Just picked up this bike, it’s in near-perfect condition and I’m super happy with it. The frame has unique Reynolds 708 tubing, it’s surprisingly lightweight and hopefully it will make a great touring bike. The second photo shows the bike in full just for reference.
When I was having a look at the bike, I noticed these two wire like rods are on the chain stay, circled in yellow… can anyone tell me what they are and what they are used for? Am I being dumb? Google wasn’t helpful.
Thanks!
by hairy-sandwich
19 Comments
Spare spokes!
Bonus spokes, in case you break one while randonneuring.
Spare spokes.
Spare spokes. That’s such a nice feature. I don’t see those very often.
First time I’ve seen the spare spokes on the NDS. When on the drive side, they also protect the paint from chain slap.
Bike companies have always tried to come up with ‘gimmicks’ or ‘forward thinking’ innovative ideas to help evolve the biking industry and help distinguish themselves from other brands. Some things stuck or set standards and most just were novelties. Enjoy the bike!
Thank you x-perts ❤️
That’s pretty cool. Never seen that before. But seems like a gimmick. I can’t see changing spokes on the side of the road. At that point I’m calling an Uber XL.
Extra spokes!
That has to be for a frame pump and the user got confused.
spokes!
You mean spokes? Like you have the bike in front of you and the wheel spokes are right behind that and you couldn’t put 1+1 together?
I thought I was on the bike wrench sub.
My Surly Trucker came w spare spokes on the left seat stay. It’s the sentiment…
Spokes! My LHT still has a couple there.
I love it when frames have thoses. nice simple touch, useful for bike-randonneurs
Hot-dog skewers?
The Reynolds 708 tubing will not make for a good tourer, it will likely only handle front loading with any sort of competence. Lighter/ thinner tubing is more flexible, very bad for when carrying lots of extra weight on the frame (or even just being 180 pounds or heavier).
That isn’t to say you can’t try, and people back in the day (70s) toured on just about anything. I reccomend to balance the load between front and rear as much as possible, and to use panniers/ racks that center the load as near as possible to each wheel’s axle.
Very neat.
It’s brazing rod, so you can repair your frame while on tour. I always carry a spare toptube, downtube, chainstays, welding glasses, and a small oxyacetylene tank on longer tours.