So it's been a while but here is a small update. About a month and a half ago, I added a rear rack and a folding wire basket to the folding bike. I immediately noticed that the bike drove like a pig once I added it, but didn't think too much of it. A few days ago, I took off the rack and I was shocked. What was a twitchy big rig suddenly turned into a fighter jet. I'm not exaggerating, acceleration, control in and out of turns, heavy leans, all felt like I had complete control. I could finally get the bike to do exactly what I wanted it to, it was like riding an entirely different bike. I'm not too happy about losing the cargo/carrying capacity but I think I'm willing to make the sacrifice for the sheer fun I had once I got rid of the dead weight.
So anyway, don't bother with a rack on the downtube nova, it kills the fun of the ride. You lose out on the steering control you get with the smaller wheelbase and 20" tires.
Also, on the topic of updates to the Nova, the first set of rims I ordered were sewups and no good because a tubular 20" tire is near $100 a tire and like hell I'm spending that much. A shame really, 'cause the rims are nice.
I did want a new front wheel to replace the terrible stock wheel so i got the cheapest laced rim on amazon with nuts instead of QR levers. The quality shows. The hub that came with the sew-ups spun great and had little friction. The hub on the amazon wheel is a little better than the stock nova hub, but a step up from crap is still a foot in a pile of manure. The tire I used for the new wheel is a Kojack and it seems much more resistant to glass on the road. There are a lot of broken bottles on my route and it helps my peace of mind. I still check my tires after every ride I see glass on, so far so good.
