Call it old age, or plain lunacy, last November I had the thought that a fixed wheel bike ( opinion, 'fixie' sounds 'orrible ) would be a good thing for me to buy. No rush, just keep my eyes open. One essential for me was that it had proper mudguard mounts, and mudguards. In January, the local Cycle Republic had a Quella Evo in stock. All boxes ticked, had a chat and ordered one, my size was not in stock.
They called me, I went and collected it and rode it home. The brakes were dire, no big deal at the time. Then I started looking, and putting right. The front brake cable outer had a kink in it. It was 25 to 30 mm too long for the run, so easily fixed. Changed the tyres, Durano Plus for me. And a few other details. Try as I might, the front brake was terrible, as was the rear brake, but that is only decoration. So, I fitted a Shimano caliper. Which just works.
The original cantilever brake pivoted off a couple of brazed on stubs on the front fork. Now redundant and ugly. So, I emailed Quella, any chance of a fork without these stubs? All seemed well, although I had to chase them, the fork took two weeks to arrive. And when it arrived, it was the wrong fork. The pictures may tell the story better than mere words.
Above, the curve towards the end of the original fork
Has vanished on the new one, the front wheel and the down tube now have to share the same space.
The slope shouldered fork crown, no mudguard space.
And the original square shouldered crown.
The new fork did not have mudguard mounts, I did not bother with pictures, the major dimensional differences made the fork unusable anyway. So far, not too encouraging. I emailed the company. The reply was,
quote//
We're sorry the forks were not what you expected and as explained over the phone there has been miscommunication as we believed you required a fork without cantilever brake lugs as the main criteria which was provided.
//unquote.
My reply was to the effect that the forks provided would not fit the bike, which is the main criteria. Anyway, both parties threw the toys out of the pram, and I am still having to use the original fork.
They called me, I went and collected it and rode it home. The brakes were dire, no big deal at the time. Then I started looking, and putting right. The front brake cable outer had a kink in it. It was 25 to 30 mm too long for the run, so easily fixed. Changed the tyres, Durano Plus for me. And a few other details. Try as I might, the front brake was terrible, as was the rear brake, but that is only decoration. So, I fitted a Shimano caliper. Which just works.
The original cantilever brake pivoted off a couple of brazed on stubs on the front fork. Now redundant and ugly. So, I emailed Quella, any chance of a fork without these stubs? All seemed well, although I had to chase them, the fork took two weeks to arrive. And when it arrived, it was the wrong fork. The pictures may tell the story better than mere words.
Above, the curve towards the end of the original fork
Has vanished on the new one, the front wheel and the down tube now have to share the same space.
The slope shouldered fork crown, no mudguard space.
And the original square shouldered crown.
The new fork did not have mudguard mounts, I did not bother with pictures, the major dimensional differences made the fork unusable anyway. So far, not too encouraging. I emailed the company. The reply was,
quote//
We're sorry the forks were not what you expected and as explained over the phone there has been miscommunication as we believed you required a fork without cantilever brake lugs as the main criteria which was provided.
//unquote.
My reply was to the effect that the forks provided would not fit the bike, which is the main criteria. Anyway, both parties threw the toys out of the pram, and I am still having to use the original fork.
