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VO Racks and Alyce Giveaway

7/17/2014

The Ironweed webstore now offers Velo Orange front racks with integrated decaleurs!

We get a lot of questions about mounting the Ironweed Orpington front bag. The questions are usually along the lines of “what rack works” and “do I need to use a decaleur.” And it seemed like we're frequently recommending the VO racks with the integrated decaleurs as a simple and clean mounting solution.

Unfortunately, we had to send customers elsewhere to purchase said racks. Not anymore! The VO racks with integrated decaleurs take the guess work out of mounting rando front bags like our Orpington.

Lastly, as promised we would like to say thanks to our customers and fans by giving away a set of gray Alyce panniers. Retweet our giveaway tweet or email at [email protected] and include “Giveaway” in the subject line.

Ride well!

VO Pass Hunter Front Rack with Integrated Decaleur

VO Randonneur Front Rack with Integrated Decaleur

It's been a great year so far so we're saying thanks to Ironweed fans. RT for chance to win a set of Alyce panniers! pic.twitter.com/w4THaHVH9B
— Ironweed BicycleBags (@IronweedBags) July 15, 2014

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Ironweeds and the VO Campeur Rack

11/3/2013

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Ironweed customers 1985 Trek 720 touring bike with VO Campeur rack and a set of gray Elinors.

Last winter I started hearing from folks wondering if our panniers would fit on the Velo Orange Campeur racks. I figured they'd work fine, but I let people know that I hadn't tried this particular rack and without firsthand experience I could not make any guarantees.

After enough people asked, I figured I'd better get one of these racks and test it out with our bags. So I picked up a set of the Campeur racks (front and rear) this past spring and installed them on my Mercian touring bike.

I discovered the distance between where the lower hook and the two upper hooks attach to the rack is only 23-24cm from top to bottom I'll refer to this as the Vertical Attachment Measurement (VAM). The typical touring rack (Surly Nice Racks, Blackburn, etc) have a VAM of around 30cm.

As it turns out, the Campeur's VAM is not great enough to require any stretching of the lower hook bungee. Consequently, there's not really sufficient tension on the upper hooks. This was a pretty disappointing discovery.

My first attempt at a solution was to use zip ties to supplement the attachment of the bags and that worked okay, but made quick on-and-off of the bags impossible.
Nevertheless, I used this method during RAGBRAI 2013 with a full set of Ironweeds attached.

I was not particularly pleased with this solution and therefore, when people asked about using Ironweeds on the VO Campeur rack I would let them know the problem and dissuade them from purchasing our panniers - something I don't really like doing!

After RAGBRAI, an Ironweed customer sent us a picture of her Rivendell with a rear Campeur and Ironweeds, I asked about the method for attachment. Their solution was to shorten the lower long hooks. I thought this was a pretty simple and clever remedy. So, when the next customer that asked about fitting our bags to a Campeur, I offered to shorten a couple of hooks for them. Meanwhile, I shortened some hooks the panniers on my Mercian.

We've all been pleased with this fix. So if you're looking for some handsome bags to go with your gorgeous VO Campeur racks, we can help you out. Just let us know what you need and we'll shorten some hooks at no charge. You can purchase an additional set of the longer hooks just in case you want to use the panniers on a different rack with a longer VAM. The extra hooks are available for $2.50 per hook.

Another Ironweed customer with Rivendell Sam Hillborne fitted with VO Campeur rack and dueling toptubes!

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Product News

10/26/2013

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Couple of things to note related to Ironweed products. First off, all panniers now come with superfine rubber-coated hooks! If you read this blog occasionally, you will remember that we were able to retrofit the hooks with repurposed bike tubes. If you are an Ironweed customer and would like some rubber bits to cover your hooks, just drop us an email and we’ll send them to you at no charge!

In other news, we are now offering Velo Orange front racks and decaleurs for people purchasing our Orpington randonneur bag. We thought it would be nice if customers could get everything they needed to properly affix their Orpington right in our webstore. Also, we now offer shoulder straps. They come with the Orpington, but are available for purchase separately in our webstore for $9.

Unfortunately, we are out of olive and blue Elinor bags. The rivet machine bit the big bodine, so we’ve got blues ready but we cannot attach the hardware for the shockcord. We still have a couple of shop orders that are going out next week. If you are from one of those shops, don’t fret, we’ve got your order covered.

Rubberized and retrofitted hooks on my old camping bags

Velo Orange products now available in our webstore!

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Rides and Racks

4/15/2013

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The weather was nice on Saturday and I finally got out for a decent ride. I took the Surly 64cm Long Haul Trucker (LHT) out for its inaugural spin and it rode well - very comfortable.

I remember when the LHT first came on the market, I was pleased that Surly had decided to make a good production touring bike with the features and geometry that I would select if I were building a custom touring bike. Until recently, the biggest LHT was a 62cm, a little too short for me. A few months ago I noticed they had introduced a 64cm. I immediately snapped up a frame to build up as a winter project. In fact, the 64cm LHT geometry is pretty close to my custom-built Mercian.

Speaking of my Mercian, a few weeks ago I purchased a set of Velo Orange Campeur racks. I thought I’d install them on the Mercian, replacing the Surly racks that I’ve had on it for the past few years. The Surly racks are unapologetically over built and I like them. But I was really intrigued with the VO Campeurs and purchased a set. The French-inspired VO racks are prettier and a few pounds lighter.

So far, all I’ve done with the Campeurs is get them installed. I haven’t used them on the road fully loaded. They seem pretty nice, but that should be expected at $350 for the pair. Unfortunately, the rear rack came without some of the hardware bits. I was able to work around it, but I’ll be checking in with VO to see about getting all the hardware just in case I decide to install them on a different bike.

The 64cm Long Haul Trucker

Custom Mercian with VO Campeurs

Seatstays were a little steep for the cantilever brake mounts. I had to go with mounting to the Gilles Berthoud fender. Should be no problem.

The Gilles Berthoud fender stays are fantastic!

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Snow, Ice, Slush, Sleet, Yea!

1/30/2013

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Yesterday, I awoke to humid 60 degree temperatures. For January 29th, it was picnic weather. Well, okay, it was raining, but the temps were spring-like. This morning I woke up to a no-school, postcard flocked blizzard world of snowy goodness. This calls for breaking out the SISSY bike for errands and a trip to the market. (SISSY is, of course, an acronym for Snow, Ice, Slush, Sleet, Yea!) You can read more about it here on a post I did last January.

In other news, a couple of weekends ago I went up to Madison for the swap meet. I love Madison and the swap. Some years I have come away with all sorts of rare and vintage stuff, but not so much this time around. Although, there’s always plenty of other distractions in Madison. No trip to there would be complete without a visit to Himal Chuli, a Nepalese restaurant that never disappoints!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, back at the swap I did pick up a couple of really nice winter riding caps from Cognition Caps. These are cozy, well constructed and made from re-purposed materials.

In more other news, has anyone tried out the Velo Orange Campeur racks? These look really interesting, so I ordered a set from one of my most favorite shops. I’ll let you know how they work out. Now, back out into the snow!