22 December, 2016

Blem Stems and Frames, and Warm Holiday Wishes

by Igor

Every now and again, we find some finishes which aren't up to snuff, so they get sent to our "scratch n' sniff" bin until we feel the time is right to post them on the specials page. Today, the time has come for these Nickel-finished Cigne Stems and a few Campeur frames.


These Cigne Stems have some not-so-stellar plating with some minor inclusions under the finish and clear coat, but are in perfect functioning condition. If you're handy with a wire wheel and torch, you could even strip the finish and braze on a downtube shifter mount and cable stop:



We also just posted two paint blem'd Campeur frames and one with a dented seat collar in the Discounted Frames page. None of which affects the frame's function, but cannot be sold in our regular batch.
Lastly, we're going to be closed from December 24th until January 1st, 2017. If you want to get your order shipped before the New Year, submit your order before 11am EST of the 23rd.

Thank you so much for a fantastic and fun 2016!

Have a terrific and safe holiday season and see you all in the new year!

15 December, 2016

Opinel Essentials 4-Pack and Holiday Gift Ideas

by Igor

Opinel knives are just a treat to behold. Beautifully simple, incredibly light, and well balanced. My No.8 Carbon is a mainstay of my Everyday Carry - always ready to divvy up some meat and cheese on tour or open mail at home.

In addition to their folding knives, Opinel makes terrific kitchen knives.



Just in time for the holidays, we brought in their Essentials 4-Pack which includes (from top to bottom) a Paring Knife, Serrated Knife, Vegetable Knife, and a Peeler.

Both the Paring and Serrated knives have 9.5cm blade lengths, while the Vegetable knife has a 7cm blade.
Though they are all dishwasher safe, I still tend to wash them by hand. The set comes in a nice package for gifting and would make a great addition to any chef's kitchen.

A good set of flat pedals with loads of real estate make any city and touring bike significantly more comfortable. The Sabot Pedals have 3 sets of sealed cartridge bearings, rounded traction pins, and are toe-clip and half-clip compatible.

A cycling cap is an essential piece of every cyclist's kit. The cap must be high quality, lightweight, and have the proper amount of luft. Instructions for proper cap wear can be found here.

The VO Baguette Bag is a simple canvas and leather bag that can mount to your saddle's loops or the front of your handlebars. Great for road bikes without rack mounting points for a bit more carrying capacity during an all day ride. Since it straps on, you can take with you into the cafe or shop.
Add a bit of distinction and safety to your rear fender with our Grand Cru Fender Mounted Reflector. Installation only requires a few minutes to drill one hole and is compatible with any fender type.
I shouldn't get so excited about bungee cords, but the Constructeur Bungee Cords from Rustines really are fantastic. Since they don't have a braided outer lining, they hold down a dry bag or tent super securely without worry of shifting or sliding. They're available in several colors to match your bike or your country's flag.
Lastly, our Gift Certificates are compatible with short and linear pull brakes, Campagnolo and Shimano, and 1" quill and threadless.

07 December, 2016

Scott's Small Parts and Trip Planning Post

By Scott

Well even though winter is upon us, certainly out west the cold air has been flooding in and it looks like that cold air will hit the east coast by the weekend, we're still getting new products into stock.
Most of these are not as sexy as the Cigne stem or a new frame like the Polyvalent, but I think part of this time of the year is getting all the parts for my builds/project collected and ensure that the prep work is done so that when the time comes to put it all together, I'm not looking for that last part with desperation.

To start with, we have received a new color in the Rustines shifter covers - red! We had asked for these back in the late summer and the red took longer to produce in Le Mans, but they came in yesterday and they look great. So if you are working on a project bike this winter that needs that touch of color, these are a great add on.
Next on the list is straddle cables for the Grand Cru canti brakes. These straddle cables (a set of 2- ie enough for one bike) are the ones to use if you need to replace the straddle cable on the Zeste or the Mk2 brakes.
Finally, we brought in some Jagwire step-down cable ends. For those of you with older frames that don't take 5 mm cable ends (you can use the Park tools caliper to measure if you need to), it bridges the gap to allow you to use modern cables on older fittings. Remember, put just a dab of grease on the end of the cable where it goes into the fitting to prevent it from rusting into place from the sweat of hard work.
The other thing I do over the winter is dream up/make plans for the following year's tour. Adventure Cycling is a great organization for this. VO has been a corporate sponsor of Adventure Cycling for a number of years now. Adventure Cycling is offering a complimentary 6-month trial memberships ($20 value) to first-time members so that you can experience all that Adventure Cycling has to offer. 

ADVENTURE CYCLING MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES: 

  • Adventure Cyclist magazine - published 9 times a year
  • Discounts on Adventure Cycling maps
  • The Cyclosource catalog, our book, map, & gear guide
  • Members-only online resources and articles
  • Access to our special organized tours
  • Exclusive discounts on partner products and services
This free trial membership is valid only to new members and must be sent to a U.S. mailing address. 


Just a reminder that the winter sale continues until the 18th. We're starting to run low on some parts, so grab your parts soon.

