IMHO, masmojo and Steve and Iconley and especially Bicycle Belle are all correct, because the customer base is for Rivs is pretty diverse. People find their way to Rivendell in different ways, and with different bases of knowledge.
There’s a bicycle store owner at Floyd Rd. near Atlanta who has an RB-1 and wishes he had a Riv with dual top tube but his legs are too short. He knows bikes better than most. There’s me who only owned 5 previous bikes in 65 years but researched lugged steel as a final retirement bike. There are Grant-followers. There are people with more money than sense who want what some peer group considers “the best”. There are folks sent by dealers who are looking for the highest profit percentage. There are folks who have met Riv owners on rides and have looked and gone “Ooooo…I want that”. And of course, there are folks who found a Riv for $25 at an estate sale and just thinks it “rides OK”, and never even know about this forum. But for those of us Riv owners who have found their way to this forum, it is certainly a valid question as to where the design is going. Most of the commenters I’ve seen have more than one Riv. It pushed me to do an A-B, LWB/Non-LWB ride, to see what I really thought about longer chainstays, and read others opinions about whether it was just chainstays or possibly tires, possibly wheel size, possibly fitting, too. I would think (and hope) that the folks at Riv are reading this, and that other forum members put forth opinions - Whether Based On Numbers Or Not! Riv is a business. This is feedback to that business. If it doesn’t feel comfortable to YOU, or doesn’t fit on the local #30 bus rack, or can’t be carried upstairs and must be left chained to a road sign for potential thieves, these are valid sales concerns. Oh, and for hard data… My 2015 55 Sam has a 1050mm wheelbase, while my 2019 51 Homer has a 1075mm wheelbase. The Sam has 45.5cm chain stays and the Homer has 47.5cm chain stays. As for my opinion, I prefer the ride of the Sam. Great topic. -- 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/a8e353fd-7336-4698-a5fa-1fc2914d28e2%40googlegroups.com.
