June’s rinko randonneur

November 9, 2020

I started working on June’s rinko bike in late 2019, if my memory serves me correctly. It was one of those bikes that I knew was going to be a challenge for me. I had never done a rinko travel bike but I had seen many other builders do them. I liked the concept even though the actual use for traveling might be minimal.

I tried to address some of the normal issues of travel bikes but primarily focused on preventing wear on the finish. I didn’t want paint chipping off the back of the rear dropouts so I made a set of tiny stainless “shields”. They mount to the extra set of eyelets on the Suntour dropouts and rest on the ground when “rinko’d”.

Other small details include

  • A high chain hanger to have the chain tension keep the rear derailleur from touching the ground.
  • There is a single taillight wire that needs to be unplugged before taking the bike apart but the dynamo is the Schmidt SL connector-less style so no wires to tend to there.
  • I made a small 32mm headset/8mm socket/8mm hex tool for easy disassembly and reassembly of the bike.
  • To get the saddle height right every time, I machined a small spacer that sits on the inside portion of the seat tube mounted taillight. That idea gets credited to J.P. Weigle.
  • There is also a custom made front cable hanger that similarly puts the bars at the correct pre-set height every time.
  • The stainless custom rear hanger has an adjuster and slot for cable removal.
  • The fender cut was as clean as I could have hoped. It was my first time Rinko’ing a fender and I was just following the leads of other reputable builders and how they handled it.

There’s a short video in this Instagram post of me reassembling the bike for those of you who would like a visual. I like the way this bike came out and have a sneaking feeling that it won’t be the last time I build a rinko friendly bike.