Eric My 2 cents adjusted for inflation is about 2 pesos but...
Based on your intent "I want this bike to serve all of my needs" and the fact that you are in the market for a "lugged steel Frame" not just a "road bike" I think the AHH is a great choice. It's at the top of my list of "if I win the lottery I would buy bike X" Since the lottery hasn't come in yet I went with a more affordable (for me) Steel steed and rivenated it. >From Personal experience I spent about a decade on a very nice Alu/ Carbon Cannondale and played racer boy with my friends, mostly keeping up but never the king of the Mountains, And even on a Tarmac Pro I would get dropped, as has been said above its more about your motor than anything else and it takes time to build it up. Since switching to primarily riding Steel I -Smile more on rides -Stop and take pictures (never did that on the Cannondale) - Don't feel nearly so many bumps on the mean streets of West Seattle -Take along tasty snacks cause I have room for them now -thanks lil loafer! -Don't take nearly so long to get ready to ride (Wool, platform pedals, Tevas etc) -Walk into coffee shop without wondering "does this lycra make my butt look big?" -ride trails I would have not dreamed of taking my racer bike on and make new discoveries in my old stomping grounds all the time Get the Homer, enjoy the versatiltiy, the beauty the panache the ride. Your friends will drop you or not when you do the club rides and the other 80% of the time you will be doing things thier bikes simply cannot. Please share some pics of the new bike once you get it ;-) On Sep 1, 2:00 pm, Dave Craig <dcr...@prescott.edu> wrote: > The only piece I've seen missing from this great discussion is a > consideration of Erik's height and weight. So, being a tall, 200 > pounder with long legs, I'll "weigh" in. > > Short of going custom, it's pretty tough to find a tall-sized, > appropriately built carbon bike - especially one that will allow wider > tires for mixed riding and a more comfortable ride. Even Riv's new > Roadeo will not be entirely appropriate for a rider of my size and > weight for the kind of riding Erik is interested in. Although I weigh > under the 250 pound limit for the Rodeo, according to Riv's sizing, > the largest size (63cm) bike will be too small for me. > > I live in the mountains in AZ and my "go fast" bike is a 64cm, steel > Soma Smoothie ES I built with a compact crank, light wheels, brifters > and 28c tires. It does indeed roll faster than my Atlantis on my usual > 50 mile training ride and I "keep up" just fine with normal humans on > MCRB's. I do just fine on my Atlantis as well when I set it up with > lighter wheels and smaller 33.3 Browns. Even on the Soma, I get > dropped by guys who weigh 20 to 40 pounds less and who are just as fit > as I am. I usually pass guys my size regardless of what kind of bike > they are riding if I'm in better shape. I'm always really comfortable > on my bikes because they fit and I can run wider tires appropriate for > my weight and the rough roads we have here. My buddies on their carbon > bikes are comfortable too, because their bikes fit them. > > Erik, as has been said before, fitness (and your pain tolerance, I > might add) is the key to whether you can hang with other riders. FWIW, > I rode a 25-mile mountain road ride today with 3 other fit cyclists, > all smaller than me and all on geared carbon bikes. I was on my 64cm > Quickbeam with 35c tires. They killed me on the downhills and were > waiting for me at the turnaround point. Going back with a consistent > climb and no long downhills, I had no problem leading the pack and I > was first at the top of the pass. We weren't racing, but I certainly > didn't hold anyone up, either. > > DC > > On Sep 1, 12:22 pm, 40_Acres <mgla...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Erik, > > > I live in San Francisco Bay Area, and though it's not exactly Boulder, > > there's plenty of climbing here, too. I have a Hilsen as well as a > > MCRB. The Hilsen (with Jack Brown "blues") outweighs the MCRB by a > > good 10 lbs, and on the same routes, I'd say that I'm about about 1 > > mph slower on the Hilsen. That's a "so what" difference when I'm on > > my own, esp. since I enjoy riding the Hilsen more than the MCRB on > > most days. If I were trying to keep up with a faster-riding group > > (whether they were on MCRB's, vintage Schwins, recumbents, or > > unicycles), I'd probably grab the MCRB first. But that's the only > > situation in which I'd reflexively grab the MCRB before the Hilsen. I > > use the Hilsen to fetch groceries and take-out food. I've taken the > > Hilsen on fire-roads and trails. I use it to get around the city. > > I've taken it on the train. You get the picture: super versatile. I > > use downtube shifters out of nostalgia more than anything else. My > > wife's Saluki has bar-cons, which are great. The MCRB has brifters. > > > If you think that most of your riding will be unloaded, fast-ish club > > rides, then I think you might be better off with the Roadeo and 28mm > > tires. That will lean you in more in the direction of performance at > > the expense of some versatility, but it will still be way more > > versatile than a MCRB. If you go with a Roadeo, I'd stay with > > brifters. Bar-cons really shine (for me at least) with loaded > > riding. I don't think downtube shifters are an option on the Roadeo > > (which seems to have cable stops), but I don't know that you were even > > considering those. FWIW, I'd love to see a Roadeo set up as more of a > > vintage racer with downtube shifters.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
