Not too far off topic. Yesterday it was a beautiful mid-December afternoon and unseasonably warm here in the Bay Area. Since the 49ers weren't playing until this evening, I decided to take a ride over the bridge into the Marin Headlands. I've not done that in a couple of months. I chose to take my QB, more on a whim than anything. I have been riding the QB to the office, rotating between it and the Gomez for several months, now. I didn't even bother to remove the single Swift Industries pannier from the rear rack. I just pulled it out of the back, got on, and headed for the bridge. Very little thought given to it at all.
Despite the fact that the QB's engine needs a serious tune-up, the ride was still exceptionally smooth, quiet, and conducive to "just riding." Last year I replaced the drops with Alba's and cork grips. What a great riding position, and the forward bends in the Alba allowed for better hill climb position when needed (which, in the Headlands, is always necessary). Anyway, I did not even bother to take the obligatory beauty shots with the iPhone. I just rode, stopped, drank water, and rode some more. Very good ride. I love that bike. At a pit stop by the Pt. Bonita Light House trail, a couple of guys rode up to also use the facilities. Not clubbies or weekend racers. Just a couple of guys riding around. One checked out the QB and was quite taken with it. He asked lots of questions, and was very impressed with the design and the "simplicity" of it all -- and mine is more cluttered up than many. I showed him how easy it is to switch gears, explained the need to flip the wheel for the low granny set-up. All that. He got it, too. He knew that one would not be in a particular hurry when riding a QB. Nice guy, really, although neither had ever heard of Rivendell. >________________________________ > From: Cyclofiend Jim <cyclofi...@earthlink.net> >To: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com >Sent: Monday, December 23, 2013 3:53 PM >Subject: [RBW] Re: Rivendell "SimpleBeam" - New Model - Call for the Seriously >InterestedB > > > >I think those are all good points, Pete. > >When this topic popped up, it struck me that I didn't want to skew the >conversation by talking about my own bias towards the Quickbeam design. It >seemed to me (and still does) that the Quickbeam/Simpleone is one of the great >designs that Grant has come up with - containing those things which are >needed, but little else. Of course, in the years since that first >announcement appeared, there have been a number of trends which have come and >gone or arrived and stayed. It's incredibly easy to get large volume 622/700C >tires, both smooth and treaded. Longer stays are not an outlier. Racks and >useful bags more commonplace. Recently swept-back bars and >mixte-acceptability have edged into the common arena. > >So, with those facets gaining more proponents, my thought was really to see if >any of them have become more "have-to-have" features. With ~2500 addresses in >this group, even if EVERYONE who ever bought a 'Beam or a 'One is here, that >means that ~2100 of them didn't. If there's some reason why, other than a >lack of derailleur, it would be interesting if that popped up. > >None of which may matter, as GP might already have ideas nailed down, lugs, >tubes and angles spec'd. But, I will pass trends and comments (both here and >the private thoughts and pre-orders which folks have submitted) along to Grant >when he has fewer things on his immediate plate. > >If the next model looks exactly like the last, it would not bother me in the >least, but at least it won't be because I didn't ask. ;^) > >all the best, > >- Jim > > >On Sunday, December 22, 2013 12:39:41 PM UTC-8, Peter Pesce wrote: >Agreed Jim. Wouldn't it just be easier to see if there were 30 people willing >to pre-order an actual SO/QB? I know there's no opportunity for creative >expression in that, but it does seem odd to try to satisfy demand for the >those bikes with a new bike that will explicitly NOT be those bikes! I know >GP uses "clone" in a pejorative sense but to "keep making" a bike is not >"cloning" it. Besides, aren't there business side advantages to continuing to >sell, though perhaps on a limited, pre order basis, the bike for which you >already amortized the tooling and development costs? >>I have a last gen silver QB and love it. If it were stolen or wrecked I'd >>seriously consider paying custom-shop money for a new one. I'm not the least >>bit interested in a NewBeam that has the chunky tube set of my Sam, double >>top tubes, or wavy gravy curved rear triangle bits. To me that bike would >>have nothing in common with a QB beyond the dropouts. >>Pete in CT -- >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. > > > -- 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.
