Elephant v2

Full disclosure: I'm a shill for Elephant. While I didn't pay for the labor on this bike, I did pay for the tubeset. I provide labor to Elephant Bikes in trade for bikey stuff.

Elephant v2 is finally done. This is the bike Glen wanted to build for me almost as soon as he was done with v1:

• It uses the tubeset that he originally argued for (OX Platinum OS 747).
• Head angle is increased from 72 to 73 degrees
• More room for fatter tires. V1 *just* fit Quasimotos. This one fits Quai's just right.
• A bit taller seat tube.
• Shorter chainstays/more compact rear triangle.
• Better color -- Signal violet.

After riding the Legolas with similar tubeset and in anticipation of the summer camping/Nat'l Forest season, I finally got in his queue in December.

Nearly all parts are from the v1 build.

I dig it. I've only ridden it about 20 miles so far, and it's great.

Pictures below provide a few more details.

Kore canti brakes. Jury is still out on these. I think there are two kinds of canti-brake people in this world: 1) those how like stiff, quick pull canti's, where the pad instantly engages and then the rest of the lever-pull is a squeeze that provides just an incremental force, and 2) those who prefer squishy brakes that apply constantly increasing pressure nearly all the way down to the end of the squeeze. That's me. And these brakes are of type 1. I've been digging the Shimano 550 and the CX-70 lately. I suspect the CX-70's will eventually find their way onto this bike.
Fenders are VO 58mm. 

White Hetres. That's the rack I made at Pat's last year. Dig it. I kind of miss the clear-coat, but I also don't care that much. 

That's a good clearance shot. Cranks are the homely SR's that shipped on the Trek 520's back in the 80's. The crank is 86 BCD, which allows the super-useful 46/30 combo. But 86 BCD chainrings are long dead. I've got about a decades worth or so. Then I have another solution in the pipeline... assuming of course I need to have a solution. Lots can happen in 10 years. Also, dig that crank/chain-stay clearance. Lovely.

Hard to see -- but you can see the barrel braze-on pointing to the tire... where a fender should be attached. I had Honjos when I built this rack. Honjos extend way out there in a great way.  I'll probably end up ordering another set of VO to put the rear fender on here and tie it in properly. Right now it's ziptied.
Big shifting change from v1: Campy 10spd brifters against a shimano 8 speed. Works like a charm. Best of all worlds for me: cheap chain/cassette replacement, nice shifting. DT shifters have been removed from all bikes, though I will carry a friction DT in the toolkit on this bike for long Nat'l Forest junkets.

I like this touch. The fender tab is right under the bolt that attaches the rack through the crown.The top one holds the bottom one in place.

The violet tape on the bars is electrical tape that's been bouncing around Glen's shop for a while. As soon as I saw that color a about a year ago, I was hooked. The bike color matches it just about perfectly.  Based on few comments already, I've noticed that there are some distinct gender associations with this color.

V1 had internal wiring, which I generally found too fussy. This one has small clips and I'm just going with a blinky on the seatpost instead of a wired rear LED.

Maybe someday, if this wheel dies, I'll go with a Schmidt hub. They're so sweet.