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Comment
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Marc Rosenbaum
Apr 3, 07 - 7:39 PM |
Touring ITR
Good succinct assessment of the bikes, Randy. I packed my non-stock Z Pro up last year with panniers and did a lightweight century and it did just fine. This winter I've added fenders using Reacharounds from River City Bicycles in Portland.
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Nanda
Apr 4th, 2007 - 12:46 AM |
Re: Touring ITR
I concur Marc. Saw the article just yesterday
http://www.ransbikes.com/ITR52.htm and it's good to see the evolution of CF's right before our eyes. I think they will really come into their own as long haul touring bikes once the word gets out.
Any chance we can see some pics of the Z-Pro in touring mode with a couple close-ups of the Reacharound fender solution?
Thanks,
-Nanda
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Randy Schlitter
Apr 4th, 2007 - 1:29 PM |
Re: Touring ITR
Hey thanks guys, I too would love to see the fendered up Z-Pro too, I have a way of putting them on, not tried yet, where the fender splits over the brake and bolts to eiher side using little fittings. The more I ride my Z-Pro the more I want to take off on a major tour, some days you just do not feel like stopping. Good luck on you centuries this year Marc.
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Marc Rosenbaum
Apr 4th, 2007 - 4:06 PM |
Pix of rack and fenders on Z Pro
Here's the URL:
www.energysmiths.com/bikestuff/Zenetik/fenders/
Caution, large files!
The rack is an old Blackburn I've used for years - strong and light. The fenders are Esge/SKS I bought from Peter White Cycles. The fender split fittings I bought from River City Bicycles in Portland OR.
The only thing made of Unobtainium is the custom-made Titanium (because I had some leftover stock!) brake nut for the carbon fork. I had a local machine shop make this up (you can now buy a pair from Harris Cyclery for much less $, the Sheldon Fender Nut, I guess we both had the same idea.) This particular one fits the Reynolds fork, which has a smaller diameter recess than most forks, and it replaces the normal brake nut with one that allows you to bolt the fender tab on.
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Randy Schlitter
Apr 4th, 2007 - 5:47 PM |
Re: Touring ITR
Good photos Marc, thanks.
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steve
Apr 5th, 2007 - 6:42 PM |
Re: Touring ITR
I've used my Dynamik for a tour of northern California, using a combination of panniers and a trailer, and found it to be a very effective touring machine for riding on a combination of rough trails and roads. I have some pics of my set-up descending Schnebly hill road into Sedona which I'll put up on this site at some point in the near future- overall the bike worked great. Only thing I might add is wider tires to give greater comfort over rocky terrain. Being seated pretty much over the rear wheel makes for a bumpy experience in such conditions.
One other possible modification of CFs for touring purposes is to use a front rack compatible fork- with only rear panniers the weight distribution becomes extremely rear biased, causing handling difficulties. So if Rans decides to do a touring version of one of their CFs I'd strongly recommend that the fork be capable of accepting a rack.
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steve
Apr 5th, 2007 - 6:43 PM |
Re: Touring ITR
correction; for 'northern California' read 'northern Arizona'- I'm going senile!
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Nanda
Apr 5th, 2007 - 10:28 PM |
Re: Touring ITR
That's a clever fender setup Marc. "Reacharound" had me thinking that some how brackets ran around the brake and stays, not Up n' Over. I'll have to see if I can secure some of these for the Spin shop. Thanks for the pics. Could I add'm to our Crank Fever page so other Zen riders can benefit once this post is buried?
Steve, I was going to say "and you didn't stop by for a visit" if you had toured NorCal. Looking forward to those pics as well.
~Nanda
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Marc Rosenbaum
Apr 7th, 2007 - 9:13 AM |
Re: Touring ITR
Nanda, you're welcome to use the pix. I added an overall shot of the bike with rack and fenders.
www.energysmiths.com/bikestuff/Zenetik/fenders/
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dave
Apr 7th, 2007 - 10:43 AM |
Re: Touring ITR
Steve wrote: One other possible modification of CFs for touring purposes is to use a front rack compatible fork- with only rear panniers the weight distribution becomes extremely rear biased, causing handling difficulties. So if Rans decides to do a touring version of one of their CFs I'd strongly recommend that the fork be capable of accepting a rack.
That's why I put my rack on the front of my Citi. It looks a little awkward but it handles great.
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Sylvain
Apr 8th, 2007 - 9:00 AM |
Re: Touring ITR
On the crankforward site's gallery, one can see a Dynamik with a front low carrier (in fact, we cannot see the carrier, but the panniers...)
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