Fitting front suspension to a Vivente Randonneur

After completing the ride around Australia I have been mainly riding my Giant Elwood hybrid comfort bike, which has front suspension.  In between times I have also been riding the Randonneur, especially on longer rides where its slightly better overall speed comes in handy.  As I switched between the two bikes I started to notice the lack of comfort riding over the rougher sections of the bike paths here in Canberra, particularly where the tree roots have pushed up the tarmac, or on the odd occasion I take a dirt track for something different.

This led me to wonder if the Randonneur could benefit from a similar suspension setup to the hybrid bike.  Everyone in the bike shops that I approached with the idea poo-pooed it, asking why I wanted to sacrifice efficiency for comfort.  I didn't push my point other than to point out that the Randonneur wasn't a bike that you ride for speed, and also to say that I've never heard of anyone willing to get rid of the suspension in their car to get the increase in efficiency that would result.

After much enquiring in ride shops and internet searching it became obvious that the only suspension forks available in Australia were high end downhill mountain bike ones starting at around $500.00.  Yet a similar type of forks to the ones fitted to my Giant Elwood, which has done over 27,000km now, were available in the USA for $120.00 odd.  I selected the RST Neon 700C 60mm-travel fork together with the 265mm 1 1/8" threadless CroMo steerer tube, which is the longest they sell.  The steerer tube diameter of 1 1/8" is the same as the original fork fitted to the Randonneur. (Important!)

I've never been happy with the centre pull brakes as fitted to the Randonneur which were necessary because of the limited cable travel of the brake handles, and previous research had led me to fit Shimano V brakes to the rear, and a thing called a travel agent made by Problem Solvers, that doubles the cable travel available to the brake and reduces the pull on the levers by more than half.  I can now pull the bike up with just two little fingers on the brake handles, whereas before my whole hand was required and even then it was a battle to pull up quickly.

I ordered the forks, the steerer tube, Shimano Deore front V Brake, and the Travel Agent from Direct Bicycle Parts in the USA for a total of $145.00 plus around $55.00 shipping, ie just on $200.00 all up.  Items arrived about 2 weeks after the order was placed.  It took most of a day to work out what was needed and to fit the new front forks, but overall the process was reasonably straightforward.  The weight penalty including the suspension seat post is around two kilograms but for me it's well worth it.

My Vivente Randonneur with the front suspension fork and V Brakes modification.  The frame to front wheel gap is increased quite a bit, which means the bike is ever so slightly less nimble around corners, but now that I'm used to the setup I can't tell the difference, and because the ride over rough ground is so much smoother the trade-off is well worth it.

Detail showing the front V brakes and the Problem Solutions Travel Agent that allows these brakes to work with the Randonneur's brake levers.  There are no installation issues with fitting these brakes other than cutting a new section of cable sheath to fit.

Close up of the Problem Solutions travel Agent in place.  The ingenious design doubles the amount of cable pull at the brakes through the use of concentric cable travel, while the V Brakes, being much more efficient, reduce the effort required.

A side view of the new setup.  Note that the front brake cable no longer passes through the supplied headset bracket.

Another concession to comfort that I have made is a suspension seat post.  The arrow points to the top of a sleeve that is required to match the suspension seat post diameter to the frame diameter, roughly 3-4mm difference.

Detail of the rear V Brake setup that I installed a year or so ago.  The installation required the removal of one of the rear rack supports (the bronze coloured bar), but as the supports are not load-bearing there's no effect on the functioning of the rear rack.  The Problem Solvers Travel Agent is the reason that the support needed to be removed.  Note just in front of the brakes is a Chinese made bike lock that puts a lever in between the spokes and prevents the bike from being ridden off, extremely handy for quick stops where getting a full locking chain out is a pain.

Another modification I made to the bike for the trip around Australia was to fit modified Mirrycle mirrors (now down to just the right hand side from the original left and right).  A 1/8" or 3mm hole was drilled into the handlebars and a suitable length hex bolt secures the Mirrycle in place.  The original Mirrycle stem was cut in half and secured into a piece of irrigation pipe which was then bound in electrical tape.  This arrangement allows the Mirrycle to be quite solid and stable yet be flexible enopugh to resist damage in all but the roughest treatment.

A very simple but effective handbrake fashioned from elastic marine bungee cord and a cable tie.  For touring, especially if towing a trailer, having a handbrake is almost as important as having one in a car.

About halfway around Australia I finally got sick of the trailer's ability to overcome the support offered by the stand and tip the bike over, so I fashioned this lightweight stick which I carried for the rest of the trip.  A similar purpose-made telescopic aluminium version will be on my equipment list for any future rides using the trailer.