Race Cyclocross!

At the 2007 North American Hand Made Bicycle Show, Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles unveiled project Speedvagen. The other day I met up with Sacha to ask a few questions about the project and the bikes.

History
Sacha’s love affair with cyclocross is no secret. He and his bicycles have a presence, and are one component of what makes racing in the Portland area so damn exciting. Locals are winning on badass cross machines built right down the street. The Vanilla cyclocross team makes waves worldwide, and is know for it’s style and guts.

We’re on the cusp of a cross explosion in the US, and as the races get bigger and more talent emerges, so does the demand for a no-compromise cross machine. Sadly, for most racers getting a custom cross rig just isn’t feasible. With the current custom steel bicycle renaissance, the wait for a Vanilla crosser is currently at 4+ years. Other famous cyclocross builders are having similar problems, for example the wait for a Richard Sachs is around 5 years. Few racers have that kind of patience and just want a bike that they will love and can race the hell out of this season.

Enter Speedvagen
Speedvagen is a project conceived by Sacha to get crossers wanting a custom rig on a bike they will love without the epic wait. It’s a cross specific racing frame with custom geometry, engineering and color by Sacha, and handmade in the Vanilla workshop with the help of Mike Desalvo.

Mike is a very good friend of mine and one of the best builders in the country.

Speedvagen is less about beauty and the ornate, and more about racing. It’s about innovation and delivering a light, stiff, cross specific rig that you can thrash without worrying about the paint and polish. Vanilla is Sacha’s lifelong pursuit of craft, while Speedvagen is about maintaining his connection with his his racing roots. Thirty Speedvagen will be delivered for the 2007 season.

Speedvagen is about ideas and design for the racer at a more readily available rate.

Cross Specific
Each frame will be custom sized to it’s rider and it’s geometry an evolved version of the Vanilla team bike. The tubeset will be a custom mix and for the first time ever, Sacha is having tubes drawn specifically for his designs. Racers will have the option of a geared or singlespeed specific frame. Each Speedvagen will be TIG welded, and come with an Alpha Q CX20 carbon fork. In addition, each bike is host to several cyclocross specific innovations outlined below.

Integrated braking
A new brake boss designed specifically for Paul’s brakes increases stiffness and reduces weight. Speedvagen bosses are shorter and extend all the way through the seatstays for rigidity. See below the speedvagen braking system on the left and standard canti bosses on the right. The distance from the caliper to the seatstay is dramatically reduced with the custom bosses, which results in a stiffer braking and fewer grams.

Seat tube
There is a lot going on the seat tube area on this thing. The first thing you’ll notice is that there isn’t a standard seat binder clamp and seatpost. The seatpost is an externally clamping head which was designed and machined specifically for Speedvagen. The height of the seat tube is based on the rider’s most comfortable leg extension, and will have a full centimeter of height adjustment.

The fixed seat tube allows for the rear brake cable to run directly through the tube. This removes the need for two rear brake braze-ons and housing, and creates a smooth clean line from the front top tube braze-on to the rear brake straddle. The brake cable runs through a stainless sheath brazed inside the seat tube, for smooth braking action.

The top tube also features a shaped flattened area towards for the seat tube for more comfortable shouldering.

Paint
While custom paint won’t be available for these bikes, racers will have four different color options. There will be two industrial style colors: military green and primer gray. And two racy colors: punchy red, and creamy white. The paint will be done in-house, and is designed to be lightweight and durable.

Dropouts
The “Berserker” dropouts will be smaller and lighter than the ornate “V” dropouts found on most Vanilla bicycles. I didn’t actually get to see the dropouts, but it sounds like they will have some nice styling but be mostly functional and stout. Looking forward to getting my eyes on these.

Getting one
The Speedvagen is about 1/2 pound lighter than last year’s Vanilla cyclocross team race frames and are available for purchase via application. We’re not sure what the application will consist of, but like speedvagen.com says, they are for “racers and racing”. Speedvagen aren’t only for elite crossers, just for people who will love and race the hell out their bike. If you are into it, get on it and follow the instructions on Speedvagen.com.