You take the high trail, I'll take the low trail

Previously on MondoBlahBlah...

Okay, so I've decided I want to try a low trail "Randonneur" style bike with 650b wheels and wide tires. Now what? Where do I find one? The local bike shop? Maybe in Seattle or Portland, but not in Bethesda, Maryland.

I could run down to the local Masi dealer and see if they'd be willing to bring in one of their Speciale Randonneurs for me to test ride, but at 41 mm of fork trail it's only barely "low trail", and with no fork braze-ons for the type of mini rack typical of any bike labeled "Randonneur" I'm loath to include it among my choices. And that round crown fork is just a deal breaker for me. So, nice try Masi, but though it's headed in the right direction, the Speciale is just not quite there yet. So with no local bike shop choices, it's off to the internet!

There are only a few companies producing low trail frames and forks that satisfy my requirements. It's still a niche design and the reality of the market is such that the really nice models tend to be a bit to the pricey side. Here I would include the Boulder Bicycles All Road and the Box Dog Pelican. These are gorgeous, small batch, American made bikes, lovingly crafted by artisan craftsmen. Once you get them outfitted with the kinds of accessories they are designed to have, you'd be lucky to get away for under about $4,000. A very reasonable price for a well made bike likely to be handed down to your children, especially in an age when a Chinese-made mid-priced plastic racer can easily run much more than that. But it's a lot to pay for a bike with unfamiliar geometry. It's a lot to pay to see if you like it.

So before going all-in on the low trail concept, a lot of us want to try the entry level, to see if it is all that it's cracked up to be. After all I didn't buy a $5,000 carbon fiber racing bike until after I had ridden a much less expensive aluminum version for nearly a decade.

There are really two options to get into a low trail 650b on a budget; two companies that have taken the risk of producing economical bikes for Bicycle Quarterly (BQ) fans. Soma Fabrications of San Francisco and Cycles Toussaint of Calgary, Alberta. Both companies offer Taiwanese frames based more or less on the designs championed by BQ for about $500 US. I should add that Velo Orange of Annapolis, Maryland also makes such a frame, but their Polyvalent is about $100 more expensive. All three bikes share very similar geometry, the ability to ride wide, fendered tires and easily mount front racks for those gorgeous French handlebar bags. All are made with similarly sized chromoly tubing (.8/.5/.8 the smaller sizes, with .9/6/.9 on larger frames), which Jan thinks is a bit stout, but which is probably about as thin as you're ever likely to see on a production bike - remember, these have to support 135 pound racers and 280 pound cruisers. I am to the heavy side of the cyclist weight classification, closing in on two hundred pounds, so the slightly thicker tubing is probably just fine.

The Polyvalent's Disk-ready fork

Though there are tons of tiny differences between the three models, the primary functional difference between them is the brakes. If you feel strongly about brakes, this is an easy way to choose. The Soma Fabrications Grand Randonneur has forks for cantilever brakes, the Velo Orange Polyvalent has forks for disk brakes and the Cycles Toussaint Velo Routier has forks for the ever-so-exotic brazed on center-pulls. The center pulls and cantilevers are pure retro, though the cantilever frame bosses can accommodate linear-pull brakes, which are said to offer greater braking power than cantilevers. Anyway, if you want a low trail bike built around your preferred style of brakes, there you go.

Style Points

Of course you may be more concerned about style, and there are marked differences there too. The Soma GR has a really lovely white frame with maroon accents. The Velo Routier in its current version is "tricolor", basically royal blue with a red and white logo. The new Polyvalent is offered in a lovely "deep emerald" green and a sort of pastel lilac. I personally hate the lilac, but find the other three really attractive.

The Polyvalent has the extra disk brake braze-ons, which no self respecting retrogrouch could tolerate but which probably provides the most confident braking of the three. The fork crown also seems to be somewhat unconventional, though it's hard to tell from the photographs on the site.  The Velo Routier has traditional, classic frame geometry. It does feature pump pegs on the left seat stay, which allows you to sport a snazzy pump in a really cool place, if you go in for that sort of thing.

Soma Fabrications Grand Randonneur

The latest Grand Randonneur has the loveliest fork of the three, with an elegant "French Flick", a tight bend low on the forks that provides the rake. But the GR has a sloping top tube, which definitely marks it as a "modern" bike, while the other two have level top tubes. There have been some complaints on the forums (I know, it should be "fora" but who says that?!!) that the GR frame looks too small, in the way many modern bikes with "compact" geometry do. Jan Heine noted that in his Bicycle Quarterly review. But I've also read that the geometry is stacked higher in the front providing a more upright position. I don't have one to measure, so I can't say. Still, "traditional" bikes like this generally feature level top tubes and actually tend, as their predecessors did, to be a bit bigger than "modern" bikes, showing less seat post and stem length. That difference marks the GR as a stand-out, though not necessarily in a good way.

Velo Routier Semi-Horizontal Drop Outs

One other note that might determine a winner among these three choices. The second generation of the Velo Routier has a semi-horizontal rear drop out (the other two have the now pretty much standard vertical dropout). It allows for easy conversion to a single speed or internally geared hub both of which can require chain tensioning by sliding the axle fore or aft in the drop out. You see this on a lot of older bikes, but not on many new ones. This is a deal breaker for some riders, as it can make it a real pain in the ass to change tires, particularly on a fendered bike. So there's that.

And finally, Soma and Velo Orange bikes all seem to feature proper head badges, and pretty attractive ones at that. The Velo Routier has a decal in its place. Not a big deal for me, as I'll usually have a handlebar bag covering it anyway, but head badges are lovely things and it's kind of a shame Cycles Toussaint chose the decal instead.

Alright, so having painstakingly considered all the options, which one did I go with? The answer after the break...