Re: [RBW] Big City People with Clems: Your Opinions Wanted

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 07:39:24 -0700

An Appaloosa is pretty stout…might be a lot to lug up those stairs…
Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 18, 2025, at 9:10 AM, Maeve Gately <[email protected]> wrote:

I am in NYC and thinking about getting a Riv--probably a Homer, Apa or Roadini. Any other city owners have these and find them manageable? I have a four floor walkup with narrow stairs so that's my main concern

On Friday, April 18, 2025 at 8:35:44 AM UTC-4 Coal Bee Rye Anne wrote:
Although I am not a big city dweller I am faced with similar size constraints with my big 65cm Clem and a small 2bedroom condo with shared basement storage.  The Clem is great for the open road/trails and my local riding but too big to bring anywhere by car and cumbersome to get in/out of the apartment and/or basement storage.  Fortunately, I get to just park it via kickstand on the open basement floor alongside my other large bikes in the locked basement with enough space to wheel it around but still need to navigate the turn through the door and stairs, which is doable but noticeably more challenging than my smaller frames.

Any chance they could rotate the bars 180deg to turn the wheel/fork and shorten the wheelbase for parking?  Likely depends on fender/rack/bar/cables whether this is possible but maybe just enough to better fit the racks?

I do recall the Clems being intended as less precious lock up Rivs but still think the design was more reflective of their local trails and somewhat of an interpretation on Grants solution or substitute to old MTB conversions with Riv sourced parts rather than ‘city’ bikes.

That was part of my initial interest in the Clem… a large and properly fitting replacement to my old rigid mtb I kept trying to update and sinking funds into parts.  Rather than replacing it, it supplemented it and I still keep the smaller 90’s mtb around and is my bring anywhere bike being easier to transport.

Hope it all works out!

Brian
Lawrence NJ


On Thursday, April 17, 2025, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! <[email protected]> wrote:
My sister lives in NYC. She has a 52 cm Clem L and her husband has a 59 cm Clem L. They just bought a lovely apartment and it has a luxurious bike room, complete with Saris racks to hold everyone’s bikes. This is the model of rack in the bike room, seen here on Saris’ website: https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/8-bike-rack-double-decker-72-w-x-63-d

She just moved the bikes in today, and when she went to park them, they are, you guessed it, way too long. They do not fit in the beautiful, provided Saris rack; the rear wheels stick out into the aisle. 

The only thing we can think to do is get some Voile straps (she ordered some today) and try to rig them up so they don’t tip over. They owned these Clems while living in a different city, and space was not at a premium there. She said had she known they would live in NYC she would have given her Clems to our brother and his wife and started over with a shorter Rivendell model for NYC. 

I hate to see her have to do that, though I agree it is maybe the best option. But I was thinking, I KNOW there are a lot of Riv owners in NYC and other populous cities in the US. Who owns Clems and how are you managing them in the city? They don’t fit on buses or Amtrak. They probably don’t play well in your building’s bike racks. How do you live with your big long Clems? What are your secrets? 

I have thought of offering her my mermaid Platypus. The wheelbase of a 52 Clem is, I think, 52 inches. And the 55 Platy is, I think, 47.5 inches. That is just so much more manageable. If her husband got a Platy (he loves a mixte so he doesn’t rip his suit pants swinging a leg over), it’d have to be the 60, and I don’t know how long that one is. We might run into the same issue if the 60 Platy is much longer than the 55…

Thanks in advance,
Leah

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