Interesting thoughts. I can't answer your question, merely return my own thoughts.
My Ram doesn't have a short tt; it's 57 c-c on a 58 c-c st (if memory serves). I have a 9 cm stem holding a 42 cm Noodle; the Noodle sweeps back, so the setup is much like the 8 cm stems on the other Rivs holding drops with straight flats. Bar is about 3 cm below saddle, like my others. And the seat tube angle is 72, IRRC -- not hugely steeper than the 73* on my customs. I agree that "what it feels like" when I sit back and push small gears up a steep hill is that the front end is light. But that's the case with all my bikes in such situations, and they don't seem to want to wander to the same degree. The Sam Hill, a 56 which had an excessively long (for me) tt of 59 c-c, seemed to wander even more -- though to mitigate the long tt I had to have the bar much higher than I really wanted it. Aside: about weight carrying: The Ram actually handles heavy rear loads quite well; much better than other road bikes I've used for the purpose, and better than the custom "errand" Riv (which was not designed as an "errand" bike). It's only when the slope steepens, and when I sit back and up, that the front seems to wander. On Tue, Oct 28, 2014 at 7:12 PM, iamkeith <[email protected]> wrote: > Could it be possible that the Ram wandering has more to do with a > relatively short top tube length, than it does the fork rake/trail > numbers? I found myself fighting the geometry a bit when I was getting > mine dialed in. The short top tube, combined with a relaxed seat tube > angle, *seems* to suggest a design intent of setting the seat back quite > far relative to the bottom bracket and this, in turn, suggests a higher > handlebar position. Very Riv-ish, basically. But this particular bike > never felt right to me for some reason, when set up that way. It tracked > well enough to ride no-hands (a personal litmus test), but it did sort of > wander when climbing, and I found myself sitting way up on the nose of the > saddle much of the time, in order to keep my weight on the front end. So > I ended up slamming the seat all the way forward on the rails, going with a > bit longer stem, wider noodle bar than the stock spec., and keeping the > handlebars at or slightly below seat height. It feels much better when > climbing and it became a bit more lively - which is something I know > you've often commented on. > > Just musing here. I don't in any way pretend to understand the > geometry of road bikes, and my experience is very limited. I'm a mountain > biker. The ONLY road bikes I've owned,since the mid 70s are an RB-1, a > Rambouillet, an All Rounder and a Quickbeam. What's curious to me > though, is that on the Quickbeam (which is the exact same vintage and size > as my Ram, but has a longer top tube), I'm comfortable with the seat set > back farther, where I would have expected the opposite. > > -- > 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 [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > 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, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten ************************************* * "Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. Where is there a place for you to be? No place.* * "Nothing outside you can give you any place," he said. "You needn't to look at the sky because it's not going to open up and show no place behind it. You needn't to search for any hole in the ground to look through into somewhere else. You can't go neither forwards nor backwards into your daddy's time nor your children's if you have them. In yourself right now is all the place you've got. If there was any Fall, look there, if there was any Redemption, look there, and if you expect any Judgment, look there, because they all three will have to be in your time and your body and where in your time and your body can they be?* * "Where in your time and your body has Jesus redeemed you?" he cried. "Show me where because I don't see the place. If there was a place where Jesus had redeemed you that would be the place for you to be, but which of you can find it?” -- *Flannery O'Connor,* Wise Blood * -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
