Specialized Sequoia Modifications Part 1

In my last blog post I wrote about some planned changes to my Specialized Sequoia, the most serious of them being adding cantilever posts to the frameset. I dropped the semi-disassembled frameset at Mike Cleaver's new shop in Berkeley last week, and went about planning and getting other parts for other application, like selling some bike parts to fund the metal work, etc. I got the frameset back from Cleaver last night and built it up in the early hours of this morning before work.

Cleaver did a great job welding Paragon cantilever posts to the fork and the seat-stays. He welded them on, then covered the welds by brazing copper fillets on them. The work looks clean, straight, and well-aligned. Cleaver's new workshop is in a community space with 27 other artisans--definitely worth a visit. He is pretty responsive and gave me back the frameset within the agreed upon period. His new tandem looks rad, also.

I rattle-canned the bare-metal spots with satin-finish clearcoat--a strategy I employed on M.'s old Trek when it got modified and worked well. With the wheels and fenders still off I cleaned up the bike with a damp cloth first. I got this neat little bit from Somervillebikes of Flickr. The bit is fasten to the rear brake bridge with a threaded brake bolt, and it has a downward facing threaded tap for the fender to attach from the bottom. I installed the rear fender, then put the rear wheel back on. I then installed the new-to-me Avid Shorty 4 cantilever brakes. Some people don't like these brakes for difficulty in setting up and lack of stopping power. I used them on my old Raleigh One-Way and they worked pretty well for me--easy to set up, stopped well, and no squeal. I got a bike's worth of them for under $20 so it's worth a try again.

Now I have to decide what rack I want to use with this set up. I have acquired a Nitto big front rack (that comes with detachable low-rider attachments) over the weekend and it's between using this rack or a combination of a Mark's Rack and a Tubus Tara. Nitto got the nod at this moment. I have to play around with which holes to use for attaching to eyelets at the dropouts, and have to use mucho spacers to attach the rack to the front fender without ruining the fender line. Then I have to find a place to mount the B&M IQ Cyo lamp. At the end every piece fit together. Though I have yet to road-test the new set up. It at least looks nice!

The final touch is the addition of mudflap and rear light mount on the rear fender. I always dreaded putting mudflap on but it's courteous to ride with a mudflap when you are riding with people in wet weather. It was actually pretty simple to create mudflap out of rubber/plastic sheets from the hardware store then mount it together with the rear light mount. I think the result looks pretty good. We won't know how it works until a few months from now, when it begin to rain again in this part of the world.