Updating the Montréal

When Bassi designed the very first version of Le Montréal in 2013, it was already a departure from what we were comfortable with — it wasn’t a classic straight track frame, and it wasn’t an Italian racing bike. It was shaped like a road bike, had thin tubing and a nimble geometry, but had room for 700 x 35mm tires (and you could just about squeeze in a fender if you were creative) and rack eyelets front and rear. It was common to call that a cyclocross bike in those days, but we didn’t know that many cyclocross racers. What it was actually meant to be like was the old bikes we repaired, rebuilt, modified and upgraded every week at our shop on Villeneuve St. 

Every Montréal V1 from 2013 took 700C wheels. It would have been unthinkable then to produce a run of frames with smaller wheels for the smaller sizes, and in any case good luck finding 650B rims and tires locally. The tight road bike geometry meant that on the smaller sizes around 50cm, the front wheel was really close to your feet, causing toe overlap – turning the wheel sharply while your foot was in the forward position had them occupying the same space, followed by you occupying the ground if you were clipped in. Because you don't turn the handlebars much except in a very slow-speed (or stopped) turn it's not what you'd call dangerous.

Nonetheless, the Montréal changed the kinds of bicycles we felt Bassi could make, and its classic lines still perfectly fit what Montréalers expect from their everyday ride: understated beauty and a style that matches the city. Plus you could really load it with groceries and put your kid’s seat on the back, and those super-wide (for the time) tires were way safer around the potholes.

It was a successful frame, and led to some variants: the Villeneuve and the Rachel were also well-received and were based on other things the Montréal could do with some tweaks, and we were ready to make a new run in 2017, but this time we’d try something different: the smallest size (49.5cm) would have 650C wheels. This wheel size standard (with a 5cm smaller diameter) was more familiar for road bike people, being common for Terry bikes and other racing bikes for shorter athletes. This eliminated toe overlap, but the 52cm frame still had some with its 700C wheels, especially with fenders.

That was my bicycle: Le Montréal V2 52.5cm. I didn’t mind the toe overlap and it became second nature to work around it when riding. I’d chosen a smaller frame than I usually would, since it had very long reach: a necessary design compromise to use large 700C wheels on a small-ish frame with road bike geometry. This worked well with some setups and less with others, and eventually I began thinking of sizing up so that the handlebars would be closer and higher, and the seatpost not as embarrassingly extended.

The Montréal V3 was a significant redesign. By 2020, we were ready to go all-in on the different wheel sizes, and felt confident we could supply it with wheels and tires. Doing so would also allow us to expand the size range to fit more riders comfortably. This redesign went to six frame sizes, with three wheel sizes, and our overlap problem was gone completely. 

This year, I felt it was time and I was ready to switch to a 55cm frame (I’m 5’11” with a PBH of 86cm for comparison’s sake). I’d need to build myself some 650B wheels, since I’d never owned any, only 700C which is a-ok on most bikes for a taller person, and 20-inch on my minivelos. I wound up trading my old frame and wheels to my friend for some art and their own old wheels they weren’t using any more, so the hubs and half the spokes on this bike had already toured the world! The rims are new Zac-19s, the original 650B rim from when Rivendell reintroduced the wheel size in the oughts. We had some on-hand with the right drilling.

I of course needed to replace the fenders, since these tires are wider and the diameter is smaller. My old Honjos with their beautiful scratched-up greying non-anodized aluminium went with my old wheels, and I’m burdened by shiny new fenders (for a few years until they also develop their patina and beausage). You’ll see in the photos that the rear is installed very badly, but you can only see it from that angle, which I never do. Honjo fenders take several hours to install perfectly, but happily if you’re accepting of a merely very good installation, you can knock em out in 1h30.

Everything else is the parts from my old bike. They all, of course, fit on the first try without needing adjustment. I didn’t even redo any housing! For more info check out the original blog post about this bike.

Incidentally, this has turned out to be a great airplane bike. We’ll be exploring and explaining that concept more this year, but when flying somewhere to ride there, it helps to have a sturdy and simple bike that’s really straightforward to disassemble as small as possible. Downtube shifters are huge for that, non-æro brake levers help a lot as do cantilever brakes, and my silly idea of having a quick-swappable cockpit has been very helpful. The racks also all come apart very quickly. The only bit that takes any time is removing the fenders and once the wheels are off, it’s not that hard. They get tied to the wheels for packing, of course. Long Allen keys like those from Wera really help, it’s a little trickier with a multitool.

The correct size frame is a lot more comfortable to ride, especially on long distances, and the lack of toe overlap was an astonishing relief! I’d become used to working around the wheel position on the other frame, but now I never have to even consider it, even with wide 42mm tires and big fenders.

This do-everything bike is the one I walk out the door with when I don’t have a pressing reason to take another: the racks go on and off quickly so I can use it for cat food and litter errands, it’s got a dynamo so I don’t have to worry about sunset, and the sorta-wide 42mm tires are just as nice on fresh clean asphalt as they are on rocks and dirt. I’ve taken it on last-minute bike tours since it’s so simple to pack for flying, and it’s the last bike to be put away for winter, as well as the first to come back out in the Spring. I also love how it looks, though that’s true of all my bikes!

Way more pictures below for you to see — don't forget to open them in a new tab to embiggen!

Photos, as ever when they're this good, by Troy.