I have a Bombadil, and I'm pretty sure it's the nicest bike ever made. Not just 'in my opinion', but really the nicest bike ever made. OK! I guess to each his own, but I love mine sooo much. It's a 650b version, although I fall right in between the largest 650b size (56cm) and the 700c size (60cm). I'm actually fixing to get another Bombadil, because I like it so much. I want to have one for dedicated mountain biking and one fully racked-out for touring and carrying stuff. The bike will do both and I'm pretty sure this frame will be around long after the apocalypse.
Anyway, Bombadil features that I think are good: It has rack braze- ons on the fork for low-riders, plus two mounts on dropouts front+rear for fenders/racks. It has rack mounts on the fork crown so you can run a top-rack on the front. The fork bends have a decreasing radius right to the dropout. I'm not sure how much this adds to the shock-absorbing properties of the fork- all I can say is I barely feel the bumps. I'm have the Schwalbe Fatty 45mm tires on it so those help. I love the second top-tube. It adds (so I've read) 7 ounces of weight to the frame and untold strength, which means I can ride with relative abandon and the freedom to hop curbs at speed without worrying about the occasional nose-case (not the kind that sends you OTB of course, those I *do* worry about obviously). The Bombadil has an up-sloping top-tube so the bars are right where you need them: high. That means I can be on a 56cm frame and still have the bars above the saddle, without even using extra quill to get them there. As far as how it handles- it has a (relatively) slack HT angle and a large offset, which puts the front wheel, again, where it needs to be: way out in front. Any steering-slowness introduced by the slack HT must be counter-acted by the offset, because the bike actually feels very nimble. I have 46cm noodle bars on mine, which are plenty wide for riding offroad I think, although I might like to try the bullmoose bars that Rivendell sells as well. On the other hand, I feel like I know what the bullmooses will feel like since I also ride BMX, and those bars will essentially turn the Bombadil into a scaled-up BMX, which might not be good because then I'll forget I'm not on my BMX, and do something stupid. In summary, if you like fun, you can't afford *not* to get a Bombadil. I hope they sell a trillion of these things so that they never stop making them. I hope Bombadils become so profitable to sell that Exxon takes an interest and tries to buy Rivendell for 1 quadrillion dollars, but Rivendell says no, you guys suck and eventually takes over Exxon and fires all the executives*. *apologies if you are an executive at Exxon. not really. *of course it's my opinion, but still... On Oct 7, 6:32 pm, kent <broken.cy...@gmail.com> wrote: > (posted to RBW Owner's Bunch and Surly LHT & CC groups... because for > some odd reason not everyone reads both!) > > I drink Grant-flavored Kool Aid. I want an all-rounder on which to > commute, run errands, go camping, tag along with casual road rides, do > some short touring now and some long distance, unsupported and > possibly adventure-style touring in the future. I want a bike that can > be my only bike if I am ever so unfortunate (or committed to > minimalism) as to wind up in such a state. > > After much wandering I have narrowed my choices down to two different > quasi-descendants of the Atlantis: the Rivendell Bombadil and the > Surly Long Haul > > The LHT is dead on the sweet spot for price vs quality that I usually > shoot for. It's a bike that could do everything I want for many years > to come. It is a bike I would enjoy owning. This would be my third and > likely not my last Surly; I recently swapped a KM for a 1x1=11 and the > Big Dummy and the Conundrum are just begging me to come up with > excuses. > > The Bombadil just pushes all my buttons. Although there are a couple > of Riv frames that I find 'prettier' I love the look, (And the AHH > just isn't beefy enough if I want to take 200lbs of rider + XXlbs of > gear down singletrack.) The Bullmoose bars make it even better. I've > seen a couple of pictures of great paint jobs, but I'd take mine clear > coated, it just fits. I even love the name and would likely > occasionally be seen to hum the song while I rode. > > A Bombadil in my size would be 650b, and I'm still not 100% sold on > that. I've got no problem with them technically, just concerned about > what kind of variety of tires will continue to be available as I am > fond of options (the choices available now are great...) > > Unique is a bonus in my book. The LHT isn't too common in the general > cycling world, but it is common lately in the touring world (a good > thing in my book, except if I'm on one!) Bombadil on the other hand is > about as unique as you get short of full custom or re-purposing > something non one else would think of riding long distances. > > Ah, but then there's that cost... 3x as much for the frame and > unlikely to be built up nearly so economically as the LHT complete. Oh > well. As you can tell, I've pretty well sold myself on the Bombadil. > So why post this? Just to stir up some discussion, get some different > perspectives. How much more would you pay for the bike you really > wanted over the bike you knew would not only do the job, but even be > enjoyable? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
