seems the undertube is functional. also seems the taiwan hillbornes chould serve most who don't want the undertube.
i like the update about color. not that i don't like orange, but i like the green. "UPDATE April 1, 2011: Incoming Taiwan Sam Hillbornes are green!" - rivbike dot com On Apr 18, 11:49 am, grant <grant...@gmail.com> wrote: > The Amos...I'm not sure when it'll come out. I hear, from Merry Sales, > that it'll be about a month....but I know from experience that it > could be three. It won't hit with a big splash anyway---the last I > heard, MS was going to bring in only fifteen each of the 54, 59, and > 63; and of those fifteen, RIV's buying five each. (The 47, 51 650B > models will come later, after another sample. > > RIV's role in it is limited to geometry and the undertube. Plus, I > approved the tubing. I wanted to make sure the tubes are suitable for > the kind of bike it is supposed to be---a sporty road bike. Not a > touring/country bike. But it will clear 33.333mm tires with a fender > which means about a 36 or 37 without; and it'll have rackmounts on the > seat stays for a rack or saddlebag support. Two eyelets on the rear > drops, one on the front. Same tubing butts and bellies as the > Rambouillet and Hilsen, but a diff brand (Tange Prestige). > > The undertube is a go/no-go feature for some, I know that, but I don't > look at stuff like that and think, "Classic/traditional/classy/ > goooood" or "wuzzupwiddat?/bad". As the frame gets bigger, it loses > triangulation and the structure that comes so much from that > triangulation. The undertube gives turns would otherwise be a rhombus- > like shape into more of a triangle. It means a tall dude who needs the > triangulation gets some of it back, and so to me, it makes sense. The > alternative is much fatter tubes, but I don't like fat tubes. It's an > easier way and requires less brazing or welding, but to me (maybe only > to me--I don't rule that out), it's the cold-hard-lazy-unattractive > way to do that. Depending on the particulars (how fat?), it may be > even MORE effective, but I'm not shooting for No. 1 lateral rigidity; > just trying to get back some that's lost in the frames with taller > head tubes. > > I agree that a 59cm frame ordinarily may not scream for an undertube, > but the 59 Amos has a 6-deg upslope, which gives it the head tube > height of about a 65....and yet the top and seat tubes are still 0.8 x > 0.5 x 0.8 (butt-belly-butt). The U2b, in this case, helps more than > going to 0.9 x 0.6 x 0.9 would. Good point, of course, about it's > possible unnecessariness on a bike for fenders but not racks, but on a > bike that could conceivably be ridden by a 290-lb rider, a little > conservativeness is not a bad thing. Historically--going back to the > '70s, touring bikes used 1.0 x 0.7 x 1.0 tubing, big race bikes used > 0.9 x 0.6 x 0.9 tubing, and race bikes for light riders used 0.8 x 0.5 > x 0.8 tubing. "Record attempt" bikes used 0.7 x 0.4 x 0.7. > > These days that's all out the door, there are different rules and > expectations--and tubes have gotten larger in outside diameter, and > some of the metallurgy has changed---but it's still good to see the > historical view and to recognize that the reason for the change is > more related to marketing and steel's perceived need to compete with > unsteels, than because "we know so much more now." > > Anyway...it seems only 30 U2bers will be around in the foreseeable > future, and I'm glad we're getting ten of 'em! Sorry for the long > post. As always, I submit it in a good spirit, not to slam the door on > further discussion/dissention. > > G > > In the end, the contribution the AMOS will make to riders outside of > our bubble here, is that it will raise the bars humongously higher; it > will allow them to ride tires that are humongously more useful, and > it'll let them ride with fenders, which they won't likely be able to > fit on whatever other bike the Amos is going neck-and-neck with. > BUT...this contribution will be limited by the sad fact that there > will be only 30 of them available to the country's 4,200 bike dealers. -- 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.
