Your entire post makes me sort of giddy, Leah. YOUR JOB IS TO SHAKE US ALL UP, SISTER!
(I have Choco bars on my new purple Platypus and I love them) Liz in Cincinnati On Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 5:59:14 PM UTC-5 Joe Bernard wrote: > I cannot wait to see this bike. My position is all the carbon dropbar > sleds are wrong and THIS is what a road bike looks like. Convert the masses > Leah! > > On Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 6:50:15 AM UTC-8 Bicycle Belle Ding > Ding! wrote: > >> It is so wintry in SW Michigan. I can’t ride bikes, but I’m game to talk >> bikes. This is a long post with no photos, so if you are here for pics and >> not for story time, come back in a couple weeks when there will be photos. >> >> >> Yesterday, I dropped off everything I need to make a Charlie H. Gallop at >> the bike shop. I requested my number one favorite master mechanic to build >> it, and the price of that is time. It will take time before he can get to >> it. He is in the middle of building my son’s new dyno Clem wheels at the >> moment. He also just finished random, weird fixes on my Racing Platypus >> yesterday, and he returned my purple Platypus to me last week. I could be >> single-handedly keeping my bike shop in bread these winter months. He eyed >> my bags of parts and said, “You have your own shelf in the back, you know.” >> He handed one bag to N and said, “Put this on the Leah Shelf.” I have my >> own charge code in the computer at that shop, but that’s another story. >> >> >> This was the hardest bike build I’ve planned. Which isn’t saying much >> considering I have only had a handful of bikes, but still. The concept of >> this golden Charlie eluded me. Should I do what I wanted or what was >> expected? Should the bike be a compromise? >> >> >> In my view, road bikes are the ultimate in snobbery. All the other bike >> categories seem to live and let live. When you roll up to a road cycling >> ride, you can know you are being evaluated as other riders take stock of >> your bike and your kit. “Pure Road Bike” is what I call it: Road bikes >> should look *a certain way*. Road bike riders should also look *a >> certain way*. The Racing Platypus is not Pure Road Bike. And while a >> sparkly raspberry Rivendell mixte can hang with the mean-looking carbon >> machines on club rides, the comments and the prejudice have become >> tiresome. >> >> >> Everyone wants to be accepted. >> >> >> “Just think if Leah had a road bike,” my club friends would say. I always >> laughed it off, said I was content with the Racing Platypus. And I was. But >> I started to wonder what it would feel like to have a Pure Road Bike. >> >> >> I bought my Charlie on a whim. I always get excited when Rivendell puts >> out a new model. I read the product description; it was like they had >> written it for *me*. At high noon of the presale, in the midst of >> Rivendell’s New Yorker fame, I put a golden Charlie in my cart and expected >> they’d snapped up before I could secure one. >> >> >> The purchase went through. >> >> >> The frame arrived and then sat. I finally had a road bike and could not >> decide how to build it. People thought I should keep it classy with silver >> parts. Ok, add just a pop of color to make it yours. Maybe drop bars. Keep >> it light - leave off those extras, you have them on your other bikes. I’d >> tire of agonizing and leave the project. >> >> >> I looked at my purple Platypus. I’d chosen every part for that bike, and >> it’s my favorite build. I anodized its parts and made it a rainbow-y blur >> of color. Everybody likes that crazy bike, even the purists who’d never >> choose rainbow and oil slick. They like it *for me*. I tossed the >> classy, silver idea and decided I’d do what I like best: color. Since I >> love the rainbow bike I decided on another natural wonder theme. I’d chased >> the aurora borealis this summer and BAM, I knew what this bike was: A >> Northern Lights Charlie. >> >> >> Velocity’s anodizer rides the Wednesday Evening Ride with me and he was >> game to try a deep custom Quill rim in northern lights. He pulled out a >> practice rim and laid the color down. Lifted it with acid and added >> different colors, walking a tightrope that risked the colors running and >> looking muddy. He aimed for a shimmering night sky look based on the >> inspiration photo I’d sent. >> >> >> He nailed it on the first try. >> >> >> Meanwhile, the Mountain West’s celebrated woman anodizer, Ashley, was >> staring into my box of parts, wondering how best to capture the northern >> lights on aluminum. Ashley can do anything; but she was conflicted about >> this project. First try yielded too much black in the background. The next >> attempt showed a colorful splatter effect. It was beautiful but lost the >> shimmering northern lights theme. Unsatisfied, she tried again and finally >> captured it. Shimmering northern lights twinkled at me from a Choco bar on >> my screen. Undeniably beautiful, whatever your opinion about Pure Road >> Bike. Some of the parts transferred color better than others; aluminum is >> not all the same. The Rivendell Silver 2 shifters were problematic; the >> finish is a plasticky, flaky compound that Ashley ended up blasting off. >> They took color poorly. The Silver 3 cranks, however, were wonderful. Maybe >> the best part on the bike. The chain guard and rings showed more pastel. >> The northern lights are ever-changing so all these different looks are good >> representations of the real phenomenon. >> >> >> Selecting accessories was extremely difficult. If I added the extras that >> make the bike useful, it would look less like a road bike. I do want people >> to see this colorful bike as a road bike, not as an oddball. What makes a >> road bike a road bike? Drop bars? Light weight? Stripped down? >> >> >> I tried to imagine my bike with no kickstand. What road bike has a >> kickstand? Well, Leah’s Northern Lights Charlie does. I take a lot of >> photos; leaning the bike is inconvenient. Grant pointed out that my bars >> would swing and topple the bike; trad road bikes prop easier. What about >> fenders? There are plenty of wet rides in Michigan and the muddy water that >> shoots up one’s back and onto one’s bags is intolerable to me. Gets in the >> way of being darling. Dyno. It’s expensive and adds weight and I know it. >> But after having dyno on all my other bikes and never ever thinking of >> charging and attaching my lights it feels like being hamstrung, a >> downgrade. Most of my miles are club ride miles - that’s way too often to >> fight with battery lights. As for bars, I met a man on his shiny new purple >> RoadUno, and he had Choco bars, which I thought looked sporty. I ruled out >> drop bars because they seemed a gamble. I would probably hate them. >> >> >> In the end, the concessions I made are that I would attach no rack and >> only use a BananaSax on the saddle. So, not very many concessions. But the >> bike is rumored to feel light, fast, spritely. I think it will be different >> enough from my other bikes. I hand-wring about how this bike will be viewed >> in the roadie world. They will be so excited to hear I got a road bike. >> They will be so let down when they see my version of that. I don’t think I >> can apologize. I think I have to be Leah. >> >> >> I set out in pursuit of Pure Road Bike. I found a Northern Lights Charlie >> instead. And I think it’s going to be grand. >> >> >> Leah >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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