cyclehaul:French Divide Fantasy Bike #5 : Velo Orange Piolet. From the american bike company that
cyclehaul: French Divide Fantasy Bike #5 : Velo Orange Piolet. From the american bike company that remade the original French Randonneur, comes another mountain-randonneur mashup with the Piolet Frameset. This frame is very similar and price competitive with the Singular Gryphon, made for drop or straight bars. It has room for plus sized 29inch tires which tuck right into the non-suspension corrected fork. It’s got a whole bunch of braze-ons to attach racks and bottle cages. There are subtle differences; compared to the Gryphon, the head tube angle is 1.5 degrees tighter at 72˚ instead of 70.5˚. The fork is offset a whole 62mm in contrast with 55mm for the Gryphon, while most bicycles’ offsets are about 45mm. What difference would that make? I don’t really know. It’s too bad that I can’t ride all the bikes to compare the subtleties. I’d accept that job. One minor draw back compared to the Gryphon, however, is that the frame isn’t easily converted to single speed, as it lacks sliding dropouts or an eccentric bottom bracket. I wouldn’t knock it for just that. It would make a great bike for the French Divide race, an american frame inspired by old french design and ridden by a Franco-American. What could be better? Anyone want to bring a large size frame over? -- source link