Hi everyone, since plenty of you seem to be snowed under with time on your hands, I thought I'd tap into the collective wisdom to reconfigure my stable.
I know that the answer to this question is n + 1, where n = current # of bikes, and I am open to that possibility, but would prefer to keep n = 2 (not counting the tandem). Here are my riding needs, in order of frequency/importance (btw, don't have a car): 1. Commuting: 5-8 round trips a week, short (10-30 minutes) frequently wet, occasionally in the dark. Fenders a must. 2. Mixed road/dirt road rides, once a week, 3-5 hours (Jack Browns work, but are a bit skinny for these rides). Fenders a must. 3. Starting in 3 months or so, kid hauling as well as recreational rides with kid, in a Bobike mini seat, mounted to the stem. Kid hauling will be infrequent and short distance (to meet mom for lunch at her office), and the majority of recreational rides with the kid will most likely happen on the tandem, which is also being modified for kid hauling duty. Should have fenders, though I wouldn't ride with the kid if it was already raining). 4. Occasionally the weekly ride is a 2-3 hour single track ride with about 1 hour of road riding to get there and back. Would prefer no fenders for this setup (two dirt rides ago my friend Paul got something stuck between tire and front fender, and it wasn't pretty (fender buckled, downtube scratched, though he didn't crash). 5. Occasional brief tours (S24Os). Any longer tours would happen on the tandem. 6. Occasionally need a visitor's bike for people of varying heights. Current stable: 1. 2009 56cm Sam Hillborne, usually sporting Jack Browns, 42mm fenders, noodles, front basket, rear rack http://www.flickr.com/photos/25150...@n08/5185320523/ 2. 1990 17" Fisher Sphinx monster cross. Currently sporting 700C 35mm Paselas 52mm fenders, porteur bars, rear rack. Relatively high bottom bracket. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25150...@n08/5242295929/ 3. 2008 Tank (Taiwanese brand) mtn tandem, sporting 26" 35mm slicks, fenders, rear rack. Extremely high bb, virtually no bb drop. http://www.flickr.com/photos/25150...@n08/5267816307/ 4. Other 700C tires in the stable: 42mm IRC Mythos CX Pro Slick (semi knobby), 40mm Kenda Kwick Roller Ez Ride (smooth; coming soon). A) I have tried mounting the kid seat on the Sam with the noodles, moving the technomic deluxe as high as possible, but am doubtful that the kid seat will work with either noodles or moustache bars, unless I get a dirt drop stem (My chest gets in the way of my kid's head). Seems like the kid hauler will have to have porteur bars. B) I don't think I want to use porteur bars for recreational road or off-road rides, especially with the horizontally short stem and upright position that would be required for mounting the kid seat. C) The Fisher is too small to take the kid seat, I think. It has a 1 1/4" threaded headset, and tall stems don't seem to be available (not sure that they ever were). Have purchased a Nitto stem riser to use 1 1/8" threadless, but even with a very tall stem (110mm, 35 degr. rise), the bars are still too low for the kid seat. The only cheap way to get this bike to have a chance to work as a kid hauler is to add an insert to the steerer tube so that it can accept a 1" dirt drop stem or some such, or to have a custom stem made. D) Would like my Sam to be set-up as my go fast, rather than the Fisher. E) Prefer to have the Fisher set-up as the trail bike (may get 50mm tires for it eventually, which won't fit the Sam). F) Would like to try a 650B low trail bike one of these days. G) Would prefer a low bb bike for kid hauling, to facilitate getting a foot down at stops. Possible Solutions: I. Buy a VO Polyvalent, have 4 bikes: Sam go-fast/commuter, Fisher trail bike, VO kid hauler/commuter, tandem family van. This way I will get to try a 650b low trail bike. But buying a bike and having it shipped to Thailand is an expensive proposition, especially with the threat of a 60% import duty. I have no plans for a trip to the US to bring a bike with me, which would avoid the import duty. Probably can't afford this option right now, and car port space is already limited. Financial outlay: $1700 or so. II. Buy a Polyvalent, sell the Fisher. Solves the space problem, helps with the financial problem, but Sam would have to be the go fast and trail bike. This would involve only occasional tire and fender switching, so that would probably be alright. But financially this would still be a stretch. Financial outlay: $1000 or so (assuming I can get $500 for the Fisher, and use its seatpost and saddle for the VO). III. Making do with the bikes I have, I see 4 options: a) Set up 2 cockpits for the Sam, one with noodles, one with porteur bars. Fisher is dedicated dirt bike. Disadvantage: If usually set up with noodles, will I really want to switch cockpits just to ride to lunch with my son? (Especially if I have to carry him in a sling while switching bars...) Alternatively could have the Sam set up with porteurs by default, switching to noodles only for the weekly ride. Financial outlay: around $60 for cable splitters. b) Figure out a way to get a tall stem on the Fisher, turn it into kid hauler, and have the Sam be go fast and trail bike by switching tires and mounting/dismounting fenders. Financial outlay: around $70 for dirt drop stem, $? for steerer conversion to 1" (should be cheap here in Thailand if it can be done at all). c) Putting a dirt drop stem and moustache bars on the Sam, I could perhaps make it work as a kid hauler, and also as a trail bike. It might even work as a go fast that way, but I could set up the Fisher as the go fast. Financial outlay: around $70 for dirt drop stem (already have the moustache bars). Another $50 for a powdercoat repaint of the Fisher. If I am using it a lot for fun road rides, I don't want to ride it with its severely chipped paint. d) Just use the tandem as the kid hauler, regardless of whether mom is coming along or not. Since distances will be short, riding the tandem should be fine. Sam is commuter and go fast, Fisher is trail bike. The only issue is recreational rides with kid but without mom, but that won't happen too often. Main drawback: Very high bottom bracket makes stops a bit awkward, though at least the top tube is low. So far, III c) seems the most intriguing. Any other ideas? Thanks, Gernot -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
