Author Archives: Evan

May Two Four Gravel Build

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The Victoria Day long weekend is upon us in Canada. Colloquially known in parts of Canada as the “May Two-Four”, it is a time for us to plant our gardens only to have them crushed by spring frost, fire up the barbeque for family get-together that can’t happen right now in this cursed year (but hopefully soon), and freeze to death camping, bicycle racing or on an epic expedition ride as it inevitably rains, sleets, snow or all three at the same time at some point on this weekend. Again this year the weather has been crap leading up to and into the weekend as expected so I got off my duff and put together a low-trail “gravel-grinder” build. As some of you may recall we played with some 931 stainless steel tubed prototypes a few year ago which I really regret not putting into production as gravel grinding exploded (oh well) but I went the other way with a “budget” build this time which would retail for about $1300 USD. We didn’t receive the all parts we ordered for this year like many other small operations due to supply chain disruptions in the bike business so I did the build with what I could gather from our inventory and sourcing locally from friendly shops. 

I set it up as a 1X10 with a microSHIFT Rear Derailleur Long Cage XLE RD-M61L and a microSHIFT XLE Xpress SL-M850  Rear Derailleur shifter mounted to the stem coupled with a 36T front chain ring. A little unconventional but it worked. A Soma Condor 2 “alternative drop bar” that combines the features of a compact drop bar with those of a riser bar bolted up to a Factory Five F5 Titan 1″ Quill Ste. I found a NOS Diacompe ENE mini-rack a customer changed their mind on that bolted up to the brake posts for my front bag and put on some old Gipiemme track pedals with new NOS straps and toe clips (remember those?) .

I went with some Panaracer Gravel King SK 27.5X1.9 (48mm wide) tires which I ran at about 35psi.

As you can see they fit with ok tire clearance.


Weight with pedals/straps, rack, bottle cage etc. as pictured is about 11.2 kilograms. For the weight weenies, a lighter seat, pedals, no rack etc could easily take another 400-600 grams off the weight to around 10.5kg (23.3Ilb). I have only taken it for few short-ish dirt path and pavement rides so far. The Soma Condor 2 bars did not take long to get used to and the stem mounted shifter, while I did have to move my right hand for of the bars to shift, worked fine. On my second ride, I had no trouble keeping up with my buddies on their “state-of-art”, $7-12k carbon fiber gravel grinders but all us are middle-aged+ dads hauling some pandemic winter weight around so YMMV! The Panaracers were a bit porkier than the 35-40mm tires on the other bikes and the odd side knobs did not inspire great cornering confidence but the extra volume gave a stable and much more cushy ride on the few sketchier, rockier downhills which I really appreciated.

Cheers, Evan.

BTW we have a decent stock of frames (except our 51cm small size which is sold out), 650B wheels sets, Luxe cranksets, Pacenti 38mm 650B white and black tires (but no inner tubes), Tektro long reach side pull brakes (but no Dia-Compe centre pulls), etc. The shuffling of our stock since Angus moved to London UK has been sorted out and our website stock should be up to date; Laurielle and Mike can help you out with your questions sales@cyclestoussaint.com or if you are in Calgary, Vitasport stocks our parts and has some full bike builds in stock.

Message from Cycles Toussaint: An Update from Angus and Evan

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Hello from Angus and Evan.

We are living in extraordinary times around the world. We hope all of you and your families are healthy. If your family, friends or colleagues are symptomatic or sick, we send all our love and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Where we live, we have been asked to practice physical distancing to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Physical distancing involves taking steps to limit the number of people you come into close contact with. It can help you reduce your risk of getting sick, and help prevent spreading the virus to others. We encourage you to follow the guidelines put forth by your local governments and the scientific community. Wash your hands and self-isolate, especially, if you think you have been exposed to the virus.

We love cycling and the social aspects of group rides. But, we too urge cyclists, among others, not to flout government restrictions regarding exercise during the coronavirus pandemic in your region. Bicycle solo if possible or with someone who is self-isolating with you.

We are still running our small business, remotely, from our homes leveraging video conferencing to keep in touch. The pandemic has affected our shipping times and may impact our response time, but, we will continue to do our best to keep in touch with all of you. Thank you for your understanding in advance.

