As others have mentioned, talking about the All Rounder starts with the XO-n bikes from Bridgestone. Grant's daily commute between Walnut Creek and Bridgestone was a mix of paved and unpaved roads and trails over some pretty large hills. I would make a strong argument that the XO-n bikes were the first production gravel bikes, designed to be equally at home on the road and the trails. They hit that mark well, but the original XO-1, which I had, didn't have clearance for big enough tires. The second version, with cantilever brakes, helped that a fair amount, but the 26" tire selection back then wasn't fabulous (and is arguably even worse, today). The Rivendell All Rounder marginally improved on the design.
Fast forward to today, and I would argue that the Sam Hillborne I just got is the state-of-the-art All Rounder from Rivendell. I did a couple hundred km or riding in my week in LA, much of it road, but one ride quite a lot of dirt road and hiking trail. I had no trouble staying in the front group on steep, paved climbs, I was perfectly comfortable on flat, headwind slogs, and I had a blast on the dirt. Any anxiety I felt descending a narrow hiking trail was due to my lack of familiarity with the trail, not the bike. Tires are 584-48 Gravel King, imo the right size for my kind of All Rounder riding, though on the trail I might have wished for knobs. The long-ish chainstays add a lot in terms of handling and comfort. Front end geometry is going to be different between the old XO-n / Riv All Rounder and current Riv "all rounders", with notably slacker head angles. That can mean more wheel flop, which a lot of people don't like, especially when carrying weight up front. I found that, on my new Sam, a little weight in the handlebar bag isn't a problem and I didn't feel much flop on slow climbs on steep dirt. I also found that on curvy descents the Sam was much more predictable than, say, my Bleriot which had theoretically a similar front end. So, getting back to Rivendell All Rounders ... I think a lot of their appeal is they are viewed as a significant part of what made Grant/Bridgestone/Rivendell stand out back in the '90's. They really were a unique offering back then. After my aluminum Trek MTB was stolen, I went to several bike shops saying, "I want a steel-framed road bike on 26" wheels with room for chubby tires for commuting." Finally as I was leaving yet another shop the owner said, "Oh, wait, the new Bridgestone catalog just arrived and I think they have something like that." I looked at the XO-1 (in purple, no less!), handed him my credit card, and I haven't looked back. And, what a great thread that we get a Tim Zowada sighting! Check out the brake lever hoods on that bike, folks. Tim, I think you stick with mustache bars just so you can have 4 of those hoods on the bike ;-) Ted Durant Milwaukee, WI USA -- 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/e57a44e9-f079-4d31-bfba-1dc009cb12a3n%40googlegroups.com.
