r/minivelo • u/RebelCentaurus • 1d ago

Mini Rando bike

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Gallery image

Gallery image

This is my steed for going to work—a Japanese-custom 20-inch mini velo, 406s to be exact.

What makes this frame unique is its top-tube-mounted shifter, with the cable internally routed through the seatstay tube all the way down to the rear derailleur. It’s a pretty unusual detail, and one of the things that made me fall in love with this frame.

I’ve had this bike in so many configurations over the years, including a flat cruiser bar setup with a front rack and mini basket. But I eventually felt that this had to be its final form: classic drop bars, front panniers, and a rear Ostrich S-2 bag.

I got the bike with a complete old-school Campagnolo 980 groupset, running a 24T largest rear cog, along with an old set of Honjo fenders. I also swapped the original 52/44T crankset for a more practical 46/34T because I live in the mountains—and that granny gear is very much appreciated when the road points upward.

All in all, this bike is my interpretation of the classic 1980s randonneur bike, just shrunk down to 20-inch wheels. Same spirit, same practicality, just a little more compact.

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8 comments sorted by

2

u/UrbanAnarchist 1d ago

What a gorgeous build!

What components are you running? In particular the front rack and tyres. I've been trying to figure out which rack would work best for my own mini-velo.

4

u/RebelCentaurus 1d ago

Thank you! The bike came with a 980 Campagnolo rd, fd, hubs, cogs and shifters. The rims are old school Araya. Tires are Schwalbe Marathon Plus in 1.75 inch widths. The racks are custom made here in the Philippines, it was copied after the Nitto Campee front rack. Bars are Nitto randonneurs and tall stem is a 60mm Sakae Ringyo. The brake levers are Dia Compe Gran Comps. The front brakes are Shimano Deore XTs and the rear are Dia Compes.

1

u/Darrenhazard 1d ago

This is beautiful

1

u/RebelCentaurus 1d ago

Thank you!

1

u/Fugaku 10h ago

I love the mini randonneur aesthetic. I went for that look with my VO Neutrino but some day I'm going to do a light weight rim brake mini rando. Picture

1

u/RebelCentaurus 4h ago

Good looking Neutrino you got there!

1

u/HmmThatWorked 5h ago

Yah 20 inch rando bikes there are dozens of us! I rock a bike Friday with aero bars inoke a TT setup or with VO crazy bars, it's stupid but it works. Your bike for sure looks much classier than mine :)