*My personal experience is that HOW the bike fits you, do you feel IN it or ON it, what is your fitness level, etc, is the biggest factor in comfort and speed and 'planing'*
I have suspected this for quite a while, based on what bikes feel to me fastest and "easiest to maintain speed on". Some of these have been rather tanklike; that 1958 Herse I've talked about was rejected by its 2 previous owners for having too stout tubing (I think I remember them saying this), but, heavy as it was, and even in fact with rather mediocre tires, it just felt faster than lighter, thinner tubed bikes (1973 Motobecane Grand Record, eg) that I've ridden extensively. "Felt faster" in the sense that I was encouraged when riding it to ride 1 rear cog tooth smaller. Compass ~28 mm tires for light gravel and firmer dirt -- wonderful! (Elk Pass.) And of course, a good (= optimum fit and "feel") road bike set up fixed with the best tires you can find: priceless! Curious: Does the Boulder have horizontals, or do you use an ENO or other such workaround? On Mon, Dec 18, 2017 at 9:39 AM, M G <mgstf5...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have a Boulder 700c rando w light tubing, and a Kog P/R; and the guys i > ride with have Rawland 650b bikes // i've spent YEARS trying to decide if > there is a difference, switching off bikes on the same route(s) etc. And i > will say that I greatly appreciate Jan's POV, and see all that he has done > for equipment (and of COURSE all the great work Grant P & Riv has done) // > that in the end it's incredibly subjective [remember when all BQ articles > essentially ended with, 'but still my 1962 Alex Singer did it better']. > > My personal experience is that HOW the bike fits you, do you feel IN it or > ON it, what is your fitness level, etc, is the biggest factor in comfort > and speed and 'planing' [when I've spent a winter doing squats, I can get > onto the P/R and it will 'plane' uphill for me; if i'm not in optimum > shape, that's the only time i get the 'non-planing deadleg' ie riding > uphill, or sprinting. The Boulder is a GREAT bike; the Rawland 650bs are > great; my Kog is an excellent all rounder; I ride the boulder on gnarly > dirt all the time and it hasn't snapped in 1/2 yet (it's on 32 mm tires, > compass tires, but i really prefer 27mm Challenge tires which are in effect > 30mm). And the bike i like the most [in theory], is my 1980 Tom Ritchey. > But in practice, the one i'm ON is the one i like the most. > > Heresy, but i have the Boulder set up as a fixed gear because i use it now > in a flat city [Boston] instead of in my hilly hometown, and with the > challenge tires 30mm tires, it's quantifiably a rocket. A comfortable > rocket. > > On Saturday, December 16, 2017 at 2:17:41 PM UTC-5, Ray Varella wrote: >> >> I have a couple different 50 mile rides I do, they are both on mostly >> paved surfaces, both have at least 8-10 miles of climbing and descending. >> I’ve done both these rides for close to 25 years. >> When I got my first 650B bike (in the early 2000s), I started riding that >> bike more than most. >> It fits 38-42mm tires, has fenders,lighting, bag, racks etc... >> My zippy road bike has been shod with700 28-35C tires, it is lean and >> carries nothing but a small under seat bag. >> >> While the road bike feels “faster”. >> The time it takes to complete either of these loops on either bike is >> never more than the time it takes to make a quick bathroom break. >> Neither is ever faster than the other. >> >> Ray >> Vallejo 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 https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, New Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique ************************************************************************** ************** *Auditis an me ludit amabilis insania?* -- 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.
