My experience with the Ram and AHH is that they provide the same amazingly wonderful riding experience. I can't tell a difference on roads. And for me, it's a different experience than the RB-2 which I wouldn't take on a super-long ride, but I definitely climb a 2-mile hill in significantly less time on the RB-2 than I do on the other two. I'm guessing that a Heron Road or a mid-90's Rivendell Road standard would be on the spectrum between RB-2 and Ram. I've heard others on this list say that it is certainly not the same bike as the Ram. So making a modest, affordable, short-reach-brake Taiwan version of a bike with Heron road geometry (and mini-rack braze-ons) is not a re-introduction of the Ram.
But now that I read my little story above about being faster on the climb on the RB-2, I'm starting to see that the market for such a bike might be too small, as people have said. Once in a while, I care about being 90 seconds faster on that hill, and it's fun to see how the Bridgestone influences that. I'm a big enough bike nut that I keep several bikes around just for such little games. But other people are more sane and just want a good "road bike", not many variations all around the house. If they are bent towards caring about the 90 seconds faster on the hill, and apparently many people are, then it seems that many of them are headed towards a carbon fiber Specialized or whatever. And it's hard to compete with that. For their intended purposes, those bikes are really good. -Jim W. -----Original Message----- >From: MichaelH <mhech...@gmail.com> >Sent: Jan 18, 2009 10:43 AM >To: RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> >Cc: Michael Hechmer <mhech...@gmail.com> >Subject: [RBW] Re: Rivendell Bike Models Page - some updates > > >Those of us, like myself, who can afford more than one bike, often >prefer to have bikes optimized around specific kinds of riding. In >that case a "go fast" road bike - one designed for centuries or >shorter rides without carrying a lot of gear, and with nimble road >manners makes a lot of sense. > >I still have and ride a custom 1988 ,full campy, tubular tired, >Marinoni stage racing bike. This bike is built out of standard guage >Columbus tubing and sports a World Championship heritage. I also have >a Ram, outfitted with RP tires, Honjo fenders, and a small Carradice >bag. Theses bike have amazingly similar rides. The Ram is a little >more stable, less quick handling, but it climbs, descends and responds >much like the Marinoni. So I'm skeptical of the argument that >standard guage bikes plane better than OS tubing ones. Maybe for a >145 lb rider, but not for a 175 lb rider. I have a standard guage >early Trek which planes nicely too, as does my OS Ebisu All Purpose. >My winter and off road bike - a Soma Dble X definitely bogs down going >uphill. Whatever causes a bike frame to respond to rider input is >something other than just tubing dimension. I suspect overly stiff >tubes as the culprit. > >Bottom line, the Ram, with OS tubing and nimble geometry serves a >unique and joyful purpose. I hope Grant decides to bring it back so >more people can discover what fun it is to ride this bike. > >On Jan 18, 12:10 pm, "Lisa -S.H." <harmo...@fairpoint.net> wrote: >> I don't think it's accurate or fair to categorize those who ride 25c >> tires and like to (or would like to) ride fast(er) as either a "roadie" >> or a "weight weenie". Heck, I found my original 38c tires were >> overkill for me, and I like to ride both slow AND fast. (though >> admittedly my 'fast' is probably equivalent to most other people's >> 'slow') ;) >> Just my two cents. >> Lisa >> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
