That's the prime example on iBob of an accomplished underbiker. Piaw Na is in the Jobst Brandt mold, ignoring what people tell them about what a bike can or can't do, and doing it anyway. If they break a bike, they get it fixed or replaced and keep doing whatever they want. That's the main personality type I was thinking of when I said "the rider makes the versatility".
I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Piaw Na never worked the Sales Floor at a bike shop. BL in EC On Monday, February 10, 2025 at 9:10:52 AM UTC-8 pi...@gmail.com wrote: > On Monday, February 10, 2025 at 6:54:22 AM UTC-8 Bill Lindsay wrote: > > It's a pretty hot take, but I also think the versatility resides mostly in > the rider. It's a common exchange at the bike shop, when the customer says > "I just want a bike, how do I choose?" The first question from the > salesperson asks is "what kind of riding do you do?" Some people are super > narrow in what they do and how far they want to expand their envelope. > Other cyclists want to do and actively pursue doing everything or a huge > swath of things. The Leo Roadini in the hands of an intrepid rider can do > most things a bicycle can do. The rider makes the versatility, and the > bike just doesn't get in the way of it. > > > Think about what the typical bike shop employee has to deal with. Famous > frame builder Dave Moulton wrote on his blog that most bikes are impulse > purchased, ridden at most a few times (and sometimes not even that) before > retired permanently in the garage. That's why there are so many Fusos in > great condition for sale on eBay, years after he retired. The shop employee > is NOT going to suggest that you "underbike" at all. In fact, they're > motivated to sell you the bike that is "overbike" for your riding > conditions, even if as a result you don't enjoy the cycling experience very > much and stop cycling --- after all, they know that most people stop > cycling after a few times. (I bought my son's Salsa Journeyman from a lady > who bought a bike during the pandemic, rode it twice, and then gave up > cycling --- the tires were heavy and way too wide someone her size or > weight --- after I swapped them out for Pacenti 38mm tires my son loved the > bike and did 2000' of climbing up over the local mountain, including the > dirt section over the top where I once saw Tom Ritchey flash by at 20mph on > his road bike, 23mm tires, no helmet) > > Similarly, last year at Bormio, the bike shop "The Stelvio Experience" > warned us against riding the Passo Di Valle Alpisella, warning us that the > road bike couldn't handle it. I did it on my tandem with my 9 year old ( > https://blog.piaw.net/2024/08/june-25th-bormio-to-livigno-via-laghi.html), > and it took some walking but it was totally worth it. I have no doubt the > Roadini wouldn't even have blinked. > > I run 700x40mm Continental Terra Speed on my Roadini. They measure 38mm on > my Velocity A23 rims. I think I got them on sale for about $40 a tire, and > I'm much too cheap to spend the $100/tire on the Rene Herse Extralight > equivalents. The little kobbies don't do much and have almost worn off the > back tire after about 1000 miles, but they do what I expect tires to do. > -- 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 visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/fe4f396c-f8ac-4ca9-af4f-40650c1bc63cn%40googlegroups.com.
