On Sat, 2013-02-02 at 10:41 -0800, Jim Mather wrote: > On Sat, Feb 2, 2013 at 10:33 AM, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > > And you then know exactly how I feel about excessive stiffness. Do you > > dispute that double top tubes would increase the stiffness of the top > > tube? > > > > I don't dispute that double tt adds stiffness. What I dispute is you > judging it excessive without having ridden one. I've ridden one and I > don't find it excessive.
I owned and sold a Rambouillet and a Saluki -- both single top tube designs -- because they were too stiff, replacing them with similar frames made of smaller diameter tubing of the same gauge. IMHO the Riv frames are too stiff even without a double top tube, and it is self-evident that adding additional top tube stiffness to an already too-stiff design isn't going to make it better for me. However, William is right: a heavily loaded bike, especially a rear-loader design like the Rivendell, benefits from stiffness. I'm not sure that the top tube is the place to add that stiffness compared to using thicker gauge and oversized tubing throughout, retaining the existing balance of stiffness in the top and down tubes and stays but increasing it across the board. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