02 December, 2016

Winter Sale

Hey, we're having a sale!  Same deal as last year.  Even a similar blog post!

Details: You can get 20% off your order starting right now and ending December 18th, 2016 (at exactly 11:59pm Eastern Time). But you have to use the not-so-secret coupon code, as detailed below. This sale applies to both retail customers and to shops!

Just to be clear, you get 20% off on all in-stock frames, wheels, parts, accessories - everything except gift certificates and items that are already on sale - but only if you follow the steps below:

  • Add all of the products you want to your cart, just as you normally would.
  • Don't check out yet! Instead click on "My Cart" to review your products.

  • Enter the coupon code - WINTER16 - in the little "discount codes" box in the shopping card page, as in the screenshot below.
  • Click on "Apply Coupon".

  • Check out as you normally would and enjoy your savings! That's all there is to it!

29 November, 2016

Bottle Cages, Caliper Brakes, and Soap

by Igor

We're back into the swing of autumn and have restocked a few items:
In addition to the restock, we brought in a 300g, hard-milled soap made by Savon de Marseille in France. The presentation and aroma is terrific and they would make a lovely gift.
Yes, that's a unicorn on the box, and yes it is imprinted onto the soap.

23 November, 2016

Thanksgiving Break

By Scott


Time sure flies. One minute it was late August and the weather was hot and steamy and now all of the sudden, winter has arrived in one way or another around the US (apologies to readers in the Southern Hemisphere where spring should now be in full bloom).

I just wanted to let folks know that we will be closed on Thursday November 24th and Friday November 25th for our annual Thanksgiving break. A bit of rain is expected here in the mid Atlantic on Thursday, but otherwise the weekend looks great for getting out and about.
We'll be back in the office on Monday the 28th at 9 am to answer questions via phone and email.
If you are stuck inside over the weekend, check out this great Piolet test ride video from the folks at Adventure Cycling that shows the bike off very well we think. Guitar Ted posted a great review of our Cigne stem here.

We'd like to our thank all our customers for your business this year and hope that all of you have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

17 November, 2016

It's Beaujolais Nouveau Day

By Chris


As I've done in the past few years, I wanted to remind everyone that  Beaujolais Nouveau is released today. And as is tradition at Velo Orange, we are enjoying a glass or two at work (it enhances creativity). It's not that we're wine snobs, quite the opposite. Most of us drink craft beers and an occasional whisky. This wine is only a few weeks old and it is not a "fine wine." It is an inexpensive and quaffable wine, a fun drink that can be enjoyed by anyone to celebrate the harvest. It's meant to be consumed in copious quantities in the first year of its life. Its a light-bodied and fruity wine made from Gamay grapes, Cost is around $10 a bottle. Why today? French regulations prohibit Beaujolais Nouveau from being sold until the third Thursday in November. 

16 November, 2016

Choosing Colors and Other Polyvalent Stuff

By Chris

The Polyvalent is one of our oldest projects and one I'm especially proud of. The idea was to build a bike that would do, if not everything, then most things well. It's a bike that's good as a commuter, tourer, or dirt road explorer. But making a frame that's so versatile requires some tough choices.
One of the more difficult tasks at Velo Orange is choosing frame colors. We agonize over this. It usually require endless mini-meetings and, in the end, we almost never agree. I eventually have to choose and in this case the light blue won out. The photo shows the others colors we considered.

Another choice was disc brakes. It took me a long time to come around, but after riding with them on two bikes and recently riding a bike with canti-brakes again, I simply think discs are better, especially in wet conditions. Though I'll stick to cable actuation on future builds for the sake of simplicity. While it's true that we have retro-grouch tendencies here at VO, that's only because so much of the modern bike industry is based on change for the sake of change. We are absolutely willing to adopt technology that is actually an improvement, like disc brakes. Remember that the great French constructeurs often worked to improve braking. I am absolutely convinced that they would have embraced modern disc brakes as a worthwhile innovation. I would still choose rim brakes if going somewhere remote where obtaining spares would be difficult, and I wouldn't sell a good frame just to get one with discs, but if given the choice on a new bike I'll choose discs.

Another good innovation is large bottle cages like the VO Mojave and Anything Cages. So we included three bottle cage bosses on the down tube and fork.

We also decided to keep the 1" threaded fork, which everyone at VO agreed on. Let's remember that 1-1/8" threadless forks were developed to be a stronger system for mountain bikes, strength that is overkill on road, touring, city, or gravel bikes. 1-1/8 forks are a bit stiffer, but do we actually need that stiffness? We are, after all, running wide 650b tires to make the ride softer. One the other hand threaded forks make adjusting handlebar height easier and, in my estimation, look better. I look forward to building my Polyvalent up with one of our upcoming removable faceplate quill stems. Most bike manufacturers embraced threadless forks not because they are better, but because they are cheaper to produce and one size fits most. Both threaded and threadless forks are well proven on and off road. In the end choosing a frame based solely on the fork type seems, to me, a bit silly.

