soma tradesman

Here it is, my brand new complete (mostly) Soma Tradesman Cylcle Truck.  If you have been following the complete bike build, it has taken a while, and although there are a few more minor things to be done, it is for all purposes, done. 

 

Wondering what parts are on it?  Here you go:

Tradesman frame and fork

Cane Creek 100 headset

Front wheel: Shimano Alfine 36 hole laced 3 cross to Sun Ringle Envy rim, w/Schwalbe Marathon tire

Rear wheel: Shimano XT 36 hole laced 3 cross to Sun Ringle EQ31, w/ Schwalbe Marathon Tour Plus tire

Race Face Ride crank, 170mm length, 32x22 teeth rings with outer ring replaced with a BBG bashguard

Avid BB& front and rear disc brakes, 160mm rotors
Thomson Elite seatpost, with a Selle Anatomica saddle
Profile Design Boa stem with Easton EA30 handlebar

Suntour Power Ratchet thumbshifters, both set to friction to pull an Acera rear derailleur and LX front

Avid Speed Dial 7 brake levers
Sram 830 8 speed cassette, 11-32 teeth, 850 chain
Portland Design Works Speed Metal grips, Barista coffee mug holder, brass bell
Plescher double kickstand
Civia Halsted fenders
Planet Bike Blaze Dynamo front light (not shone PDW Radbot 100 rear light)

Total  weight 45 pounds.

Some things left to do, get some real pedals, a rear rack, and a front basket or one of these bags.  And figure out a way to carry my repair kit. Oh yeah,  and a way to tell my wife that I have this bike, and I haven't sold this one.

More.......

fenders and dynamo lighting

Fenders went on with basically no problems, standard set up.  Had to bend a stay around the front disc caliper:

The fenders are Civia Halsted Fenders, which is designed to go on their short wheel based baker style cargo truck bike.  The Halsted was one that was originally on my list last year for a new cargo bike, I ultimately bought something different, but the style of bike never got lost to me.

 
Not super excited with the fender line on the front wheel, I'll have to play around with it some more.  Civia says that the fender will ft up to a 2" wide tire, that could lead to some experiments later down the road.  I'll have full pictures of the fenders later in the week, when the bike as a whole is revealed.

The light I went with up front to be powered by the dynamo is the Blaze Dynamo from Planet Bike.  Light hook up with the Alfine was easy, put the

Two wires in the wiring harness, fold them over and snap everything together.  I'm going to have to either switch to another harness, or cover in some electrical tape I had to try twice, and the silicone inside the holes got used up.  The wire snaked up the fork leg,  around the front rack supports:

Wrapped to the other side to where I mounted the light head on the boom on the other side:

With zipties holding everything on and tight.  The mount for right now is an old reflector mount, with a Paul Components light mount called the Gino bolted on for the Blaze's bracket to mount to. 

Bad picture, the bike is at an angle in the workstand so that the handlebars don't swing around and knock the crap out of me, but a side view of the light and the mount.

 

I still need to figure out a rear rack for the bike, and I have a kickstand on its way.  Next up, those little things and a full picture of the Soma Tradesman!

gear changers

You saw the shifters, now the derailleurs.  The 8 speeds in the rear are a Sram 830 cassette, 11-32 being switched through the cogs with a Shimano Acera derailleur.  Not exciting, but when dealing with a friction shifter, the quality is not of great concern.

 

 The crank is a Race Face Ride, and the front derailleur is an old LX I've had laying around unused for about 6 years or so now, not much shifting going on with my bikes, especially front derailleurs. 

 

The crank came with a 44-32-22 gear range, I took off the big chainring and put on the BBG bashguard.  I very rarely use the big chainring at all, and this helps protect from "rookie ring".

You can see how big the chainring bashguard is from this picture, I had this one laying around the workbench.  In the smallest cog on the cassette in the back, and in the 32 tooth chainring, there is a little bit of rubbing, I'll switch it out when I have some extra money.

Fenders and light next.....

h-bar

Originally, I was going to use my ol' favorite upright bar, the Rivendell Albatross, but:

I came up with an issue that I wasn't expecting. the housing had to be super long not to put any sharp kinks in the cables.  This lead to big loops hanging out in front of the handlebar/headtube, which would interfere with any sort of load being strapped on to it.  So I rummaged through the employee parts bin at the shop and found an old Easton EA30 bar with a mid-sort of rise.  Not much sweep, but will get the grips up high.  Bar bolted on, along with the shifters, brake levers, and grips and I got this:

Old school Suntour friction thumb shifters (rear 8 speed in friction mode), my well used and bent up Avid Speed Dial 7 brake levers, and some Speed Metal grips in red from Portland Design Works (although they will probably get switched out for the winter).  Everything nice and durable, and highly reliable for the long run, and for a bike that is going to be used, alot.

Pretty clean routing, the less "looped" cables are for the shifters, and the two bigger loops are for the brakes, and those get zip tied:

to the headtube.  The cables are routed through the space between the headtube, downtube, and the booms that extend to the front rack.

Drive train next, with fenders and front light after that....

cargo tires

Wheels are of course built, and tires received, some Schwalbes.

For the front:

 

Marathon Plus in a 20"x1.75 (47x406) comes with a reflective stripe for viability.  I was worried that the tire would be too thin for the rim but everything ended up working great.

Damn nice looking wheel with that tire on it.  Not that it matters, but front dynamo hub with 160mm rotor, tube and tire weighs 4.98 pounds.

The rear tire is a Marathon Plus Tour with Smartguard in a 26"x1.75" (47x559), also with the reflective strip.  The tire mounted up a little easier on than the one on the front, and it turns out it is a little knobbier than I thought it was going to be.  Would make an amazing tire for a gravel rider or a long distance touring bike on mixed terrain - like a Long Haul Trucker or Co-Motion Pangea.

Wheel weight for tube, tire, rotor, and wheel - 5.6 pounds, will be more of course with the cassette.  Not light but again, overkill is better on a cargo bike.

Next up, the handlebar situation.  I had to change it up a bit because of cable routing issues, pictures tomorrow!