Yesterday I had to ride out to Malminkartano from Eastern Helsinki for a Tori pickup. Also Iiro came back from Japan this week and wanted to ride to adjust from the 30c Tokyo late-summer to 9c Helsinki fall. He brought one of these cute Ghooost flowers for Laura and a perfectly-matching Crane bell for our Omnium. Have never even seen this red before–kiitos Iiro.

It was nice to ride with him again and to hear about the trip. The ride was nice and cold, nothing too eventful except interesting riding straight through the middle of Malminkartano neighborhoods. I had never been up there before and it felt a little differently organized from other Helsinki neighborhoods. Narrow shared bike paths through yards and between houses.

I rode my everyday bicycle, a fixed Polyvalent. I’ve recently taken the trailer hitch and child seat adapter off so it at least feels more nimble, even though the changes don’t really do anything physically. The gear is still pretty low, because I’ve been using it to pull the trailer for a year and a half, but I think I like it, at least for now.

I haven’t ridden this far in a long time with this bicycle, especially without Alma attached somehow, so it was fun riding somewhere other than to and from work. The Polyvalent has pretty straightforward randonneur geometry, and the low-kicker version is somewhat of an accident–both in terms of the geometry chart and why I got the frame in the first place. It has the same geometry as the diamond version, with I think just a triple-butted seat tube to help with that extra-long unsupported section above the top tube. I haven’t ridden this generation of Polyvalent in the diamond version, so I can’t compare, but I’m sure it rides the same, or maybe better with a little extra flex. We were a dealer at my shop in the US, and I originally wanted the diamond version, but the production got delayed a little bit too close to the date I was leaving to move to Finland, in 2021. Glad about this accident though because it has turned into a nice original build.

I had been missing a fixed gear bike for some time and Helsinki does not have much hills, so I converted it last spring. I actually don’t remember precisely the reason I set off converting it, but it was a great decision. I love the feeling of the low-trail geometry with the fixed gear; it feels like the opposite of a track bike or a normal road-fixed conversion. It makes the handling feel even more like it’s all in my core–the rest of the bike just follows. The rando geometry also makes it comfortable for long rides like this. With different bars I would love to use it as a comfortable long-distance fixed rando bike. We have a shared Omnium so I am considering changes like this to the Polyvalent for the first time now that I’m not using it for moving Alma around and picking up groceries…mm…maybe if someone has a diamond frame to trade I could convert it to drops…

The conversion is done using the Velo Orange-branded First Components eccentric bottom bracket and a 142mm Paul Fixed Disk Word hub. I needed a 24mm crank for the bottom bracket so the Middleburn cranks followed. All feels and performs great, though the bottom bracket is pretty ugly. I recently took it apart to replace the bearings (testing out the suspension linkage bearing idea written about at the Radavist), and the unit is simple and nicely designed. It hasn’t slipped or creaked at all, even though the NDS bearings were already rusted through. You have to take your time making sure the cups are aligned, which can be pretty infuriating to get just right, but I think that if you do there shouldn’t be any issues. I’m a bit worried about the six tiny grub screws seizing or stripping, so I’ve been checking them a lot and this time put way too much grease in there just to make sure. They still haven’t slipped.

The other day a customer asked about this bike, parked outside, and I said it was mine and thanks for compliments, but he said, ‘wait, no I am actually asking about the brake.’ I did not expect a comment about this detail from this particular customer so it was a double surprise…’are you sure you want to get me started?’

I think these are best mechanical disc brake calipers out there, though Hayes doesn’t make them anymore and I haven’t tried the Growtac brakes. They are the CX Expert model, put on a lot of production bikes in the early 10s, Kona mostly I think. They are a nice, simple one-piece caliper with a ridiculously strong and durable spring that, paired with the right lever, give you nice modulation. I don’t think they have a good reputation online, but this is mostly because even simple calipers like this are rarely set up very well. I need to re-up my used supply of these because I recently stripped the pad adjustment bolt on another caliper because it was completely seized. So I guess that is a negative. And I’ve had the lever stick in bad winter conditions. Ok so maybe not the best best, but great in almost all conditions.

I’m not sure what the customer did with this information, because the last I remember he had brought in an old Pashley for a general tuneup, and this time was bringing in a Brooklyn, of which he had bought multiple for his firm. Wonder if he will find one locally online and beat me to it.

Recent components that they don’t make anymore: Iiro brought home one of these carbon Specialized seatposts that I don’t remember the name of, that I think they put on the first Roubaix models when they decided to just throw every potential weird and marginally-effective suspension idea into one road bike. He got it for cheap used at Japanese shop, and it fits the crazy lines of his stem, I think.

Not a great picture, but you get the picture.