The pandemic can also bring economic uncertainty. For small businesses, trying to figure it all out, seeing entire communities make the smart decisions to hunker down is understandable…but a bit daunting too. We want to make sure you know how grateful we are for your continued support during these scary times. We are also doing our best to support other creators and makers that look to us to buy their products. It’s our way to support the people behind each of one of these businesses.

As a gesture of goodwill to our customers, we are offering a 20% discount on all our frames and parts and free shipping across North America for orders over $200.  For those who have already ordered in March 2020, we will apply the appropriate refund.

We will get through this together, caring for one another. And invariably, we will be riding together again.

Thank you.

Regards,

Angus and Evan

Marinoni – The Fire In the Frame

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marinoni-the-film-poster

This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing the documentary “Marinoni” and chatting with it’s writer and director Tony Girardin. Cycles Marinoni supplies us with Campy and other Italian bits for our customer builds but I also have a tiny personal connection to Giuseppe Marinoni. Growing up in Canada, Marinoni frames were a mainstay of the racing community. I always coveted a Marinoni and  when I moved to Montreal in the early nineties, I made the short trek up from my home in NDG in Montreal to his shop in Terrebonne to get sized up for a custom road and a custom track bike. It was a cold, fall weekday and it was quiet at his shop. I was greeted by his wife Simone who brought me back to Giuseppe who was busy brazing up 20 rear triangles for a production run. We waited for him to finish up before he came over and shook my hand. He was in good spirits as he took my measurements and my order details. He laughed as he did a double take on some of my measurements – apparently I have arms of a gorilla and given my thick sprinter’s build he insisted on a stouter downtube and chainstays. We chatted in mixed English and French about the activities of some of the Canadian racers, I put down my deposit and off I went home.  A few months later the bikes showed up. They both rode beautifully as only classic steel frames can. I raced a couple of years on the track bike somewhat competitively before hanging up my cleats. The track bike is still active after all these year and is now a street fixie ridden by my son.

Tony is taking the film on a west coast tour complete with a directors Q&A this month (September) then overseas to Japan, France and Spain so if you get a chance I highly recommend you catch it if it is screening at theatre near you. I don’t want to spoil the movie so I will spare the details but it is delightfully quirky and charming with some unexpected twists that captivated the audience whether their interest’s in all things on two wheels was non-existent and or bordered on the obsessive.

 

marinoni-the-film-poster-fr

 

 

 

Pave Prototype Update and a Super Clydesdale Journey on the PAVE

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Work on the stainless steel prototypes have been moving along slowly. The bikes, the Pave and Velo Routier Stainless Steel have been out in the Pacific Northwest and are presently at  P.T. Cyclery  in Port Townsend, WA. where you can test ride them and give us some feedback. We will be building a second set of prototypes this fall.

David Toman, a self-declared “Super Clydesdale” gave us full report on his extended ride:

