I have too many bikes, and among those, too many Rivendells. My first Riv was a Saluki - still the one I'm least likely to get rid of - I don't know that I'll ever again have a bike quite so pretty. Then came a Romulus that made me feel speedy and sure on the road, with a beautiful light steelie kind of blue. And then more recently, Rene's Bombadil after doing the rounds of rbw-owners-group members' landed in my keeping and I marvelled at what a relaxed comfortable ride it was to eat up the miles. And the very first riv into our home was a demo Betty Foy I bought for my wife, which still lightens her mood and makes me smile whenever she gets a chance to take it out for a spin.
We had a third child for out family about 6.5 months ago - my first. And since then my biking thoughts have been pretty family oriented. So a couple weeks ago I bought a demo clementine that riv had on special. I had originally been thinking to try get a medium sized one that both my wife and I could share. But I had misgivings about sizing and when I saw a 59cm on sale at rivbike, I took the plunge with the idea that if it worked out, I'd get a small for my wife for rides with the baby. Tonight I drove down to the states and picked the clementine up. Came home, assembled it and took it out for a quick spin. I love it. Which caught me completely by surprise. I like dropbars. A lot. I tried an albatross bar for one ride and then put it on a bike I built up for someone else. I like supple tires, drops and feeling like I can make good time. But tonight, I took the clementine out for a spin and was dumbstruck by how natural and comfortable I felt and how effortless the pedalling was. And I didn't feel remotely slow. Coming back up to our home, I popped up the curb but didn't even feel the rear tire contact the curb. It's been an extraordinary first impression. A little overwhelming really, if I don't sound like a nutcase saying that. I was pretty sure of my biking convictions and I figured the golden era of Rivendell for me were the bikes created between 2000-2010. But man, Grant's new approach is amazing. the stretched out wheelbase in conjunction with the laid back handlebars and upright positioning... well, it's making me reconsider some of my previous convictions. I'm sure next time I get on the bike I'll find some flaw in the quality of the ride or some sobering detraction, but right now I'm just intoxicated with the joy of biking. Thanks Grant. Sky in new west -- 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.
