I've been tinkering with my 1st gen. SH (original green/gold..then powder coated black) that I purchased in '09 from Riv. I'm playing around with a homespun 1x set up with stuff I have here in the box. Today was finally a warm sunny early spring day so I wanted to test the bike out. I'm near the Catskills in New York and the winter has been dragging on....but that seems to be wrapping up. Also, very excited to be riding more off road now that I'm up here. A couple of days ago I took apart the original triple crankset (46/36/24) and made it a wide-low double (bash guard/40/26). I was having shifting problems and took the bike to my new local shop operated by fellow RBW lister Brian...who straightened my derailleur hanger. Today I removed the front derailleur and front shifter altogether and kept the small chainring for a manual bailout in case I needed it. I also swapped out the Soma supple Vitesse tires for Bruce Gordon RnR 700x43's at about 35 psi. The 12-34 8-speed IRD cassette has been great for the past 5 years with the triple but I think I'm gonna need to upgrade...maybe to a 13-40 9-speed (is there such a thing?) I just got back from a quick 8 mile ride to get used to the bike....riding on pavement, gravel, and straight up wet grass and mud. This thing is feeling so great...I know the gearing as it is isn't low enough and certainly not low enough if I'm going to carry any camping gear. But not even thinking about shifting up front is a very freeing feeling. That being said, the friction shifting wasn't totally excellent. Even though the derailleur tab was straightened, I suspect the actual derailleur cage may be slightly bent as well. It's also from '09 and I think it may be nearing the end of it's life. I need to work on that a little more. A couple questions: I don't think I'm interested in a clutch derailleur or a wide-narrow chainring...but I do want a larger cassette.... If I'm to keep a normal derailleur ,does it seem wise to add one of those links to the hanger? If I keep it front-derailleurless but have the granny gear on the crank...could I get by with a medium cage rear ?
On my way home I crossed the Rondout Creek and noticed a bald eagle just standing ankle-deep in the water along the shore taking drinks of water. I see them often, but never down on the ground or in the water. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C0MYx4kHYhk/WrlVsA_xWGI/AAAAAAAABDw/YeQB_j6wpHgh_D3nGmKyCaLWZqZ5PDBzwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8226.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7KrOxVIJLmw/WrlVvUeJslI/AAAAAAAABD0/aP5LkHMOd0wpi-EWePdXWlfyh3N_VfMHgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8227.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V2F1Ik3fKio/WrlV0RcTKzI/AAAAAAAABD4/ilzbfNWT1o4EG-mvnjpbMhzfskWoxZbsgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8230.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5C3lG7fnX-0/WrlWGUPUMcI/AAAAAAAABEA/wJNW6oNW1Ao2X7raJxUANaCMsfMxrvhEgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8229.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PqATCh9XgQs/WrlWIrwmQLI/AAAAAAAABEE/0OQYraVM74QtsHeuRgp8eaXF9vRz2e73gCLcBGAs/s1600/jc2-5.jpeg> -- 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.
