I think Grant always wants to design and promote versatility, no matter which end of the spectrum he is designing at. When I bought my Ram, Riv literature touted its ability as both a smooth fast road bike and a stable trail bike. Likewise they promoted the Atlantis as a touring bike that was fine for brevets. None of that was untrue but the Atlantis excels as a touring bike and the Rambouillet as a fast club or brevet bike. I've been riding for more than 40 years and I have never had a bike I loved more than my Rambouillet, and a couple of years ago, I reconfigured it as a go fast, long days in the saddle bike: http://gallery.me.com/mhechmer#100094 The Ram is absolutely ideal with 28-30 mm tires, nice Al fenders and the breeze in your face.
The AHH and the Rodeo clearly bracket the Ram. One is slightly stouter and handles noticeably bigger tires and the other more flexible with just a smidge more tire clearance. The AHH is built to be more stable under load and the Rodeo more agile when you are jumping across hills. I've never seen the Rodeo in person and have wondered how Grant fit 33.3 mm tires under 57 mm brakes??!! I recently put a set of Jack Brown's on my Ebisu All Arounder and just love the ride. I think I'd like a bike that was as responsive as my Ram and as comfortable as jack Browns on a dirt road. Of course their is alway a problem when one wants everything! Michael On Wednesday, April 11, 2012 2:56:20 PM UTC-4, Cyclofiend Jim wrote: > > One thing we tend to take a little for granted these days was the > comparative lack of appropriate tires, brake and such which we are > currently enjoying. At the time, the common brakes were typically short > reach, and though the Rambouillet was designed for significant clearance, > there was just not a lot of hardware which supported that idea. I recall > GP lamenting in his end-of-year wish lists in Readers from then that he was > hoping for "standard reach brakes" from the major manufacturers. > > When the Silver Brakes came out, this let GP start working on a truly > large clearance, go-anywhere bike, which became the Hilsen. The Hilsen > kind of slid the scale one way, and then the Roadeo was able to be notched > a bit more toward the light and snappy (though, significantly, with no loss > of clearances....) range. > > Here's an interesting image or two - > > The Rambouillet rear clearance - > http://www.cyclofiend.com/Images/rbw/rr24_pg21md.jpg > > Shown with a Pasela 35 (which during that era probably ran more like a 32) > and Dia Compe 505Q brake. > > The Hilsen rear clearance - > http://cyclofiend.com/Images/rbw/AHH37PAS&sharpieRear.jpg > > Shown with a 37 Pasela and Silver brakes. > > As others mentioned, I do have a Rambouillet page here - > http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw/rambouillet > > - Jim > > -- 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/-/LMqbsgrQG9gJ. 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.
