Previously, the key components of the Fnhon Gust 16 inch folding bike was shown. The steel frame, steel fork and aluminium handlepost comes together as a frameset. The rest of the parts needs to be sourced individually.
With careful selection, the components that are chosen will be tailored to your specific needs. This bike is targeted to have a selection of high end components, with a full 11 speed drivetrain. At the same time, lightweight components are preferred to minimize the weight, although the frameset itself is already pretty heavy.
Carbon flat handlebars of good quality can be found cheaply on Taobao, such as the Toseek flat handlebar that I have used previously on the Bike Friday Haul-A-Day cargo bike and also the Fnhon DB11 folding bike.
For folding bikes, a handlebar width of around 560 to 580 mm is ideal. If it is too narrow, it will be harder to control the bike. If it is too wide, folding might be affected due to grip and tire interference.
In this case, a 580 mm wide Toseek carbon handlebar was selected. The center clamp portion needs to be of diameter 25.4 mm to match the handlepost clamp.
Toseek flat handlebar, 580 mm wide, weighs exactly 100 grams.
PRO grips, weigh just 81 grams, which is pretty lightweight for lock on grips.
Brake levers will be Sora brake levers, which are black colour to match the rest of the bike. I forgot to take a picture of the brake levers, but you can see them later on, in pictures of the full bike.
With that, the handlebar area is settled. Choosing the seat post and saddle is easy, as it is quite standard. On a 16 inch folding bike, although the seat tube is lower than that of a 20 inch bike, the seat post length used is the same, just that it extends out further from the frame. In this case, a standard seat post will do. Instead of the most lightweight version with thin clamps, I chose the type that is slightly heavier but has a much stronger saddle clamp.
Litepro seat post, diameter 33.9 mm, length 600 mm.
I also got an aluminium seat post shim, as I thought the frameset comes with a plastic seat post shim which does not work well.
After checking, I found that a metal seat post shim is actually included with the frameset, which is good. A good quality seat post clamp with brass bushings is also included.
Saddle is provided by my friend. The grey colour does not match the rest of the bike but that is not an issue for me.
In the next post, we will check out the new wheelset and tires, which is another key part of this bike.
Hi Steve, I replace my plastic ones to aluminium seat post shim. The mechanics that changed was convinced that a plastic seat post shim can do the work well and plastic not only is light, it also does not scratch the seatpost. Hence, is there merit that aluminium is better? Cost wise, I had paid more for aluminium too. .
ReplyDeleteI find that plastic shims will cause the seat post to slide or twist easily. Put 2 hands on the saddle and twist hard. Compare between the plastic shim and the aluminium shim and you will see.
DeleteHi.. Can I find out what's the size of the seatpost shim for fnhon gust 16inch? I'm using a 33.9 A61 Litepro seatpost. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt's the same shim as those used on 20 inch folding bikes.
ReplyDeleteHi, what is the size of this seatpost Clamp that came with the frame set? Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't check, but you can find out by measuring the seat tube diameter of the actual bike. Normally should be 40 mm for steel frame.
DeleteI bought a LitePro clamp (41mm printed on the clamp) meant for 33.9mm seatpost. While the clamp fits 33.9mm seatpost, and 33.9mm seatpost fits the frame, clamp doesn't fit the frame 😂 41mm clamp too loose on frame. The bike I'm working on is the Gust 20" (I just checked the stock clamp, don't need to measure haha. Printed on it says 38.1mm FYI)
ReplyDelete