Soma Double Cross Update

Earlier this year I gave the old Soma a major overhaul. I did not, at that time, replace the fenders and tires, although I gave it some thought. I was so happy with it after the overhaul that I decided to ride it in the ODRAM this year. For that, I thought I'd go ahead and replace the fenders and tires.

The first step in replacing the fenders was actually to find it a new front derailer. Ready for this? The front derailer was a Shimano LX that worked just fine (almost), but since it was a "mountain" derailer, the arm was located sort of behind the seat tube. That meant that on the Double Cross there was limited clearance between a fat tire and the derailer cable anchor bolt. In fact, when the bicycle was new, and I first installed the Conti Top Touring tires, I had to replace the original anchor bolt with one that had a very flat head on it so that it wouldn't contact the tire. Further, to install the fenders, I actually had to cut a groove into the rear fender to make room for the cable and cable anchor bolt. It worked quite well for several years. Anyway, road derailers, in comparison to mountain derailers, are generally shaped such that the anchor bolt is out to the side of the seat post, since road bikes often have much less clearance between the tire and the seat post. I don't know what other implications this has for the function of the derailers. Since I'm using bar-end shifters on this bike, a mountain or road derailer is compatible. I won't go into how much I like having a non-indexed front derailer on this bicycle. OK, so I bought an IRD Alpina derailer, which is designed to work best with mid-size chain rings (larger than most mountain bikes but smaller than most road bikes) like I have on this Soma. The IRD derailer has a cable anchor bolt positioned to better avoid contact with the tire. This will be a big improvement if I put the fat studded tires on for winter again. I installed the derailer and had a little trouble with shifting up onto the big ring. I'd had the same problem with the Shimano LX. In both cases, the travel of the derailer limits out just a tiny bit before it should in order to move the chain to the big ring. I suppose my Sugino cranks must place the chain rings a little further from derailer mount than other brands of crankset? Consequently, with both derailers, I have to back the limit screw all the way out, and angle the rear of the derailer outward a little bit instead of keeping it parallel to the rings as is generally recommended. With a little angle, it works just fine.

I ordered tires and fenders from Peter White Cycles. I installed the tires first. My old Continental Top Touring tires had seen roughly 4,500 miles. The Soma now has 5,475 miles, but about 500 of those are on studded winter tires, and another few hundred were on a set of narrow Hutchinsons that I used briefly when it was new. The Top Touring tires still have a reasonable amount of tread left, but the rubber is cracking - perhaps due to age and too much sunlight - and I'm not sure I trust them for a long ride at this point. They've been great tires - I've only had 2 flats with them. The Top Touring tires were listed as 700x37 but measured about 32 mm on my Mavic MA3 rims. My replacement criteria were based on the continued use of this bicycle as my primary ride to work and around town during three seasons. Specifically, I wanted tires that (1) were 28 to 30 mm wide, (2) had some level of flat protection, (3) were reasonably fast and light weight (think ODRAM), and (4) had a tire-generator (dynamo) strip. The Schwalbe Marathon Racers were the only tires that really seemed to meet these requirements. They also have a reflective sidewall - not a requirement, but something I really like. I ordered them in a 700x30, which I hoped would mean they'd be about 28 to 30mm wide. They weigh about 360 grams each, which is roughly double the weight of a typical road racing tire, but is pretty light as touring tires go. The label on the tires says 28-622/700x30. Inflated to 70 psi, they measured about about 29 mm on my Mavic MA3s. I rode them today at 70 psi, and it felt about right for my 150 pound body - I might try 80 psi if I knew I would be riding on really smooth roads.

With derailer and tires installed, I could put on the new set of fenders. I got some Gilles Berthoud composite fenders from Peter White because I like the Berthoud mounting brackets, but I wanted plastic fenders on the Soma. Berthoud composites were the answer. I ordered the 42 mm width so they would easily clear my new tires and probably clear my winter studs (we'll see about the latter). I wish the fenders came in black, but silver was the only option. They're apparently an aluminum core with a clear plastic material on the outside. They look very cool off the bike, but I think the Soma would look better if they were black. Or maybe polished aluminum. I could have tried Honjos, but those are pretty pricey. These fenders were pretty easy to install, but I've installed several sets of fenders previously, so I kind of knew what challenges to expect. I never have enough of the right size of stainless metric bolts! My only complaint about the fender installation would be that the radius of the bend of the fenders is a little too big for these tires, so the front doesn't follow the contour of the wheel very closely. I may get another strut for the front to help pull it down a little and to reduce the bump-induced fender wiggle out there in the front.

Below are some photos of the Soma with it's new stuff. As shown, with rack and fender and lights, it weighs in at a very respectable 28 pounds. Any less and I'd worry about it blowing away in the wind. Besides, those super light-weight plastic and aluminum bikes are dangerous because they don't afford enough protection to the rider in the event of a crash! In the last picture, the close-up of the derailer, look carefully and you can see the bumpy generator strip on the tire. It's just a series of grooves that help keep the generator wheel from slipping. My top touring tires had a generator strip, and I've used my tire generator in frequently rain and in. It's never slipped at all, even when tire and generator were packing up with snow. Perhaps I'm just lucky.






Cindy said, "Do you think anyone reads this whole thing?"

I said, "Of course not."