. These mounts are designed to support a front randonneur bag that sits on the top of the front rack.

Victoire worked a kickstand plate into the chainstay so that an Ursus King kickstand would be able to support the bike and gear. TRP Spyre cable disc brakes have been fitted for their excellent braking in all weather conditions, especially with a heavy load. You’ll also notice the fender struts have been perfectly shaped to mount off the rear rack, with leather washers in use to dampen vibrations coming up through the bike.

The Victoire Voyage uses a Shimano 105 road groupset with 22 gears. The functionality of STI shifters is second to none in terms of brake and gear accessibility. While road groupsets do not provide the ultra-low climbing gears that some tourers require, these parts would have been selected for the typical tours conducted by the owner. In order to accommodate the height of the owner, 26-inch wheels have been employed to reduce toe overlap and create a more size-proportionate build.

The Voyage is constructed around a custom black powder coated Nitto front rack and a Tubus rear rack. Dynamo lights have been fitted to the racks and all wiring is internal on both the frame and fork. The front dynamo hub and rear DT Swiss hub are laced onto some ultra-solid Ryde touring rims. Gilles Berthoud finish this bike off with a French-made leather saddle and bartape.

Head HERE For More Custom Touring Bikes

The post This Victoire Voyage Touring Bike Is Modern Yet Elegant appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

What The Heck Is This Thing?

You’re looking at BEHEMOTH.

Short for “Big Electronic Human Energised Machine, Only Too Heavy”, this 105-speed recumbent touring bicycle also doubled as a home office for its owner Steven Roberts in 1991.

I’m sure many will be wondering WHY this project came about. Steven wanted to combine his passion for computers to create a human-powered object where “computer and communication tools rendered physical location irrelevant”. At the time it was revolutionary to have this level of technological mobility, especially for recreational use. Steven could check his emails and log onto online services anywhere, at any time. Nowadays it seems we take being connected like this for granted.

It took Steven 3.5 years to finish off the build. It couldn’t have been done without the help of 45 volunteers and hundreds of sponsors donating computer technology to the project. The expected cost of BEHEMOTH is a staggering US $1,200,000 when labour hours are taken into account. In order to protect this million-dollar bike, it had multiple security measures. The bike had a security system onboard and could alert the police all by itself with its coordinates if it were moved or disturbed.

Steven ended up completing 27,000km (17,000mi) around the USA on BEHEMOTH, conducting all of his work as well as giving hundreds of TV, radio and print interviews along the way. He found his way around using road maps of the country stored on CDs and combined with a GPS chip, he was able to locate his position at all times.

The Bike

BEHEMOTH required some really low gears to carry 263kg of bike and computing equipment uphill. This was achieved by employing two sets of front chainrings (5+3 chainrings) in combination with a 7-speed rear cassette.

Stabilising a quarter-tonne bike at low speeds was always going to be a challenge. Steven used what he called ‘landing gear’ on either side of his seat both when travelling at low speeds or for when he needed to park up the bike. Just like on an aeroplane, these wheels used air pressure to drop from horizontal.

All of the fairings were homemade using fibreglass over cardboard which saved costs, reduced weight and kept the electronics waterproof. In fact, Steven only had to cover the main computer screens when he rode in the rain.

The Electronics on BEHEMOTH

01. Satellite station for email and SOS.
02. Ham radio bay.
03. Trailer frame made out of steel. The cover is fibreglass covered cardboard. 2/3 of the space for camping equipment.
04. Battery bay with 30 amp hours of batteries (15 amp-hours more at the Console).
05. Satellite station mainframe.
06. Solar panels (72 watts).
07. Antennae for ham radio, mobile phone and pager.
08. Removable briefcase with 10-watt solar panel lid and laptop computer inside.
09. Safety flasher.
10. Motion sensor for if people get within 3m (10ft) of the bike.
11. Stereo system, CD player and 150 CDs.
12. This side: Refrigerator. The other side: Computer with a 207MB HDD, CD-ROM and modem.
13. Brain Interface Unit (more below).
14. Dual waterproof speakers.
15. Map case.
16. Handlebar keyboard built into the grips using binary code.
17. 105-speed drivetrain.
18. Dual air horns.
19. Steering link.
20. Phone.
21. Console: Mac computer with 40mb HDD (graphics). IBM computer with 40mb HDD (CAD, mapping, satellite tracking). Toshiba laptop for typing while riding. GPS chip. Speech synthesis and recognition. 30-watt beam headlight. Fax machine and modem boards.

The Helmet For BEHEMOTH

Nicknamed the ‘Brain Interface Unit’, the helmet itself was a masterpiece. Onboard was a PC computer operating the “private eye” – a heads-up display where Steven could see what he was typing while riding along, as well as check his emails (Google Glass anyone?). But the screen wasn’t all about words; motion sensors on either side of the helmet allowed the control of a mouse. The helmet was topped off with a microphone, speakers, rear vision mirror and lights.

One of the most interesting features of the helmet is how Steven kept his head cool on hot days. Ice water from a 7-litre storage tank under the bike was pumped up and circulated through a helmet liner.

Typing was also unique on this bike. Steven built a keyboard on the handlebar grips that rather than having individual letters, used only a few binary keys. Typing worked out at about half-speed to a regular keyboard (which sounds pretty quick to me).

UPDATE: I Contacted Steven About What He Would Change in 2017

It would be so much lighter and it would probably look quite normal… still with solar panels and a little console for ham gear. I’m not sure I’d bother with the binary handlebar keyboard anymore… back then, it was the only reasonable choice since speech recognition was awful and power-hungry. I’d still have a heads-up display… that tech has gotten pretty sweet.

I’d stick with recumbency and that general design, though of course, the bike tech would be far more advanced in terms of the groupset. Excellent lights and integrated comms.

I’m not sure about the trailer. Getting a lot of load off the bike was nice, but at the expense of added rolling resistance, more tires of different size, much more overall weight, more hassles in motels… if I were doing it now, I’d take a hard look and getting minimal enough to avoid that, but I really don’t know the answer. A lot of the bulky stuff would go away or be considerably reduced… that BEHEMOTH trailer had the huge Qualcomm satellite base unit, a pack of CDs, lots of tools including Makita drill and lab stuff, a portable oscilloscope, a fat laptop, and a monster dome tent big enough to hold the bike. All tiny or unnecessary now.

By the way, I got lucky on the bike itself. I started by building my own, which was mostly a lesson in how much of an art form frame building is. I made friends with a wizard tandem-builder in Columbus (the late Jack Trumbull) and he did the physical bike fabrication with input from some of the HPV gurus of the day. With tandem strength, triple stays, crossover/eccentric, and other heavy-duty features, it was able to support all three versions and 17,000 miles of abuse with no failures whatsoever. Even the steering geometry was spot-on, and I never had mechanical design issues with the substrate even with absurdly heavy consoles, the 105-speed gearing in the final system, landing gear, and so on.

Are You Still Intrigued By BEHEMOTH?

Steven has lots of information about the bike on his website Microship.com and for a good overview of the details, I’d recommend watching this 42-minute interview from the Phil Donahue Show in 1992. If you live in California (USA) you can visit BEHEMOTH at the Computer History Museum.

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