I realized I haven’t posted much news about the Tweed build. The bike is now fully rideable. Hub and brakes are set up and the fenders are installed. I’ve also got the front and rear racks installed. I’m really pleased with how the build has come together. Installing metal fenders was really a pain in the ass, but they look great and the coverage is fantastic (although, I haven’t gotten a chance to really test them in the rain, just damp pavement).
I plan on doing a series of posts about the build and my overall impressions/review of it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t give some of my opinions of it early.
The frame rides great, better than my Surly Long Haul Trucker, likely because of the Tange Prestige tubing as opposed to the 4130 that Surly uses. There is some significant wheel flop with a rear load, but it’s not bad when my weight is on the bars and in fact, it seems to track better than the LHT.
The Alfine hub is pretty amazing. I love shifting whenever, even while stopped. The shifting is really smooth and the hub feels great while riding, even though it weighs a ton, I don’t notice it much, if at all. It’s also really quiet, which I like.
Disc brakes work well so far, although I believe they require some additional adjustment. The rear brake works pretty well, and locks up the wheel if I want it to. The front brake is a little mushy and doesn’t have as much stopping power as I would expect, although it does make me stop. I’m going to see if cable stretch has played a part, and pull out any slack that might be in the cable and readjust.
In all, I have a really classy-looking bike that works great. Next steps are to install lighting and improve the front fender line, at which point I will be at the 1.0 version of this build (right now I’d say I’m at 0.98!).
New Bike Day is the best day.
