Thanks Andy and Erl! Erl I'll keep my eyes out for you as well! Got my first extended ride in around lunchtime today, a glorious spin in perfect weather. I'm very impressed by the Atlantis, to be honest I had almost been dreading the first ride because I was afraid it would not live up to lofty expectations. I was so wrong. Couple initial observations, and remember that my frame of reference is primarily the 650b converted Trek with Albatross bars, a too-small-for-me MB5 and more recently a dropbar, compact geo Bianchi...
-Incredibly stable, best 'no-hands' bike I've ridden. But that is just an aside, the bike just feels very solid under me. -Somewhat related, cornering/handling is a huge improvement from both the Trek and the MB5, the MB5 was almost 'too maneuverable', the Trek is awesome at speed but doesn't hold tight, slow turns all that well. I thought that was a wheelbase thing but the Atlantis is pretty close in that category so I'm at a loss. Bottom line is that the Atlantis moves extremely naturally, reacting to lean, hip twist and of course the handlebars. -Original moustache bar jacked way up in height = awesome. The same setup was on my MB5 but I couldn't get it up high enough, the new setup is very comfortable, I rode the 'hooks' up forward quite a bit with excellent comfort. The bar-ends stop much shorter than my Albatross bars which did lead to some tentativeness in climbing out of the saddle. -The cheap-o avenir pedals off my wife's old hybrid are pretty sweet with big keen hiking shoes... got to say it, really nice fat platforms. -The drivetrain, oddball as it is worked like a champ... How many 3x5 speeds, friction mix of suntour and shimano are out there? -The brakes, wow, so much better than essentially the same setup on the MB5. I'm getting better at this I guess, but the new jagwire brake cables probably help too. Very secure and steady stops even with some rolling descents. FUN! -The 34ish cm Kenda tires... SUCK.... The EL Hetres on my Trek are like a different category alltogether (should be for the pricetag). New tires are a priority, even before an improved wheelset. The Kenda's are harsh for there size... That's probably enough. I loved this ride, great weather, great bike, fun route. 20.5 miles all told. I'm going to do a slightly longer ride tomorrow morning down to Mount Vernon and back with a buddy of mine. Should be great. Picture/postcard proves it happened! Tony <https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a2Ch6X-m6FI/UhBSpU-ECzI/AAAAAAAAClw/YG8mc22YMHM/s1600/Presentation1.jpg> http://dr2dc.blogspot.com/2013/08/first-ride.html -- 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
