Velo Orange

The Grand Cru Brake levers are a beautiful addition on the VO granola bars. Awesome levers!

These are by far my favorite dirt drop bars, probably my favorite drop bars period. The handlebar geometry is comfortable no matter what I'm doing, and they're very sturdy. The fact that it comes in black and silver, two widths and only costs $60 is just icing on the cake.

Was doing an all-silver setup and wanted to use the 26.0mm bars I had on hand with a 31.8mm stem. Velo Orange shims to the rescue! They do just what they describe, easy install, they just work. Secure clamping, no slippage.

Does exactly what I needed it to do.

I'm so glad I put these fenders on my bike. They do a fantastic job keeping me and my drivetrain clean, and they look great. I got the black color and had my local bike shop install them on my Crust Bombora. My only regret is not getting fenders earlier.

Good item.

Good item.

Good item.

Good item.

Excellent item.

I'm completely new to using racks and was unsure if I wanted a front or rear rack on my new gravel/commuting bike. This fit the bill perfectly and was about as easy an installation I could have hoped for! It's on the front for now but I love that I can switch it to the rear if I want to.

I’ve been admiring the wares of and purchasing stuff from VO now for over 15 years and I finally couldn’t resist leveling up into a VO bike owner. If we could have user flair here to describe what kind of VO customers we are, mine would probably be “Believes everything Grant Petersen of Rivendell Bicycle Works says BUT thinks disc brakes and through axles and normal-ish wheelbase lengths are okay, actually”. My riding style is that I like experiencing the world in a perfectly upright posture on top of a bike whose job I believe is to facilitate that experience while allowing me to mostly forget I’m even riding a bike because my hands don’t hurt, and my butt doesn’t hurt, and I sort of just feel like I’m me but gliding through the world somehow.

First Ride/Handling: Handling is great. I left the steerer tube of the fork full length and just slammed spacers until the stem and bars were all the way at the top. I don’t think I’m going to leave it that way but wanted to mention that the handling felt great even with the most ridiculous bar set up. My first ride started on the LA River path, and I ran into a guy on an older Polyvalent and he was like “cool bike”. I really appreciated him not making fun of my preliminary setup. Northeast LA may have the highest Polyvalent density outside of the VO warehouse based on pics in other reviews and my run ins IRL.

Build Quality: Great. I used to build bicycle frames, so I am picky when I look at welds and braze-ons and things being aligned just so, and everything on the frame looked terrific. I had a medium and a large at the same time so I could be really nitpicky and look for variations between the two and everything on both looked solid.

Build: I built it up with spare parts from a State All-Road and a Shimano Cues 9 speed shifter and derailer (RIP Sheldon Brown). Wheelset is 650b with Schwalbe 2.15 Marathon Green Guard tires that just barely fit without fenders, so the max tire size specs for the frame are right on in my experience. I put a Pletscher touring kickstand on today and that is a bigger tire clearance issue than the frame. I may open up the hole in the kickstand plate a few millimeters to the left to give my tire a tiny bit more clearance (or do nothing and let it sort itself out).

Frame sizing: Double check with and defer to the VO folks on this one, but I’d recommend going a size up from what their size ranges recommend (especially if you’re in the upper range of the range) UNLESS you’re going to be using drop bars. I started with a medium (I’m 5’ 9”) but ended up trading it in for a large. I think the most important dimension on the medium was right for my size (reach), but I feel like most people are going to use swept back bars, and using this sort of bar allows you to size up, which gives you less toe overlap, the space between top and down tube being less tight for your water bottles, and the stack height is higher for better bar position (with less spacers). Some guidance regarding riding a larger size frame on the Rivendell website (that I think applies here) said “These bikes are designed for upright, sweepy-back bars (Albatross and Bosco, for example), and the sweep-back gobbles up horizontal reach in huge mouthfuls”. I wouldn’t prioritize less toe overlap or more water bottle space or needing less spacers on your steerer tube over an appropriate reach, but with swept back bars you can have it all. VOs pictures of the Low Kicker are of a large and some reviews have pictures of a built up medium if you want to see how the different dimensions play out in the different sizes. No sizes are bad, just want to give my feedback on what size ended up working for me and my bar choice so you can get the appropriate size frame for your needs on the first try.

Conclusion: I love it and think that if you’re even considering it that you’d be very happy with it. Mine now has a front rack with the world’s largest milk crate attached to it, and I’ve lowered the bars by about 2-3”.

The Velo Orange water bottle clamps can be ordered in one of two sizes. Having this option allowed me to get a perfect fit. Other similar clamps come only in one generic size. The quality of construction was also appreciated. I use these clamps for any clamping need I have when a 90-degree offset is required – not just for a water bottle cage.

I was excited about this rack when it was first announced as the Minim, and finally got my hands on mine last week.

I have a P-38 Lightning recumbent that I use for randonneuring, and I've struggled to find a rear rack that I could mount securely and without extensive monkeying around fabricating parts or repurposing plastic Cateye clamps. When Velo Orange released the preview photos of the Minim, I felt optimistic that it'd work well, but had to wait for a long year...

I'm happy to report that the rack mounted perfectly, out of the box, zero modifications required (although I obviously need to trim the support struts ;-) )

Love these bars. I ride them flipped upside down and run sq labs inner bar ends and ergo grips. Have them cut slightly shorter but they make great endurance racing bars for those who like drops but want to run mtb components or those needing 4 piston brakes for bikepacking.