Randonnee gets some new parts.

as this is my personal bike, it will never be finished, but for now its at a point that im happy with.
just got finished lacing these new wheels for this bike. i decided to go with 36 hole velo-orange diagonale rims. these rims have a classic look with a polished finished which makes them look like steel rims. i was pleasantly surprised by how well these rims laced up. once these rims were up to tension, truing was quite easy. that means that the production tolerances are pretty tight unlike some other rims i have used in the past which end up with a lot of hops that need to be "trued" out.
the rear wheel is laced to a shimano xt hub and the front to a shimano n-71 dynamo/generator hub. the generator is running to a Spanninga Micro FF LED lamp. it has a stand light  which stays on for around 5 minutes after you stop. its not nearly as bright as some of the higher end dynamo LED lamps, but for less than half the price, its a good compromise.
this light is mounted on a rack i built out of stainless steel. mounting the light in this location reduces shadow cast by the front wheel and is low enough to illuminate obstacles in the road that high mounted lights would cast into shadow.


i have also been riding with the VO aluminum "hammered" fenders for a few months now, and they are sturdy and look great. they come with a lot of hardware, which is good when you have to deal with the mounting limitations of many frames.
this post is not trying to plug velo-orange products, but its great that there is a company out there creating bicycle parts that were on the verge of extinction. Their popularity shows a demand for these products which a large part of the bicycle industry has moved away from.