Went out for some "real" mountain biking yesterday morning. Challenging single cross with lots of climbing (and walking for me). (Trail info: http://rideoregonride.com/mountain-biking/syncline-trail/). I rode my Koga Miyata Valley Runner (early 90's rigid mtn) with albatross bars and barcons. Also, I had a Hobo handlebar bag and tires were the Compass 26 x 1.75" (Pasela style tread pattern). In general, I love riding this bike, but it was way out of its element on this terrain. Climbing was easier with hands forward on the bars rather than at the grips, but then I didn't have access to shifting and brakes, which in tricky terrain like this is essential. I often bumped the barcon with my knee and was quickly cursing bar-ends for tricky terrain.
This bike in its current set up is great for dirt roads, fire trails, and cruising around, but it's no mountain bike. Knobby tires would certainly improve things quickly, but the Albatross bars aren't great for real mountain biking, at least for me. And the bar ends weren't working well either. For "real" mountain biking I would much prefer a bullmoose style flat bar or at least a Moustache or Albastache to get my hands further forward to help with climbing while maintaining easy access to the brakes if not the shift levers. So based on my experience I agree with Mike about the handlebars at least. I still had a great time. And here's some pictures of the beautiful Columbia River Gorge where this experiment took place: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sk8_or_die/sets/72157650523902289/ Aaron Young The Dalles, OR On Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 'Chris Lampe 2' via RBW Owners Bunch < rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> wrote: > Head angles starting tightning up with the 2nd MTB built, literally. Joe > Breeze has stated that Breezer #1 (his personal bike) had a head-tube angle > of 67.5 degrees and for Breezers #2-10, he made it 68 degrees. He had > really liked a bike with a 70 degree head angle but some other > characteristics of the bike didn't suit him so he chose not to use it as > the basis for the geometry of his bikes. His second series of bikes also > had 68 degree head angles but by 1982 he was building bikes with 70 degree > head tubes. I think he was still sticking with longer chainstays though. > > For those really interested in this stuff, here's a fascinating article: > > http://www.peterverdone.com/?p=2399 > > > > On Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 11:13:15 PM UTC-6, Mike Schiller wrote: >> >> oh gawd! alba/bosco whatever on an MTB... never in my life ( I hope)! >> The tighter geometry on MTB's was happening in '87 for sure. I was racing >> NORBA on a Fisher and it was not slack. https://www.flickr.com/ >> photos/37347002@N05/16209721716/ >> <https://www.flickr.com/photos/37347002@N05/16209721716/> >> The Bstones were a little steeper HA in the early 90's ( had an MB-2) but >> not much. Most MTB's transitioned to the "NORBA" geo of 71/73 angles and >> shorter chainstays in the late 80's including Bridgestone. >> >> ~mike >> Carlsbad Ca >> >> >> -- > 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. > -- 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.
