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.

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

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.

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.

Good photos Marc, thanks.

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.

correction; for 'northern California' read 'northern Arizona'- I'm going senile!

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

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/

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.

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...)