one year on the porteur

i thought i would add a small update to the porteur bikes tale,
a few mods have taken place since i started using this super useful bike ,

the porteur carrying 40 shimano 7spd freewheels

berthoud mudguards, i wanted velo orange ones but as usual they were sold out everywhere i looked , a medium cage rear mech and 105 front mech  along with a vintage stronglight 32/52 chainset was added as the 53 single was just too much when carrying 20+ kilo's on steep climbs, i also swapped out the freewheel for an old Sachs item as all the shimano freewheels i tried refused to index correctly with the 7 speed shifters  and tiagra rear mechs, the sachs item works perfectly ! , go figure ;:-/

apart from those few small alterations its all the same , it gets worked hard, not a day goes by that this bike doesnt carry something , its become indispensable to me , with hindsight i would have liked a rail around the cargo area like the soma and VO porteur racks have but i will get one for the other porteur bike i am building,  

more soon :-)

new tyres

sadly my old specialized all conditions armadillo tyres gave up the ghost , the rear ,which was 13 years old!  actually de-laminated and was making a flapping sound , kinda like having an angry kipper cable tied to the rear wheel , 

after a quick search through our suppliers catalogue i found the  Schwalbe  delta cruiser creme 700 x 35 c , they are a very tight fit under the 40mm mudguards but since i set up the mudguards (i didnt cut the stays down when i initially fitted them ) i havent run into any issues , that may change come the autumn ,with all those leaves on the ground quietly laying in wait for a bicycle mudguard to get sucked into!

I have also built a new rear wheel , NOS Mavic MA40 ,40 hole laced with ACI Alpina  double butted onto a Bayliss Wiley lightweight LF hub , similar to the British Hub Company 'Airlite' but with a slightly firmer ,better tracking' feel ,

the rear light is a 1950's item that i have done an easily reversible conversion to 5 LED bulbs , set up for 9V as i intend to hide a li-po 1400 2s (8.4v) pack inside the seat tube and run wire out through a tiny hole i will drill in the seat tube just below the bottom of the seat post,

 i may be able to get three packs in parallel  if i cut off some of the 7" of seat post there is inside the frame, there is also the option of using 18650 or larger 25500 lithium cells , the 25500 is very tempting as they can be had with over 5000mah capacity , four of those hooked up in a 4s2p configuration (two series packs hooked up in parallel) to give 8.4v 10 amp hour pack or greater ! concealed inside the frame with the lights all bolted on to the bike is a must for the winter , (i HATE having to remove lights just because i fancy a pint and lock up my bike)

 i was thinking about a dynamo hub and may still get one  but i would rather have extra weight without the odd feel of the dynamo's mechanical resistance.