My Velo Orange Chessie

My daughter used to be all about Miffy, but lately she seems to be getting hooked on Disney Princesses, so every day feels like the Disney+ subscription we’ve been paying for is finally paying off.
It’s not Rapunzel, nor is it Frozen, surprisingly, it seems that Snow White really struck a chord with her, and I just thought, “That’s my daughter.” When she sees the Seven Dwarfs, she points them out and says, “It’s ‘Heigh-Ho’!” She’s so adorable!!
That said, she still loves Miffy as always, so she seems to be keeping herself pretty busy every day.

Okay, that was a totally unrelated to bikes. The real reason I’m writing is this is to introduce my new bike.

*VELO ORANGE* Chessie (S)

It’s been a while since I built up a new bike for myself. A lot of Velo Orange stuff arrived pretty recently. Some may know them as a bike component brand, and that’s correct. The parts they create is always innovative, yet has classic aesthetics. They always nail it on coming up with stuff that we always get impressed, stuff that scratches those mechanical itches when building bikes.

Did you know that they also produce cool and unique frames too?

And the new Chessie I just got is in a new color called “Shoreline Sand.”

To begin with, the reason I decided to get this bike was that since I started doing brevets (long-distance rides) last year, all my rides, whether for practice or the actual event, had been on-road.

So, as a sort of reaction to that, I thought, “I’d like to go off-road too.” And since I was thinking, “If I’m going to do that, I might as well get a new bike,” and “I’ve completed a 600-km brevet, so this is a reward for myself,” the new shipment arrived right at that moment. The new beige color was right up my alley, it was love at first sight. I was at the register paying for it the very same day it arrived.

I was actually pretty curious about this bike, even before they arrived, so that kind of nudged me to get one. The reason I was so interested in the bike is because it’s an aluminum frame. It’s pretty rare for us to stock aluminum frames, since our main thing are steel bikes.

It has been at least a decade since I last rode an aluminum bike. My last aluminum bike was the Cinelli Zydeco. I just love the weldings of aluminum frames.

The segmented fork is made of steel and has mounts for a rack and fenders. As a segmented fork lover, I’m very stoked to own a bike with such a beautiful fork. The tapered headtube is also a plus, since I could install a carbon fork if I want to in the future.

The monostays are featured in a lot of V.O. recent frame models and the Chessie is no exception. This apparently makes the ride feel more mild and comfy. When it comes to aesthetic side of things, this detail gives the bike a classic look that tickles bike enthusiast’s minds. (Old Zunow frames come to mind for me) I really love this bike design.

It’s a bad habit of mine to talk all about looks and design before even getting to the functionality and specs, but since I’m on the subject, I’ll mention one more thing: the S-bend on this seatstay is also a highlight. It’s impressive that they’ve gone this far on a mass-produced frame. A segmented fork, monostay, and S-bend, it’s the kind of frame that’s like a Happy Meal of my favorite things. Of course I’m gonna buy it.

The sliding dropout is apparently their original, rather than using existing parts. This is the kind of stuff I’m always impressed by Velo Orange. I truly respect their development capability.

Rear rack eyelets and downtube cage mounts are featured from this batch, making the bike more suitable for bikepacking. (The Leviathan Blue Chessie from the first one does not have this feature)

I am 163cm/5ft3 tall and chose the small frame size. The small can fit up to 650B x 2.1″ or 26″ x 2.25″ tires. Medium and up can fit 700C x 50 or 650B x 2.25″ at max. The Chessie is a frame that could fit two wheel sizes and for this build I went with 650Bx47.

I think this is a good set up for a me who rides 70% of pavement and 30% of off-road. And when I mean off-road, I mean a flat dirt path by the river, rather than trails in the mountains, so I think this tire size would do. It’s also a habit of mine to choose rando-ish tires.

*VELOCITY* aero rims laced with *VELO ORANGE* chronos disc hubs.

Optimized for 28–53 mm tires and designed with a focus on aerodynamics and strength, these rims are among the most serious in the Velocity selection imo. The new Velo Orange hubs feature a redesigned internal ratchet mechanism that offers even more durability. This design, described as a “floating ratchet system,” is a method adopted by many brands, which gives me peace of mind. In fact, I decided to go with them after hearing they’d be using this design. It’s also reassuring that they continue to produce silver hubs as always! I think even by my own standards, this has turned out to be a great wheelset.

WTB* byway road+ tire 650B, great tires that are not too fat, but could still handle both pavement and gravel. My college Kaisei describes these tires as “all-purpose tires”. The suppleness, cushion and how it rolls makes riding fun, he says.

Sure, they feel way more relaxed than tires I use for brevets, but this bike is for a completely different purpose, so it’s all good. I chose 47B tires, so I have the space to install fenders when necessary.

For the brakes and derailleurs, I tried out the Shimano CUES Silver groupset, which I’ve been curious about lately.
The 10-speed wide-ratio setup (like, really wide) covers everything from light gears that handle any uphill climb to flat roads. On the other hand, because the gear ratios are quite spread out, this isn’t a groupset for bikes that require precise shifting, but I think it’s perfect for riders looking for fun rides like camping trips or touring. Designed with durability in mind, CUES, which has a different concept from the racing scene, might just become the new standard.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but this is my first time using hydraulic brakes on drop bars. They’re great. They provide solid stopping power with minimal effort, which gives me a real sense of security. The silver brakes are also a key selling point of the CUES groupset. While there are some customization limitations, I highly recommend them as a top contender for hydraulic brakes.

There are CUES cranksets, but since this is a new bike, I finally went with the *PAUL* 100% pure cranks I’ve eyeing for a while.
I chose a square taper crankset because it looks cool and, since you can adjust the axle length to fit any bike, so it’s actually great.
This time, I paired it with a *WOLF TOOTH* direct-mount chainring for SRAM to set it up as a 1x setup.

I used the *PAUL* boxcar stem from my other bike and chose the *RITCHEY* classic venture max handle and *RITCHEY* wcs pave bartape v2. Short stem + wide bar set up to fully enjoy riding gravel. I’m currently in the mood for bright color bar tapes, so I chose this blue.

As for the ride feel, while aluminum frames often give the impression of being stiff, I didn’t get that impression with the Chessy.
The comfiness, which is unusual for an aluminum frame makes me think it would be a great fit not only for gravel rides but also for touring-style builds. I’m enjoying this bike a lot.

And with its big tire clearance and stable geometry, it offers a reassuring ride even for those who are unfamiliar with off-road riding, so I feel it’s a versatile frame that will appeal to a wide range of riders.

I already have plans of swapping parts after one proper ride. I think this is going to be a bike that I’ll be riding for a long time, having fun perfecting it. I’ll have it displayed at the Hatagaya store, so let us know if you’d like to test it out.

Thanks & see you again,

Digi