Vik's Nomad S&S

[vik]

Here is a first photo of my Nomad S&S.  Not a great one, but I figured I'd share what I had since I rec'd a lot of great advice from forum members in making the selection process.

I will be adding racks and fenders shortly.  Not sure I'll be sticking with drops in the long run, but they've worked for me in the past so I wanted to start with something proven.  I'll be considering Titec H-bars and Thorn comfort bars.



I bought the frame/fork only from Thorn so the component choice is not standard.

safe riding,

Vik
www.thelazyrando.com

[jags]

your wright vik the photo dosen't do the bike justice,but well done on the build as usual you did a great job .but give us (me) a few close up's .oh and how is the ride are you happy with the bike.

[bobs]

It certainly looks good from a distance, lets have some more photo's.
 ;)Bob

[julk]

Vik,

Looking good.

Are you riding it yet? If so how does it handle?

Julian

[vik]

Here is a better version of that photo:

[vik]

As for the ride I've only had it out a few times unloaded so far.  It rides quite well "naked".  The handling is predictable without being too slow or too fast.  The bike cruises along quite well with the 1.6" Marathon Supremes.  I'm still on the mend so I've not tried riding it too aggressively yet.

I'll be adding racks & fenders this week and then loading it up a bit and trying her that way.

I do like the ride better than my Sherpa, but I suspect that's to do with sizing rather than the differences in models - although it's hard to tell without back to back tests on similarly equipped bikes.

I'll take some more pics this week and post them.

safe riding,

Vik
www.thelazyrando.com

[jags]

ah that's much better vik,look's fantastis cant wait to see the finished bike.now dont go selling it off like you did the sherpa ,at least wait until you have done a nice big mile tour and hopefully by that time it will be your favourate bike.
 cheers vik.
 jags

[bobs]

does look great, I think I want one of those!!!!!  We should start a show us your bike thread.

[brummie]

 Vic,
Beware if you plan to use Titec H bars - they don't leave much room for a handlebar grip !  - I'm sure i've read somewhere of a newer version of the Titec H-bars which are more like the original Jones bars & will allow more room for the rohloff shifter & grip... Great bars tho' I have 'em on my singlespeed mtb.

[pastafarian]

It looks sweet, nicely built! I'm also a fan of black hubs etc and I see you used that colour throughout most of the bike. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of this beautiful beast

[vik]

Vic,
Beware if you plan to use Titec H bars - they don't leave much room for a handlebar grip !  - I'm sure i've read somewhere of a newer version of the Titec H-bars which are more like the original Jones bars & will allow more room for the rohloff shifter & grip... Great bars tho' I have 'em on my singlespeed mtb.

I've got a Titec H-bar and Rohloff shifter on my Surly Big Dummy and had to hack the Ergon grip on the shifter side.  This works fine and I've had no discomfort issues with using a short grip.



Jeff Jones is making a new bar [loop bar pic shown] that will better accept twist shifters like the Rohloff, but at $550USD vs. $80USD for the Titec H-bar I'm going to stick with my hack for now.

http://www.jonesbikes.com/h-bar.html

safe riding,

Vik
www.thelazyrando.com

[bobs]

$500  for a set of handlebars now that's expensive. Don't expect SJSC will be stocking them, make comfort bars a bargain.

[Phaedrus]

Beautiful bike, Vik!  Well done! 

Love those loop-bars, lots of real-estate, and a good way to mount a small bag.  You probably could have a frame maker (or any welder) make a pair of those bars for a lot less than $550.

Hope your hand heals nicely.  You're still thinking it was the straight forks on the big-dummy, and not the bars?

take care,
Bill

[vik]

Hope your hand heals nicely.  You're still thinking it was the straight forks on the big-dummy, and not the bars?

take care,
Bill

Thanks Bill...my hand is at 95% and not an issue for all practical purposes.

I don't think it was any one cause, but rather a combination of:

- stiff straight forks
- minimal bar padding
- rough road [lots of vibration]
- challenging riding [rough & muddy road] causing me to grab the bars harder than normal
- due to the Rohloff shifter I only really used my right hand [shifting & grabbing my water bottle]

You can see what my H-bars looked like in the photo below:



Very little padding!  In my own defense I used the bars this way for several shorter tours and lots of day to day riding with no issues so I didn't worry about it.

My solution for the Titec has been to:

- use Ergon grips
- add double cork bar tape to all other parts of the bars
- I may also move the Rohloff shifter to the left side of the bars so I use my left hand more

On the Nomad I've used drop bars that have never caused me any issues and mounted the Rohloff shifter on the left side of a Thorn accessory bar so I use my left hand to shift and right hand for water bottles/taking photos, etc.. I expect the curved Thorn fork to be better at absorbing vibration than the straight fork on my Big Dummy.

I don't expect any further problems, but it took a long time to heal so I'm keen on not repeating the injury!

safe riding,

Vik
www.thelazyrando.com

[aj]

Great looking bike Vic, if it rides as well as it looks your on to a winner. I'm finding Thorns Comfort bars with Ergon Grips to be very good on my Sherpa so far, they seem a little wider than I have been used to but that seems to help relax my shoulders and arms which means less fatigue if I'm in the saddle for several hours. The angle they are set at seems to make a considerable difference to how they feel for me, even pivoting them a few mm forwards or backwards can make quite a large difference to their comfort.
Anyway, hope the Nomad is the bike you have been dreaming of and lives up to your expectations, enjoy :-)

Adrian