Man, that Roscoe McCarthy is a cool bike like no other. The shade of blue is spot-on. The head badge iconically retro. The lower horz tube, which looked weird on the test mule olive color, looks totally natural in the blue. I've been hauling bikes of all types up to my (thankfully only) second floor condo. The lower horz tube is a no brainer, as in "why did no one think of this before?". Well, maybe someone did, but if the cycling community didn't know about it, the point is moot.
As for the fender issue with horz dropouts (ala my old Bstone and Trek, but the Trek has adjuster screws), I co-opted someone's idea on iBob from 8-10 years ago for rear fender fit issues. To wit, long carriage bolt through chain stay, with spring mounted between chain stay and fender - adjust nut/bolt until fender is equi-distant from tire. I'm sure you're familiar with that type setup as a few iBob/RBW members have used a similar setup - otherwise I wouldn't have a clue! When I need to remove the rear wheel on the Bridgestone, which has SKS fenders, I just push it forward and the fender moves forward via spring just enough that I can drop the wheel out "gracefully". Cheers, Bill in Roswell, GA On Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 3:21:24 PM UTC-5, Bill Lindsay wrote: > > Haha Rod, I was thinking about writing a short treatise in defense of the > long dropouts. I think a wheel, when installed, should have a 'right' > position. That's the main reason I like vertical dropouts. The weight of > the bike on the axle guarantees the rear wheel registers against the > dropout in exactly the right, repeatable position. With horizontals, you > pull it back until something stops it, or you decide to position it > manually before you lock it into place. With adjustable horizontals you > adjust the stops to the desired position and then wheel installation is > unambiguous. With non-adjustible horizontals like this you get nothing > except pull it all the way back, which is what I've done. It maximizes the > long chainstay effect and I think there it no downside to long chainstays. > > But.....all the way back in horizontals requires you to make an unsightly > large gap at the front of the rear fender to allow you to get the wheel > out. It's ugly, but I'll get over it: > > BIG gap <https://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/30903035363> > > The key is to be casually deliberate about it. I meant to do that. > > In my first few rides on the bike, I'm astonished how silent my drivetrain > has turned out. When I shift, I can't even hear it shift. It's > incredible. I'm now starting to suspect that I'm getting benefits from > having the extremely large chain wrap having the axle way behind the rear > der. It starts to look like the massive chain wrap you see on Cyclo and > Nivex rear ends: > > Nivex Example <https://www.flickr.com/photos/104166869@N08/14176110728> > > By wrapping the chain 180 degrees around the cogset, there is no chain > tension at the links that are actually shifting. With some of these 1x > setups, the chain wrap is closer to 90 degrees. So, my working strategy is > to slam the wheel all the way back and call it a modern version of an old > french rear der setup. In other words: APPROVE. The fender issue is > something I can defend. > > Bill Lindsay > El Cerrito, CA > > > On Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 11:41:21 AM UTC-8, Rod Holland wrote: >> >> Bill, >> >> It's beautiful. Any further thoughts about the drop-outs, now that you've >> laid hands on them? >> >> rod >> >> -- 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.
