Hi All, This is sort of a goldilocks question and a little bit rambling, so please bear with me!
I just put a deposit down on my first Rivendell, an AHH. My PBH (81) suggests a 54cm (650b). I test rode a 54, but for some reason, it didn't feel quite right -- a little twitchy. There are about six thousand possible reasons for that: I had never ridden 650b (only 27"), the standover (78.6) was a centimeter shorter than I was used to, I hadn't ridden drop bars in 8 years, and the stem seemed very high. Overall, it was a great ride, but somehow not perfect. Besides that, the frame looked (visually, psychologically) too small, somehow. They didn't have any 56cm's built up, so I tried a too-big 57cm (700c). Visually, it looks more like "the right size," even if my PB was touching the top tube (83cm standover) when in bare feet. The ride felt more stable, even if the top-tube was too long. Jay suggested that it was perhaps because of the longer wheel base on the 57. It's hard for me to explain why the 57 felt better than the 54: was it the stem height? The longer wheel base on the 57? The larger wheel size, which is closer to what I am used to? The larger frame? Or was it purely psychological because the 54 "looked" small? So now I'm left with a choice: the 55cm (700c) or the 56cm (650b). The standover is virtually identical for both, halfway in between the 54 and the 57. I've never owned a bike with either wheel size, so they are both a little abstract for me right now. I know there have been a lot of discussions on this topic before, and this group encouraged at least one person to go with the 650b size. I'm actually leaning a little toward the 55cm 700c because this bike might travel with me to Russia at some point, and I'm not sure about the availability of 650b there, and because I am wondering if it was the longer wheel base that made the 57 feel better to me. But I'd rather have the right bike, and if that's a 650b bike, then so be it. This would all be easier if I could ride both side by side, but that's not possible right now. What are your impressions about how the two wheel sizes ride differently? Any insight you might have would be great. Thanks so much! Nicole -- 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.
