Paul’s randonneur

There’s nothing quite like building a complete bike with fenders, pump, rack, and integrated lighting. The challenge is getting everything to sync up and work flawlessly together. And then there’s the fact that everything needs to look good together. There’s a combination of parts on here that just flowed seamlessly. The finish of the Nitto, Grand Bois, and Cane Creek components was almost a perfect match. The polish of the stainless frame details, the SON dynamo front hub, the White Industries rear hub, and the Paul Racer brakes (very appropriate) also went very well together.

My main concern with this bike was the paint. Paul wanted contrasting fenders that were inspired by fendered cars of the 1930s. I was concerned about the bike becoming too dissonant. But through several computer mock-ups, we were able to come to an agreement on a design based off of a green Mercedes Morgan. The fenders ended up getting small pinstripes on the edges to match the frame and fork.