It has been three days now since I last swung my leg over Cycle Toussaint prototype bike the PAVE’. I still can feel the yearning of both myself and the bike to see what is beyond the next mountain. Where would this road or trail go? Can we do that downhill part again but even faster? I know to some it is hard to think of a bike having a soul but this one does. For me I was immediately connected to the Pave’ on my first trip. Granted I had some concerns about the rear wheel being only 24 spoke.
Alas I am getting a head of myself. Let me tell you how this all came about. A few weeks ago I was in Port Townsend, WA with my wife. Naturally I stopped into PT CYCLERY to chat with Bob the owner. I had bought a road bike from him because my commute/mountain bike just could not give me the need for speed that I was desiring. Well, along the wall stood this bike. At first it reminded me of bikes I had seen built in some ones garage with whatever they could find and use for parts. I myself had taken my Stingray, to us we called them Cheater Slick bikes and extended the forks to give it more of a chopper look. Needless to say we had some interesting accidents. Then I realized this was nothing like those bikes. It was funky yet in a very cool way. I loved the plates on the seat stay and forks. That and the fact it was stainless steel caught my attention. Bob let me take it for a quick spin. Those few minutes was all it took for me to realize there was more to this bike beyond just the cool look and white tires.
After returning the bike I later wrote to the guys at Toussaint and let them know what I thought. Soon after Bob texts me and offers to let me take it out for a real ride. I asked if he was joking because he could end up losing the bike. He was serious. So we made plans for me to pick it up when spring break starts. That way I had most of the week to put the bike through its paces. Let me tell you after 186 plus miles and almost 7000 feet of elevation gain I just touched the tip of what this bike is capable of doing. This with me a Super Clydesdale riding it! For those who don’t know there is basically three type of rider sizes. You have normal. Clydesdale which is anyone over 200lbs to about 250lbs. Then the Super Clydesdales who are over 250lbs and we break things a lot. I am at around 270lbs and my local bike shop can attest to the fact I am hard on rear wheels among other things.
Thus the reason I was tentative on my first ride. I soon realized I had nothing to worry about. This bike would take me where ever I wanted to go and still be up for more adventures. I did group rides hanging with the lead riders. Went up dirt roads in the mountains just to come screaming down paved roads hitting speeds of over 40 mph a couple of times. Took on head and side winds like they were a slight breeze kissing my cheek as others struggled to keep their bikes steady. When I needed more speed I got it instantly like a guy using his heels to urge his horse to go faster. Again this with 32mm knobby tires.

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I am not going to get into all of the technical things on this bike, but I can tell you from the stand point of a Super Clydesdale if you wanted just one bike to do it all for you this is it. Rather than buy several bikes for road, CX, gravel, touring or whatever all you need to do is buy tires. The stainless steel frame and carbon fiber handlebars helped to make the ride very comfortable. Having disc brakes was also a huge plus. Oh, did I mention the bike weighed around 22lbs?
One last thing. This goes out to Bob of PT CYCLERY. You mentioned that every bike/steed should have a name. Well I gave it some thought and came up with the perfect name, Barnabas Sackett. For those who know anything about the western writer Louis L’Amour you will recognize and understand why. If not let me quickly explain. In a series of books L’Amour wrote about the Sackett family. They were strong dependable people who you could always count on when the going got tough. They were also adventurers always wanting to find out what lies past the next mountain, what awaits beyond the next bend in the river. They also took no BS from anyone. So Barnabas Sackett is the perfect name for the bike. Just call it BS for short because it won’t take any.
Thanks again for allowing me the privilege of riding a great bike and one I know will always hold a place in my heart and soul.
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David will be riding the Pave prototype again September 24th is the Big Hurt competition in Port Angeles and the bikes will heading back home to Calgary.

 

 

Stainless Steel Vélo Routier Prototype

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We have been riding our second stainless prototype around Calgary for the last 2 months and were supposed to report back on it weeks ago but summer has been really nice here for a change and well, you know how it goes…

The protoype is a 650B frame based on the same low trail geometry as our cro-mo 650B Velo Routier frame. .Like the Pavé Prototype, it is made from Carpenter stainless steel with a twin plate crown fork, disc brakes and 1-1/8″ Aheadset.

 

2015-06-30 17.43.18

 

We stuck to the tried and true Velo Routier V1 geometry and made a few improvements to increase fender/tire clearance.

Top Tube 31.8mm Dia 0.7/.04/0.7
Seat Tube 31.8mm Dia 0.7/0.4/0.7
Down Tube 38.1mm Dia 0.8/05/0.8
Top Tube Length 550mm
Seat Tube Length 540mm

Chainstay length 430mm
Bottom Bracket Drop 64mm
Wheelbase 1028mm
Head Tube Angle 73 deg
Seat Tube Angle 73 deg
Trail 30mm
Rear Axle Width 135mm

It has clearances to accommodate 54-55mm wide fenders and braze-on fixtures to attach fenders and racks to. We fit up our prototype with 52mm Velo Orange Zeppelin fenders. A rfear fender attachment to the underside of the seat stay bridge was spec’d but missed on the fabrication of the prototype.

2015-06-30 17.44.302015-06-30 17.45.39

We deigned an all stainless steel with a twin plate fork crown similar to the Pavé. Unfortunately, the prototype is also missing the top of the crown fittings.

