Ye speak the truth although I have ridden my light tubed race bike with snappy steering and it is nice on smooth roads. I fear however that if I rode this enough I would soon fatigue its light gauge tubing, although it seems quite stiff with its old school Columbus standard diameter tubing. It might be the wheels however as they are 36 hole 14/15 and narrower Sun rims. This bike, despite its narrow tires at 120 psi and a short wheelbase is fairly soft riding. Perhaps there really is something to the ride qualities that I am missing on a Riv 'speed bike' but actual speed gains? I remain skeptical. I suppose when a riders skill at detecting subtleties becomes refined enough a custom frame is the next step in the process. Maybe someday I will be light enough to order a custom Riv 'fast frame' and realize the benefit of it. Until then I suppose a 'tank' is the order of the day for my wide derriere.
happy riding to all -Charlie On Jan 18, 12:03 pm, PATRICK MOORE <bertin...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 9:35 AM, charlie <charles_v...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > > This is a general reply rather than specific to anyone so........I > > just don't get the 'go fast' concept here. I really can't see where a > > couple of pounds makes much, if any difference. I mean, any bike can > > take a narrower tire and you can dispense with the racks and bags so > > where is the mysterious speed gain of having a short reach braked bike > > that weighs a couple of pounds less. I have a vintage, lugged steel, > > 21 pound all Campy race bike with 25mm tires (soon to be tubulars) and > > it really isn't a whole lot easier to ride than my 30 pound, racked > > tour bike, if I run 32mm tires on it. > > That is all because you haven't ridden a Grant designed gofast bike. > > At my weight, over the rough > > > chipseal I often ride on the wider tires actually seem to be faster > > and on asphalt the race bike accelerates faster but that's about it. > > If i want to go fast on flats and rollers I ride my recumbent until I > > get to steep hills then.............I lay back and grind up. Its all > > very subtle when it comes to the differences between one style of > > steel bike and another and when you consider the trade offs in utility > > and durability you often find yourself ultimately going back to what > > works and makes sense. > > But not everyone wants what you want. I want an update of the RB-1 > (conceptually, if not financially). It's not the weight at all, it's the fit > (butt back, bars low) and handling (quick, seamless, "intuitive" turns with > no jerkiness or twitchiness). Now if you can include in such a frame off > road capacity and load bearing capacity, all the better, but I expect that > you can't optimize a frame for fast, nimble road riding and still have it > perform decently off road and under heavy loads. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
