On January 17 of 2010, I had a slight misfortune, but in the end, was very lucky. I was hit by a car while riding and got a concussion, several broken ribs, and some bruised nerves. I was taken in an ambulance due to losing consciousness, but my injuries were the kind that could heal on their own. A week or so after the accident, I got some nice words and a bit of advice from some people on this list, and I am thankful for that. It was a bad experience the day it happened, but afterwards, I learned a lot and gained appreciation for the good things in my life. This list is one of those things.
About 11 months ago, I began a process of replacing the bike that was in the accident, my green Quickbeam with a working front derailleur (see it in RR#36). The replacement frame was going to be an orange Quickbeam, but since I was so set on finding a way to add even more gears via an internal hub in the buildup process, I finally realized that the replacement frame needed to be a Hillborne for this bike’s purposes. Patrick Moore, I was asking this list for advice a few months ago about adding rear gears to the Quickbeam, and your advice which was, “Why not use one of the frame models that is made for gears?” , helped to set me straight. So, at the risk of overdramatizing the accident, below is the phoenix that rose from the ashes. My Hunqafied Hillborne with sidepulls. It has the low gears that I would usually miss on my QB: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46035786@N07/sets/72157625850005210/ Favorite features: Gearing is the best: 24-36-46 Sugino with Shimano 12-36 rear. Bruce Gordon Rock and Road 700x40 tires. Tread makes them good for pavement and dirt. Bullmoose Bars with Ergon Grips Paul Mounts with 9 speed Shimano indexed Silver sidepulls. I’ve always liked these. Really like them with mountain levers Mini-rack mounts available and use of mini in front and full rack in the rear. I LOVE this bike. And I’ve owned a few nice bikes. This one snuck up on all the rest and has caused them to sit idle. I finished setting up this Hillborne on Tuesday January 4th, and I’ve only ridden this bike since. Since setting it up, I have ridden it to work every day. Tomorrow should be 10 days consecutive, and I see no reason why this week won’t bring the steak to 13. I also plan to ride this bike in San Diego in February with the group. I used to think a drop bar road bike set up with Jack Browns for country riding was the perfect bike, but this Hillhunqer is causing me to question that. It's also neat how it just sort of happened. The assembly was extremely fast once I saw it in my head. The build wasn't what I had originally planned, but I think reading this list influenced my instincts, and it just sort of came to me without feeling like I planned it. The bike rides really nice. It's really stable, and I feel comfortable. The big tires are the best. I probably ride it slower than I do the road country bikes, but if that is true, I like it, because it feels like I am savoring the bike. I get up looking forward to riding it. Thanks for reading. -Jim W. -- 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-bunch@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.
