You do have a problem! I love my later edition blue Ram, also 58 (I'm 2" shorter but mostly shorter in the legs) and, while the Ram doesn't feel as spritely as my 2 remaining customs (tho' the Parigi Roubaix tires help make up for that) it is hardly piggish and it does encourage energetic riding.
I've found that weight doesn't always mean "feels faster". I owned a bike a couple of years ago that the two previous owners sold because (I am extrapolating) it felt sluggish to them -- didn't "plane". The first time I got on it, it felt as if it just "fit" and "wanted to go". It was rather a tank with f and r racks and fenders and lights; heavier than the Ram but not by much. And it had mediocre tires -- IRC Tandems. The Ram also "fit" right away and feels as, or almost, as fast, even though I guess the geometry is quite different -- medium versus low trail. It certainly has better tires. >From these experiences, and from experience with other bikes, I tend to think that a frame's geometry can complement or resist one's body type, preferred setup, and customary riding style, so that some bikes just feel faster because they "fit" better -- regardless of tires, tubing, weight, and paint color. This is a guess, but my experience to support it has been remarkably consistent. Another thought: I rode that earlier bike (an old Herse) first with 32 mm Pasela Tourguards, and *those* were pigs. Even the scavenged IRC Tandems felt much better. Perhaps you should try better tires? Or .... "just ride"....??? (Just kidding.) On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 11:44 AM, Jeff Ong <jeffongdes...@gmail.com> wrote: > So, I've got a lot of bikes and zero cars. Only two are conventional > "road" type bikes (a 2004 Merlin Fortius and an '84 Nobillette). Many are > mountain bikes, and my daily rider/commuter is a 1995 Voodoo Bizango that > I've added rack/fender eyelets to, converted to drops and 2 inch Schwalbe > Marathons, and basically made into a sort of Atlantis type ride. > > About a year ago, I bought a secondhand (or third- or fourth-hand, who > knows?) Rambouillet (from the first run of framesets, in pearl orange). My > idea was to have a sporty road/light tourer with fenders, since I live in > Portland, where it drizzles seven months of the year. I built this up with > a pretty Riv-like collection of stuff -- a VO triple crankset, platform > pedals, some nice wheels and Pasela 28s, Shimano 9-speed bar end shifters, > bars a bit above saddle height, etc. It's super pretty, everyone oohs and > ahs over it, etc. > > The problem is, I kind of hate riding it. It just steers like a pig, > wallowing through turns, and it feels super slow to accelerate. I get > terrible pedal strike unless I coast around every turn. I've really tried > to get used to the ride, but I always find myself getting angry when I'm > out on the bike... like "hurry up, man! come on!" I'm a decent enough > mechanic to know that there isn't anything mechanically wrong. I do think > this bike is bigger on me than I generally ride -- I'm 6' tall and this is > a 58cm, and generally I ride smaller than that, although it's difficult to > compare compact frames against this more traditional geometry. The bike > isn't super light (27 lbs or so with fenders and racks), but many of my > bikes are around that weight or heavier. > > Am I just not cut out for Riv-type geometry? Is it poorly fit to me? Is > there something about the Rambouillet that just makes it slow-steering and > ponderous? I would love to swap out this frameset with something livelier > and more fun to ride (but that can still take racks and fenders with 28mm > tires), and I'm just hoping to not make the same mistake. Any insights > would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ Patrick Moore Albuquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Etats Unis -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
