Patrick, thanks for the kind words. I purchased this bike used from a list member, and it came equipped with this particular drivetrain. As far as I could tell the drivetrain was nearly new when I received the bike, so I figured I'd give it a try. I had never used a brifter-based drivetrain before. Prior to this bike, I've had only a few others - 1986 Nishiki Riviera GT, 2008 GT Peace 9er, and 2022 Gus Boots Willsen - not counting my wife's Clem that I ride from time to time. I've played around with different drivetrains on those bikes, including both friction and indexed systems, thumbies, DT shifters, and barends. Compared to my other bikes, the Roadeo is by far the most purely road oriented. The drivetrain feels like a good fit for this bike. Yes, it's 11-speed cable, and it works flawlessly. In about 2,500 miles of riding, I've replaced the chain once and turned the barrel adjuster maybe half a turn. Otherwise, it seems to function as reliably and shift as crisply as the day I received it.
Currently, this is the bike I choose more than any other. After many years of riding loaded down with lots of gear, I thought it might be fun to have a "light and fast" type of bike for recreational, mostly pavement rides. I've enjoyed riding it so much, though, that I've ended up taking it far beyond those original intentions. Though Riv doesn't recommend it for the task, I find myself steering off of pavement more often than not, taking gravel roads and light single track options whenever possible. The extralight RH tires (35 rear and 38 front) are just enough for a wide range of road conditions. Similarly, I find myself strapping on a bigger handlebar bag for commuting and even some overnighters just because this bike is so much fun to ride. Perhaps some of that is due to novelty, but I think there's more to it than that. It just feels right under me. I think the best way of describing it would be that it feels like it has the right balance of responsiveness and stability for most of the riding I like to do. On primarily singletrack rides with more technical terrain or lots of steep climbing and descending, I choose Gus. Same for multi-day loaded off road touring. I use the Nishiki for commuting most often because it's laden with fenders, racks, bags, and, in the winter, studded tires. For everything else, the Roadeo just does it better. I hope you like your new Roadeo Patrick, and I'll look forward to reading more of your impressions once you've had a chance to ride it a bit. On Sunday, October 12, 2025 at 2:14:44 PM UTC-7 Patrick Moore wrote: > Another white + red panels Roadeo with black Ultegra! And with a > threadless headset system! Deja vu all over again. Plus, the bike is > displayed against a lovely background, conveyed by a competent photograph. > Lovely. > > If you can to say what about your Roadeo makes you like it, and why you > chose an Ultegra (11 speed cable?) group, I’d be very interested to hear > about it all. > > Patrick Moore, who hopes to complete the build of his brand-new-to-him > white + red Roadeo with Ultegra R8000 group, tomorrow. > > > On Sun, Oct 12, 2025 at 2:49 PM Greg Lamont <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I think fall is my favorite time of year for riding.[image: Roadeo >> 10:2025.jpeg] >> > -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/4861d9dc-4514-4597-a37b-9668ef3ce6d4n%40googlegroups.com.