2015-06-30 17.45.00
Bare frame weight is 1998 grams vs. 2177 grams for medium cro-mo VR 54 cm frame and the bare fork weight is 926 vs. 958 grams. Even accounting for the extra weigh of the disc brake fittings, it not a huge weight saving for you weight weenies but we think the ride is super smooth and frame is bomb proof ! With a bit of refinement, we think we might be able to shave another 50-70 grams off but not the at expense of durability.

2015-06-30 17.44.48

The Pavé protoype is at Free Range Cycles in Seattle for the next couple of months and the stainless steel VR prototype should there in 2-3 weeks. If you are in the area, drop by and say hi to Kathleen. Give our prototype a good test wring out – we really want to hear your comments and suggestions!

 

 

 

Pavé Prototype

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Pavé Prototype SideAfter almost 2 years of back and forth, our stainless steel prototype frames have been fabricated. They are now at Toussaint Global HQ in Calgary, built up and ready for some serious test riding. The first prototype has the working name of “Pavé”. It is a 700C, disc-brake frame made of double butted Carpenter Custom 630 stainless steel. Carpenter Custom 630 is a martensitic “precipitation/age-hardening” stainless steel which has high strength, hardness and “excellent corrosion resistance” good enough for nuclear reactor components,missile fittings, and jet engine parts … which is good enough for us! For those of you who really want to geek-out, the engineering datesheet for the tubing can be found here at the Carpenter site http://cartech.ides.com/datasheet.aspx?i=103&e=54&c=TechAr. The weight of the bare 56cm prototype frame is 1920 grams and the uncut fork is 924 grams.

Pavé Prototype Side 2

The geometry is laid back-ish with a bottom bracket (bottom bracket drop 68mm) a bit lower than typical cyclo-cross frames. It has clearances to accommodate 45mm wide fenders and braze-on fixtures to attach fenders to.

Pavé Prototype Single Plate Mono-stay Back Pavé Prototype Single Plate Mono-stay Front

We designed an all stainless steel with a twin plate fork crown that might be the first one of it’s kind ever made.

Pavé Prototype Stainless Steel Twin Plate ForklPavé Prototype Twin Plate Fork Back

The rear seat stay has a matching single plate mono-stay.

Pavé Prototype Single Plate Mono-stay

Some basic stats:
Top Tube 31.8mm Dia 0.6/.045/0.6
Seat Tube 31.8mm Dia 0.8/0.5/0.8
Down Tube 38.1mm Dia 0.7/0.4/0.7
Top Tube Length (effective length) 563mm
Seat Tube Length 507mm
Bottom Bracket Drop 68mm
Wheelbase 982mm
Head Tube Angle 73.5 deg
Seat Tube Angle 72.5 deg
Trail 45mm
Rear Axle Width 135mm

The second prototype is a 650B frame based on the same low trail geometry as our cro-mo 650B Velo Routier frame but made of Carpenter stainless steel with twin plate crown fork as well, disc brakes and 1-1/8″ Aheadset. I will have a blog post with photos next week.

The plan is ride both of them hard ourselves and share them out to some local riders. Then we will send them off to a few of our dealers for feedback this summer. If all goes well, we will place a small order for delivery in the New Year. Price has not been finalized but we are hoping frame and matching fork will retail for under $2000 USD.

Velo Routier Frame V.2

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We finally have some news!

Yes, there will be a version 2 of the Velo Routier frame. The low-trail geometry, braze-ons and the tubing specifications of V.1 remain the same. We are making the following minor changes:

  • increasing the rear axle dropout spacing from 130mm to 132.5mm to allow the more commonly available 135mm hubs and wheels sets to be fitted.
  • instead of vertical, the V.2 will have adjustable horizontal rear drop outs which will allow for internal hub and fixed-gear builds.
  • the front fork crown will now have an underside 5mm threaded fitting to allow fenders to be attached to the crown directly.
  • the indent diameter of the chainstay and the clearance of the seatstays wil be increased from 52mm to 56mm to allow for wider fenders and tires.
  • In a fit of madness, we also have decided to have few frames in each size made as a “no braze-on frame” – without pump, brake, brake cables, dérailleur cables or shifters bosses and with 2 sets of bottle cage braze-ons on the seat and down tubes and fender attachments.