We also added just a tiny bit of up-slope to the top tube to get the bars a little higher, probably not enough that you'd notice at first glance. So this frame has the classic good looks of a level top tube frame, not the modern look of a sloping top tube. I know that this decision will cause those without our taste for retro frames to scratch their heads, but that's the choice we made.

We are also working on a new fork crown, but it might not be ready in time for the first production run. In that case we'll use the same fork crown that we used on the Camargue, not a bad compromise.

08 November, 2016

Polyvalent 4 Frame Preview

by Igor

The Polyvalent has been our longest running frameset, going back almost eight years. It started from humble beginnings as a cantilever-braked, low-trail city bike sporting nondescript matte-black paint with orange decals. The Mark 2 and Mark 3 versions got new paint jobs, updated tubing, better accessory mountings, and other evolutionary changes. Now it's time for version 4.

The prototype frames made it just in time for Philly Bike Expo. We had lots of great feedback from folks who saw it.


We've kept all the good stuff: double butted chromoly frame and fork construction, 1" threaded steerer, elegant fork bend, low-trail front end, 650b wheels, kickstand plate, and plenty of fender and rack mounts.


The big change is Disc brakes. The frame and fork will have IS mounts and are designed around 160mm rotors.


There will be a few other changes as well:
  • Increased tire clearances: 47mm tires with fenders. And new (57mm or so) fenders will be available.
  • Normal fit: the original Polyvalents were designed with long top tubes for upright bars, but if you wanted to use drop bars, it meant less-than-optimal fit for most riders. The new version will have a shorter top tube and the same fit as our Campeur and Pass Hunter.
  • Internal rear brake cable routing: Same setup as Pass Hunter Disc, internal tube for easy and clean routing.
  • Triple water bottle bosses on top of the down tube. Tall bottles, easier to reach bottles, big bottles.
  • Wrap-around seat stays: because they look so good and provide wider seat stay clearances.
  • Vertical dropouts with stainless hanger: Sliding, swinging, and alternating dropouts are solutions that add significant complications to construction and still only work for some applications. Use a chain tensioner if you need. 
  • Head tube re-inforcements.


You may have noticed that there's no fork. It wasn't ready in time, and we are considering using a new custom VO fork crown on this and some other future frame models.

Tubing is double butted 4130 chromoly. Downtube is 31.8. Top tube is also 31.8 for better control with loads, though we may go with an ovalized top tube depending on how testing goes and if planing is adequate.

We're really excited to have the Polyvalent back in action, and look forward to R&D rides with the VO gang!

07 November, 2016

Philly Bike Expo Roundup

by Igor

From L-R: Clint, Adrian, Igor, Scott. Photo courtesy of Rod Bruckdorfer
We wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone who came out to this past weekend's Philly Bike Expo! In addition to talking about our new products, we had a wonderful time seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

Gorgeous Randonnneur from Royal H
Front Constructeur Rack

Track bike from Stanridge Speed
Ely of RuthWorks SF makes excellent classic and modern cycling luggage
Love seeing Chris Bishop's fine lugwork and amazing builds

Wonderful wooden bikes with VO bits from Sojouner Cyclery

Great to meet Jamie Swan this year and see his work up close

Hanford Cycles of Firth and Wilson is putting out some stunning classic tourers and commuters made in Philadelphia

Ludicrous welding and painting from Ground Up Speed Shop

Concept bike by Cherubim, imported by Bronin Jitensha

This lightweight, S&S coupled tourer by Winter Bicycles was stunning

Peter Weigle came by with a terrific Rinko tourer with Zeppelin fenders and Rustines Grips mounted on the drops

Outrageous Seven with Grand Cru brakes


03 November, 2016

Come to Philly!


Please come see us, and a lot of other cool companies, at the Philly Bike Expo this weekend. The VO staff all say that this is the most fun of any bike show we've attended. Here the link for info. We'll have a prototype of the new Polyvalent frame to show you.

28 October, 2016

Last Day for Frame + Freebies Offer



Just a reminder, today is the last day of our Frame + Freebie offer! The deal ends October 28th, at 11:59pm EST.

25 October, 2016

Bars Bars Bars

By Clint



We're bringing in some new bars from our friends at Fairweather!  NB designed the Shred bars for around the city, on the trails, and all around shredding.  He's Bluelug's photographer and expert in all things fixed gear, mtb, and cyclocross.


As for the technical specs, the bars have 25mm of rise, 6° of upsweep, and 3° of backsweep.  31.8mm clamp diameter, 22.2mm grip diameter.  These beautiful bars are made in Japan by Nitto.  They come in two colors, Silver and Black, and we are stocking the larger size, 750mm.  They have graduated ends for trimming to dial your fit.

I'll be running a pair of these on my cyclocross bike.  Check out the Shred Bar by Fairweather!


In other bar news, the Fairweather Bullmoose Bars are back in stock!  Get 'em before they're gone!


In other other bar news, we just got some prototypes of the Klunker bars I've been working on and they look gooood.  We'll be bringing these vintage mtb inspired bars to the Philly Bike Expo.