Hello Everyone, I was incredibly lucky to acquire my first Riv, a 48 Sam Hillborne, a little over 2 years ago as a birthday gift. It has been many gifts in one, the greatest of which may be the wind-in-my-face feeling that I can do anything from the seat of my trusty Sam.
So along with this independence, I've really been racking and bagging it up. I have a basket zip-tied to a Nitto mini rack on the front; and a medium Sackville Saddlesack loaded onto the rear (currently rackless, works fine, but may throw a rack on later, don't know; yes it sits on the fender a little). Sometimes I slap on the Sackville panniers, but you gotta have the right kind of wind for those puppies. In short, I've turned my Hillborne into a cargo ship. Mostly for groceries or shopping; but if I needed to haul anything else, I’d take a lot of joy in figuring out how to do that. I’m totally sold on the Function-as-Beauty thing. I got a custom paint job, and for the first few months, I threw a fit if someone breathed on the bike the wrong way; but not anymore, because BTW (though I know I'm preaching to the choir at least somewhat here), though this bike rides like butter UNloaded; boy howdy—load 'er up and gliiiiide on home. That smile on your face isn't going to hurt anybody. I don't know how much grocery weight I've put on the thing, but it doesn't seem to mind, so I don't really think too much about it. Love that. http://bit.ly/sqT6he Last year, I also acquired a 50 Quickbeam, which is an amazing bike. Anyone on the fence about getting a SimpleOne should consider that bike more seriously. And not just as a secondary bike, but as your Go- To, Everyday. I’m not what you’d consider waifishly “fit,” and I lived in the hilly Blue Ridge (I’ve since moved), where I’d need to conquer hills to go anywhere—and I totally could on that bike, no big deal—but with Big Smiles. That’s a great, great bike. I don’t feel limited by the 1-2 gears; I feel adequately equipped, self-sufficient, competent. http://bit.ly/vQ2C5x And now, I’d like to put in a word for Col de la Vies. They don’t seem to get a ton of praise, but I’ve put maybe 3000 miles on mine with the Hillborne—road, dirt, gravel, rocky ruts, shallow streams, mud, grass, and now, over glass. Lots of broken glass, going over this one bridge near the stadium in Baltimore. These tires have been completely awesome in my experience. So, just wanted to share. Finally, Saddle Swap: I have a Brooks Swift (antique brown w/ copper rivets) in exceptionally good condition, currently on my Quickbeam. It’s not working out for me on longer rides because I can’t slide it back as far as I’d like. If any of you has a B.17 in similar condition and color and is looking for a nice Swift, please contact me off- list. Thanks! and again, Hello! -- 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.
