You're great with the flowery language, Leah! The Varia is the single best accessory I ever bought for cycling. I ride on the road a lot, and I'm so relaxed having this companion behind me, letting me know with an audio and visual cue that a car is coming, I stick out my hand to wave, easing over to my right without slowing down or looking behind me. Close to half of the drivers wave, most getting way over to the left.
Charlie looks to be a great bike, if you like swept bars. I have them on another bike and I'm still trying to figure them out (6 months later). I think there is a huge potential for more road bikes with good tire clearance, tall head tubes, and short top tubes to allow for drop bars. My Roadini is my baby, but there is potential there for more! On Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 5:42:59 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > Aw, thanks, friends. I have had a ball on these bikes and I wish everyone > else got to experience the same. And lots of other RivSisters will echo > what I wrote. And it’s not hard to romanticize about bikes. The flowery > language comes easy! > > I have little bits of conversion I didn’t mean to make. I got dyno > swearing that I’d never be a slave to charging my lights. But now I have a > Garmin and a Varia that get charged anyway, because suddenly, I can’t live > without either of those. So Charlie is looking a little odd, running around > here with his Garmin up front and his Varia on his rear. > > But he’s still pure Rivendell. > Leah > > On Oct 8, 2025, at 10:03 AM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > > Leah, you should really be getting paid by Riv. No post on this forum has > ever made me want a bicycle more than you're description of Charlie here! > > > > On Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 8:52:16 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! > wrote: > >> Well they’re all missing out, Piaw! Charlie and I are in LOVE. We’ve been >> running off together allll summer and we have thousands of miles together >> now. Charlie is What Women Want. Long wheelbases…we are into them. Pullback >> bars? Say less; we’re sold. Oh, the racers in the group say Charlie isn’t a >> Real Road Bike? Hold my earrings. >> >> I came home tonight from yet another club ride and my husband met me at >> the door. We did the schtick where he pretends to be suspicious of me and >> Charlie’s activities and confess Charlie and I were out in the night >> together again but it didn’t mean anything. >> >> Charlie is a looker and a *scoundrel.* And those racers don’t know any >> of this joy. >> >> On Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 1:06:17 PM UTC-4 [email protected] wrote: >> >>> On Mon, Oct 6, 2025 at 10:26 PM Joe Bernard <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> I think it's a very cool frame (your build is AMAZING) but definitely a >>>> niche within the Riv niche. The road bike world is still quite >>>> conservative >>>> and getting them to accept pullback bars to match the long toptube is >>>> never >>>> going to be an easy sell. The dropped toptube is also a quirk some will >>>> balk at. >>>> >>> >>> It's certainly true that the Charlie Gallop isn't a conventional road >>> bike. To be honest, though, there are plenty of reasons non racers won't >>> pick the Charlie Gallop as well. For instance, the ultra long chainstays >>> mean that the Charlie Gallop would be difficult to fit into a bike box to >>> get onto a plane to do a bike tour far from home. (That's also what turned >>> me off the Homer as well) That long wheelbase also can make it hard to fit >>> into trains or vans or cars. (I've done it with a tandem which is even >>> longer, but let's just say that I've had evil stares from fellow >>> passengers, and obviously some bus drivers are more helpful than others) >>> >>> The pullback bars also are much much wider than narrow drop bars. So for >>> instance, while I can easily fit 2-3 drop bar bikes into the back of a >>> Honda Odyssey with the rear seats down), my wife's Cheviot would take up so >>> much room that I'd have to move it onto the roof rack instead even when I'm >>> planning to only move 2 bikes. In fact, a pull back bar at a crowded school >>> bike rack would necessitate that you'd park the bike backwards with the >>> rear wheel first, and in many cases a standard cable lock would have a hard >>> time reaching the rack in those situations, and don't even start talking >>> about a U-lock! >>> >>> Don't get me wrong, I like my Roadini (my wife shot this video on >>> Saturday's ride: https://youtu.be/6hBpmSL6lRc?si=v7gIUKY-4WelAjk3), but >>> the additional weight is definitely felt when I lift it, and even with its >>> relatively short chainstays (still 2cm longer than my touring bike!), I >>> find that when I have to stand up and sprint it just doesn't accelerate the >>> way more touring bike does. >>> >> -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/0NEP_PxVtP8/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > [email protected]. > > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/312d96d5-48aa-48f6-aca8-e4c89f7eb639n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/312d96d5-48aa-48f6-aca8-e4c89f7eb639n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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