I think "off road" is a little broad. Yes, at some point on some terrain somewhere, any particular bike design will start to involve compromise. In lots of directions, Rivendells take a lot longer to reach those compromises.
Single track with lots of rocks and roots and logs would start to classify as "technical" to me. Most Rivs are designed for, at a minimum, handling basic dirt roads with aplomb, and "trail" models like the Appaloosa can get considerably rougher. But at some point, you may need to either consider another machine, or do some "underbiking." (A term I use here for ever so slight comic relief.) In other words, if a majority, or even a significant minority, of one's riding landscape includes a bunch of technical single track with many obstacles requiring constant wheelies, a Rivendell might not be the machine. Or it might, but you need to a. walk during the trickiest sections. b. figure a way to roll over them slowly, a la a curb half-pop half-rollover style maneuver, or c. start a weight training program to build upper body wheelie strength. Keeping in mind all the while that Rivendells are also designed with more bb drop, which will limit all that rock and log hoppin' probably as much as longer chainstays. As a design parameter, safety and smooth ride, predicable handling in an upright position would seem to be the goal more than gnarly single track capabilities. Still, I took my Big Dummy on a few not-quite-hairy stretches of single track without much problem. Definitely not a day to day thing, though. I plan to climb Mt. Beacon with my Clementine this summer, will report my findings! >From the link I posted above: *Longer wheelbases make a bike more stable, smoother riding, less apt to > get redirected by wind and bumps. Safer, I’d say. Easier to control at high > speeds. So you can’t ride as small of a circle—who cares? You can still do > a U-turn, you can still ride the bike anywhere you ought to be riding a > bike. It’s just better when the chainstays are longer.* > I suppose you could add, "can't constantly pop over big logs and rocks as easy--who cares?" But that would be presumptuous, obviously. While I would I would not call it a "very big disadvantage," I would agree with Eric that the longer wheelbase bikes can present a little bit more of a challenge in apartment living, and when climbing and (especially with mixte/Clementine designs) when descending stairs. I would also agree the ride is worth it. On Monday, June 13, 2016 at 9:42:52 PM UTC-4, RJM wrote: > > Off road I feel they are a detriment especially when riding single track. > Getting a manual or wheelie happening (a skill used to pop over logs, ext.) > is not very easy with a long chain stay bike. > > But extra cargo capacity and probably stability are pros, I suppose. They > will probably help with a touring bike. > -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
