Thanks to Rivendell, my entire stable of bikes got turned over in the last few years. That process started in 2009. The last remaining bike I had from my past life was a custom road bike (Davidson Signature), but even that, I decided, was too small. I corrected that somewhat with a tall and long stem, which looked a little goofy but improved the situation. The nagging shortcoming to my Davidson was that I can't run anything wider than a 700x25. Hence it's for sale on ebay, as many of you have seen (now it has a bid!).
To replace it, I had bounced around several ideas. First off, a 59 Roadeo. I'm virtually certain a Roadeo would be perfect for what I want from this particular spot in my stable, but I'm on a bike department budget that made that impossible. A San Marcos was out of the question, mainly because I'm in between sizes. So, I considered the forthcoming Rawland Nordavinden, was tempted by a super low sale price on the VO Rando frame, and kept an eye out for a 58 Rambouilet. My search ended when I got turned on to Black Mountain Cycles, a one-man shop in Point Reyes Station. Mike Varley does the design and Taiwan source thing for both a road frameset and a really slick monster cross. Mike has a long history of design in the bike industry, and he's got a spectacular operation. We had an open control in Pt Reyes Station last month on an SF Randonneurs brevet. I stopped in, checked out a couple measurements, and bought it. Our RBA was pretty entertained that my receipt for that open control was for a frameset. Anyway, I drove out there and picked it up yesterday, and got started on the build. So now I have a road bike that makes it easier to get the bars up, takes Jack Browns without fenders, and Roly Polys with fenders. It's entirely possible that I'll have the money for a Roadeo someday, and riding this will get me ready to buy that with confidence. Or maybe I'll get more refined opinions and do a Custom. This bike gets me to a MUCH more useful road experience at an incredible price. I highly recommend giving Black Mountain Cycles a look if you are in the market for a $600 road frameset. Pictures show the progress and status: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/sets/72157629154963632/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/89I5U85zBCEJ. 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.
