Anne, Great thread - appears you have hit on a great theme based on all the responses. I am a "reformed" weight weenie who now rides steel so I tend to see both sides of the issue. Ironically my journey to steel started with lust for a Specialized Tarmac CF bike. I had test rode and thoroughly enjoyed the Tarmac but while thinking about acquiring one, my buddy who was urging me to buy it causally mentioned "well of course you couldn't ride it around where you live"- lets just say many West Seattle roads have had a few decades of "maintenance deferral". That got me thinking- do I really want a bike that I have to drive to a bike path or really smooth road just to be able to ride?! Well no that sounds stupid to me so I started looking around at less fragile options and stumbled across the Riv site and my love of Lugged Steel began.
I will end by saying I had the good fortune of being able to visit the Riv show room in January '11. I rode a Sam and a prototype San Marcos both of which inspired big stupid grins on my part. When I picked up to the Sam to move it for my test ride I was stunned at how LIGHT it was. I looked at Grant with shock and said "why do you go to such lengths to convince people that weight doesn't matter? you imply that your bikes are heavy (except the Rodeo) and dang this Sam is so LIGHT!" He kind of chuckled and said he hears that a lot. Ryan "Clydesdale's against Carbon Fiber" Surface On Dec 28 2011, 11:11 pm, Anne Paulson <anne.paul...@gmail.com> wrote: > I love riding with my bike club, really I do, and they're wonderful > people and great riding companions, but can I just rant here, among > like-people, for just a minute? > > I swear, when someone shows up at my club with a new bike, the first > and only topic of discussion is weight. > > WEIGHT IS NOT THE ONLY CRITERION WHEN PICKING BIKE FRAMES AND BIKE PARTS. > > Thank you. I'll lower my voice now. I was very good today on my clubs > bike ride, 29 miles, 3900 feet of elevation, lots of sections in the > high teens in grade. I kept my mouth shut, mostly, did not swear, and > did not mention that I thought my companions' bikes were ridiculously > overgeared for what they were trying to do with them. I did not say... > > ...No, a compact double is not significantly lighter than a triple, > and if you can't climb that hill without weaving back and forth and > getting in my way, not to mention dangerously cutting across the > center line, you should put a triple on your bike. > > ...You can't notice a two pound difference in weight. You can't, > unless you can tell me with a straight face that you climb > significantly faster when your water bottles are empty. > > ...If you weigh 98 pounds, stiffness and compliance in a bike are > irrelevant for you. Also, if you weigh 98 pounds, you're not climbing > faster than me (when you do) because your *bike* is lighter than my > *bike*. I could ride a weightless bike, and I'd still weigh more than > you and your bike put together. > > Yawn. As I said, I love riding with my club. But jeez, there's more to > bikes than how much they weigh. > > -- > -- Anne Paulson > > My hovercraft is full of eels -- 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.