You can have any colour as long as it is French Tricolour-esque blue. Price tentatively will be $525.00 USD. With a bit of luck we hoping to to have them available in our on-line store and in local dealers by May.

Cheers and Ride Your Journey!
Evan and Angus

BTW We still have a few (very few) 51cm and 60cm creme colour V.1 frames left in-stock.

New Years Update

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I spent the last two weeks with my family; Christmas travel and cheer, pond hockey, skiing, reading, board/video gaming and doing personal bike builds which I will try to report on soon.  We are back to business and we will try to respond to your orders and e-mails as soon as we can.

Before the holiday break, my business partner and friend, Jason Wall decided to leave Cycles Toussaint for personal reasons. Running a super-niche bicycle business with him has been great and I wish him all the best.

With Jason leaving, I had to defer re-ordering frames while I re-appraised how to carry on and I had a reasonable stock to carry through the spring. Or so I thought. The review in Bicycle Quarterly’s Autumn 2014 Vol. 13 No.1 issue of Velo Routier resulted in flurry of late season sales in December that has left us sold out of all our 54 and 57 cm frames, all of our Citie bicycles, leaving a few 51 cm and 60cm frames and 60cm Velo Routier bicycles in stock. On a positive note, Angus Cowan has joined Cycles Toussaint as my business partner. The thought of running Cycles Toussaint solo was a daunting proposition and I am excited to have Angus on-board. Angus is active in the local racing scene with the ABA and is in Milton this week with his son Alec who is riding with Canadian national team at the Track Nationals. He will be back in Calgary with me next week and we hope to report on our plans for the next batch of Velo Routier frames; proposed changes and expected availability.

Coincidentally after almost two years of back-and-forth and out-of-the-blue we just received word that our Reynolds 931 stainless steel 700c road frame and 650b Velo Routier prototype frames have finally been fabricated and should be ready for road testing at the end of the month. Look here to this blog for full specs, photos and a first ride review in early February.

Happy New Year and Ride Your Journey!

Evan

Bicycle Quarterly Review of the Velo Routier Frame

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Bicycle Quarterly Autumn 2014 toussaint_profile

Our Velo Routier frame was recently reviewed in the Bicycle Quarterly’s Autumn 2014 Vol. 13 No.1 issue . The test bicycle was generously provided by our Seattle dealer Free Range Cycles.

I am a subscriber and avid reader of BQ. Jan Heine’s product reviews are not shallow puff pieces but thorough, detailed and thoughtful reports of the good, bad and ugly. There was some trepidation on our part to hear that our frame was to be reviewed and subsequent relief that the review was very positive in general, but you will have buy an issue to get the whole story 🙂

There are a couple of points that came up in the review I would like to add to. Jan noted that our frame was very similar to the first generation Kogswell Porteur/Randonneur. I was aware of the Kogswell bicycle story up here in the Great White North but we did not know any of the details of the bicycle design except snippets gleamed from the internet. Our initial prototypes were designed from several vintage low-trail 650B bicycles and 650B conversion bicycles that I either owned or had access to and from information from various sources including Jan’s highly informative articles in BQ.

Jan noted a few details such rack tabs that were pressed and that front rack sat high on the front wheel. We were trying to create a introductory product that filled the entry level randonneur bicycle niche and as such we made design decisions on construction details such as pressed tabs to keep prices down. As for the high rack, we are working on improvements for the future and are certainly taking that observation into consideration.

Our down tube was deliberately specified with a stouter diameter and wall thickness on our 57cm and 60cm frames. We debated whether we should go lighter but decided to play it safe out of concern for high speed shimmy. The 51 and 54 cm frames have a lighter 0.8-0.5.-0.8 28.6mm diameter downtube and the 54cm moderately planes in my experience. I am a big supporter the concept of planing and designing a low volume production frame with this in mind is still a work in progress.

Evan