On Wed, 2011-10-19 at 13:56 -0700, William wrote: > I wish I could test ride your MAP. I think your Saluki was a 58,
60 cm, c-t > as is my Homer (nominally the same bike). I knew you 'upgraded' and > liked your MAP, and I'm intrigued by the concepts and the classic look > of a 'traditional' randonneuse. That said, I had a long talk on a > brevet with a fellow on a gorgeous low-trail Ellis who hated the ride, > said the bike was terrifying to ride over 20mph, and was working with > Ellis to get a new fork to increase the trail. I feel that people's > opinions about bikes tend to tell us as much about the differences in > people as they do about the differences in bikes. None of my low trail bikes is terrifying to ride at any speed. I've owned a bike in the past that was frightening at high speed, the 1972 Paramount I owned for 20 years. In the early years, it had a very frightening speed wobble, and even after changes in position cured the speed wobble, high speed descents always made me feel as though I was carrying my life in a goldfish bowl held in my outstretched fingers. I think nothing of going full tilt downhill on any of my bikes. Of course, we have no long hills here, unless I venture into the Blue Ridge or the Catoctins, and in mountains like that my overwhelming concern is excess momentum (I have momentum aplenty!) and an inability to slow down or stop, so I descent very cautiously. Here, where what passes for a hill is a half mile run down to a bridge over a creek followed by a corresponding half-mile climb, it's full tilt, spin 'em up to 120 rpm, cross the bridge and work your way through the gears on the climb. And never even the slightest hint of instability. > To settle things, I think Steve should ship his MAP to me for a few > months to try out. I'll take good care of it, honest :) I deeply regret that you are too short... However, if you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Alexandria, VA we could go down to Toys R Us and see if they have any pedal blocks that would fit PDM-959 SPDs. ;-) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
