Velo Orange Polyvalent
Velo-Orange Polyvalent framesets are out and reaching dealers and customers. The V-O blog mentions that a bike shop in Vermont has one built up -- interestingly this bike (pictured) was assembled with drop bars -- the other builds of this frame I've seen have all used upright bars.
This is interesting/noteworthy because the Polyvalent was designed with an over-long top tube to facilitate proper rider posture with upright handlebars. Running drops on this frame will probably require a shorter-than-normal stem extension. However, the stem on the pictured bike doesn't look especially short -- but it does appear that the frame might have been sized down a bit, since there's a decent amount of seatpost showing, which would shorten the top tube back to a normal length.
It does result in a useful and good-looking bike. And $400 for that frameset is a really good deal! It'll be interesting to read some long-term impressions of this frameset once folks get some miles on them. (Will it plane? Will it shimmy?) And perhaps I can keep my fingers crossed for a BQ review? Nah, that'll probably never happen. ;)
Check out their full set of photos on the Flickr...
This is interesting/noteworthy because the Polyvalent was designed with an over-long top tube to facilitate proper rider posture with upright handlebars. Running drops on this frame will probably require a shorter-than-normal stem extension. However, the stem on the pictured bike doesn't look especially short -- but it does appear that the frame might have been sized down a bit, since there's a decent amount of seatpost showing, which would shorten the top tube back to a normal length.
It does result in a useful and good-looking bike. And $400 for that frameset is a really good deal! It'll be interesting to read some long-term impressions of this frameset once folks get some miles on them. (Will it plane? Will it shimmy?) And perhaps I can keep my fingers crossed for a BQ review? Nah, that'll probably never happen. ;)
Check out their full set of photos on the Flickr...
posted by jim g at 11:06 AM
1 Comments:
A longer top tube would work great for me with drops. My legs are short for my height so I usually end up having to tip toe onto a bike (or get a sore back). If I hadn't just built up a touring bike I'd be looking at the geometry as a possible new buy.
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