Welcome, and thanks for an interesting report. And, nice bike! Curious: That's a very short stem, no? I use 8s or 9s on my Rivs, and yours looks even shorter. And that leads to a question: What is the st measurement, c-c, of your Sam, and what is the effective tt measurement? One former Riv I owned was an original issue, green ,canti Sam, a 55 that had a 59 cm tt, compared to my "normal" size -- for flat top tube -- of 60 X 56-57 c-c. The slacker st angle took care of some of that, but even putting the saddle more forward by a cm or so still left more tt than I wanted for drop bars; Noodles, in my case; one reason I sold it. I wonder how it would have felt with a, what, 6 cm stem? For yours, I guess that such a magnificently wide bar requires a very short stem?
Also, am I right in thinking that current Sams take fatter tires than those original Sams? Certainly, 42s with fenders would have been a stretch on mine, IIRC -- I ran Jack Green browns or Jack Brown greens; forget which, but with fenders, I rather think there would not be room for 42s. And, what is the width of those knobbies? I think that, even with the too-long tt, if my Sam had been able to take true 50s, I would not now be riding a custom (sandy soil) dirt road bike. For me, the Sam -- again, original model -- felt a bit sluggish on pavement, tho' perhaps that was a result of the Jack Browns/Greens, which rated very slow on BQ's rolldown tests; not that it was "bad;" only that it didn't have the spriteliness of the other Riv road bikes I've ridden. But as a dirt road bike, it would have been wonderful if it could have fit tires wide enough for our sandy soil. On Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 10:37 PM Jason Fuller <jtf.ful...@gmail.com> wrote: > So, I'm a life-long bike geek that raced XC mountain biking in the early > 90s, competed in biketrials in the late 90s, then got into freeride > mountain biking and downhill racing in the 2000s. I didn't really care > about pavement-based riding until the mid-2000s, when I got into fixed gear > bikes. In the late 2000s, I discovered cyclotouring, and in the early 2010s > I discovered randonneuring. I still ride what Grant would consider a > "motocross" type mountain bike, doing "stunt riding" as he'd call it. I > also happen to live in Vancouver BC, which is the world's mecca of extreme > mountain biking. > > All that to say, I've taken quite the path to end up owning a Rivendell, > although they've been on my radar for almost 20 years. When I got into > touring, I certainly coveted the Atlantis, but I wasn't willing to spend > that kind of money on a frameset. I'm not exactly rich today either, but I > think my appreciation for detail has increased to the point I was able to > justify a (lower cost) Riv. This decision was accelerated by the impending > end of my favourite model of the past few years, the Hillborne. > > A Soma Grand Randonneur donated its components for this build, which had > been a great bike for me and has taken me on some big rides to cool places. > I knew full well that I was moving to a "slower" bike by all standard > measures, but I was excited by the new possibilities. I wanted to expand > what I could do on this, my most expensive, bike. I wanted to be able to go > on tours both on- and off-road, ride through some of the local forests with > friends, yet also keep up with my roadie buddies (as best as I can) on > pavement-based weekend club rides. I wanted a bike that will be up for > anything. > > Obviously that requires compromise, but I am pretty impressed by how > little compromising I've had to do. As you can see in the photos, my Sam > has a split personality - fenders and Rene Herse 42c slicks, or > Ultradynamico semi-knobby tires. It's kind of a pain to switch between the > two, but the rest of the build works so well for either version I can't > imagine changing anything in the near future. The bike is not quite as > quick as my Soma, but damned if it isn't close. The comfort is incredible, > and that was a surprise, as the Soma is a very compliant frame (much > thinner walled, both in frame and fork). It's much more stable than the > Soma, yet carves a turn so well I nearly over-steer sometimes. This might > be partly the hugely wide, 645mm Towel Rack handlebars. > > This bike is new to me only this once, and I hope to break my tendency of > switching bikes every few years with this one. I hope to be riding this > bike 10, even 20 years from now. Only time will tell. > > -- > 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 view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/37b1201b-f058-4dd7-ab72-76936ea0a498%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/37b1201b-f058-4dd7-ab72-76936ea0a498%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgsznimfoKhp0p_DC7Fc2PRs76rFaB5GwsbMBHyuLGhDnA%40mail.gmail.com.
