Classic! Do post when you're done. I'd love to see pictures of your X0-1 too, if you care to share
Coleman Green? My 1997 A/R - waterford-built was painted Sherwood Green before Grant started using custom builders...but craftsmanship is definitely a few rungs above its X0-1 predecessor and the ride feel is plusher than the X0-1 On Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 12:11:58 PM UTC-5 iamkeith wrote: > I've mentioned numerous times before that my All Rounder somehow remains > my go-to bike, no matter how many other road-ish bikes I acquire. I'm > really not entirely sure why, because, analyzing it objectively, it > shouldn't be that way. It really shows me how true it is that: (1) numbers > are just numbers and you can't really tell how a bike is going to ride by > looking at charts; and (2) you can get used to anything and familiarity > probably trumps everything else. Either that, or there's some voodoo going > on. There are some things that I really DO prefer about the All Rounder. > Some random thoughts to explain: > > 1. The AR comes from the era when there there were small, 1cm or 2cm > frame size increments, so someone was more likely to get the precise size > they needed, with no compromise. I'm oddly-proportioned so I ALWAYS > compromise, but I got lucky with this one. > > 2. Despite this, I am a true believer in the newer Rivendell geometries, > with slacker headtubes, longer top tubes, longer chainstays. I just > happened to discover Rivendell before all of that happened, and spent a lot > of time dialing in my bikes. It's not worth the incremental improvement to > replace them and go through all of that again at this point in my life, so > I'm not likely to upgrade. If I was to start over though, I totally think > the the new geometries are better. But with the current "expanded" sizing > increments, I'd also more likely to end up with something that is either > just *perfect* or doesn't fit well at all. > > 3. Related,: with teh benefit of age and wsdom, I now think that sloped > top tubes and longer chainstays "look" right. Classic, level (or > almost-level) top tubes and short chainstays, like most of my bikes have - > including the All Rounder - now look silly to me. They're > function-follows-form. But both are nice in their own way. > > 4. Counter-balancing this, I think small-diameter tires on big frame (mine > is a 60cm) look really cool. I know Grant doesn't though. You have to > remember that, when these and the XO-1 were made, 26" wheels were the ONLY > way to get fat tires. I can fit Rat Trap Pass tires or, currently 2..1 > gravel kings with no problem, but they're a bit tight under fenders. I > have some 1.95 Sim work Homage tires coming from Conway. Maybe they'll be > the goldilox size. > > 5. Nonetheless, I really, really like the way 26" wheels - with a lower > gyroscopic center of gravity and less mass to spin up - work on a road > bike. But, aside from Patrick, I might be alone in this. > > 6. I like that there is no TCO, which is also a function of the smaller > wheel. The early Atlanitis, which replaced the AR, was known for TCO. It > wouldn't matter as much if the bike was ONLY used on the road, but once I > head to a trail where I need to make lots of slow-speed, corrective > steering maneuvers, it matters. > > 7. The craftsmanship on my AR, by Joe Starck and Joe Bell, is > head-and-shoulders above any of my off-the-shelf models. None of them are > bad, of course, but it's a thing of beauty. Someone would only notice when > looking closely though. > > 8. The AR is heavy and stiff by comparison to my Rambouillet, Saluki, > XO-1, RB-1 or Hakkalugi, or even some of my mountain bikes tha are set up > road-style, but I don't care in practice. It's never enough to make me > NOT choose the bike. > > I'll probably regret this, but I'm just finishing an extensive revamp of > my AR. New cockpit, new bags, new tires. new rear rack. As case in point, > I just wasn't riding my other bikes enough, so I'm trying to make the AR > something different in order to encourage me to use those others. I > swapped the moustache for a choco, and will now only have moustache bars on > the saluki and XO-1. I'll post some pictures when done. In the meantime, > here's one I've posted before, of the way it looked until now. > > > On Thursday, March 17, 2022 at 7:50:18 AM UTC-6 Sean Steinle wrote: > >> I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I honestly can't find >> much about the All Rounder, in the way of ride reports, reviews, etc. It >> seems to be a Holy Grail bike for several, and I'm curious, is it simply >> the fact that they're rare and hard to find now, or is there truly >> something special about it? >> >> I remember Grant talking about the old Bridgestones in an article I came >> across, and his sentiment was essentially 'They're fine bikes, but they >> don't stack up against Rivs'. At least part of his reasoning was that he'd >> continued to refine with Rivendell, and the improvements were drastic >> enough that he felt the Rivs were in a different league. This makes me >> wonder if Grant would have a similar feeling about the All Rounder. I'd >> love to hear from those who own/have owned one. What's the verdict, is it >> truly one of the best Rivs out there? Worth the price of admission if one >> is lucky enough to find one in their size? >> >> Thanks for humoring me :) >> Sean in Kansas >> > -- 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/d8cec08b-a880-403c-bae8-f0442afc9642n%40googlegroups.com.
