Well, reading everything that's been posted so far in this thread ... in the short run, ride whichever bike you think you can finish on, but in the long run I would recommend that you figure out whatever equipment changes you need to make to have the Rom be as comfortable as the Atlantis, and then ride the Rom. The reason is that the Atlantis is designed with heavier tubing so that it can properly handle touring loads. But you're not touring on a brevet so you don't need the heavier, stiffer tubes. The Rom will be more responsive, and more responsive means less rider fatigue, other things being equal. The weight difference between the two (similarly equpped) is only going to be about a pound, so it's too small to worry about.
As to keeping up with friends ... it's easier to ride fast on a more responsive bike, so again the Rom gets the tip. But ultimately, like Anne says, you're going to start the ride with whatever fitness you have. If that's enough to keep up with the Jones's, then great. If it isn't, it isn't, and the longer you try to keep up with them, the worse it will be for you when you ultimately get dropped (been there, done that, so many painful times). My advice is to ride your own ride. Focus on being fast in the controls, grab food that you can eat while riding. If you're tired and want to sit down for awhile, just slow down by a mile an hour for a few miles while you let yourself recover. Being stopped at controls adds a whole lot of zeroes to your average speed! Nick On Friday, March 20, 2015 at 11:32:53 AM UTC-4, Darin G. wrote: > > I'm getting ready for a brevet series starting late next month. I'd been > planning on riding my Romulus which is set up with the original factory > wheels and the extraordinary Compass Stampede Pass tires and fenders. My > thoght was to add the Mark's rack to the Romulus and be ready to go with > battery lighting, but I'm sitting here in my office staring at my mighty > Atlantis with its dyno, Luxos headlight with USB charging, brake lights, > and luggage and wondering whether it wouldn't be the better choice, > especially if I replaced the Marathon Supreme's with Barlow Pass tires for > the Brevets. First world problems, I know. I'm confident the Atlantis is > the more comfortable bike of the two, but the Rom is faster. Most of the > folks here in Utah ride brevets on racing style bikes, usually without > fenders, and I'm apprehensive about not being able to keep up with anyone > and having to ride alone. Thoughts on the Atlantis with the Barlow Pass > would be appreciated. > > DG > -- 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.
