Speedvagen Rugged'er Road

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by thermalattorney

Depends on your definition of gravel. A super slacked out drop bar bike sounds like the perfect thing to me. Since neither of us has ridden the aforementioned abomination, I'm not sure why I should trust you.

Just look at the front end

Anyway if you’re not also riding on pavement why not just use a MTB you know

[RyanP]

Originally Posted by joosttx

I think a redshift stem is a lighter, cheaper and better solution to this fork.

Maybe I'm wrong here, but the redshift stem (which I use and love) reduces fatigue at the hands/wrists whereas the fork, aside from absorbing impacts, is going to allow for better tire contact with the ground on rough terrain. That is something that I think would be an asset on a lot of the gravel roads here in WA. I could see it being completely unnecessary in a lot of other areas of the country.

[CMiller]

Nothing wrong with gravel bikes looking like 90s mountain bikes. The brakes are better, tires are better, suspension is better, drop bars work for lots of people, thru axles are nice, steel/construction is arguably better - all awesome improvements even if the geometry isn't hugely different. Arguably much less innovation in traditional road cycling geometry, my 70s Mercian isn't far off in geometry to the super custom handmade road frames we see here all the time.

Also bottom bracket drop has a huge influence on ride quality for me, and "gravel" frames are almost all much lower to the ground than 90s mountain bikes. Progress, I'm happy to have choices!

[RyanP]

Originally Posted by CMiller

Nothing wrong with gravel bikes looking like 90s mountain bikes. The brakes are better, tires are better, suspension is better, drop bars work for lots of people, thru axles are nice, steel/construction is arguably better - all awesome improvements even if the geometry isn't hugely different. Arguably much less innovation in traditional road cycling geometry, my 70s Mercian isn't far off in geometry to the super custom handmade road frames we see here all the time.

Also bottom bracket drop has a huge influence on ride quality for me, and "gravel" frames are almost all much lower to the ground than 90s mountain bikes. Progress, I'm happy to have choices!

This post was entirely too rational for the way these gravel bike vs 90s mtb arguments usually go.

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Or, you could save yourself thousands of dollars...

A Speedvagen is for people not concerned about saving money, and I mean that as a compliment to the brand, not the buyers.

I don't need a shock fork to love that Speedvagen. I have no use for it, but I think it looks good.

[CMiller]

Originally Posted by RyanP

This post was entirely too rational for the way these gravel bike vs 90s mtb arguments usually go.

Don't get me started on downtube shifters!

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

A Speedvagen is for people not concerned about saving money, and I mean that as a compliment to the brand, not the buyers.

I don't need a shock fork to love that Speedvagen. I have no use for it, but I think it looks good.

I get the cachet of a Speedvagen. The thread has two disparate elements: the Speedvagen brand and the functionality of the suspension gravel bike. Personally, 30mm of suspension doesn’t seem that practical to me. I’d rather just have a slacker geo gravel frame with room for bigger tires. Which I actually have.

As for the brand itself, I’d rather go with a smaller builder like Pete Olivetti, DeSalvo, or Erik Rolf at Alliance. Just my 2 cents.

[d_douglas]

while I think that would be a fun bike to ride, the expense and weight of a fork with such little travel doesnt seem worth it. I would rather use bigger tires, though nothing beats a nice bouncy fork when in the right application.

[bicycletricycle]

Perhaps some people are just trolling, I’m not. I had the good fortune to go to crested butte when Wes Willits was inventing the 29er. Saw the progression from CX to 28incher to 29incher. They even had these crap manitou hybrid forks attached (basically a manitou 4 with 60 millimeters of travel but longer for 700c wheels).

These bikes are the foundation of all that is 29er. They are also exactly what is being reinvented now in exactly the same way. People take their road/CX bike off-road, enjoy the experience, modify it some to improve the experience. A couple of cycles of this and you get a drop bar bike with wide tires.

It’s isn’t some kind of put down, just a funny observation about how things get reinvented.

Originally Posted by unterhausen

They really aren't anywhere near making a point, it's just trolling now.


I can't wheelie anything, but I have seen people wheelie a bakfiets cargo bike, so I'm sure someone could wheelie any of PVD's bikes.

I subscribe to the idea that if it don't look right, it ain't right. OTOH, we are wedded to a small range of bicycle geometry when a much wider range of geometry will work.

[hellvetica]

Where have I seen this before ..........

[72gmc]

Is it ever wrong to follow the lead of Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle?

[Germany_chris]

Originally Posted by joosttx

I think a redshift stem is a lighter, cheaper and better solution to this fork.

The stem doesn’t help with front traction though

[merckxman]

And....

Originally Posted by hellvetica

Where have I seen this before ..........

[Overshot]

Anyone know approximately how much this rig would weigh built up as in the pics?

[EB]

Originally Posted by Overshot

Anyone know approximately how much this rig would weigh built up as in the pics?

Around 22 pounds, assuming carbon wheels and high end tubing. It will vary a bit with sizing, but there is no getting around the 1.2 kilo weight of the fork.