That's all very interesting. I've never noticed much wheel flop with the Rivendell, but I have not had the chance to ride a great many bikes, and it's the only bike I've toured on other than my old Cannondale mountain bike in the mid-eighties to mid-nineties. And all of my touring so far as consisted of trips into the mountains around Northern New Mexico. For the most part, I'm a commuter.
I do notice, when I'm touring, that the bike seems more stable and more comfortable with a load than without -- not that it feels unstable without a load. Somehow it just feels more solid on the road when it's loaded up. I've also noticed, again because it's brought up in Bicycle Quarterly, that the Rivendell is much more difficult to ride hands-free than my other bikes, (a Miyata 710 and an '84 Trek 830 Xtracycle). I assume that IS an issue with the high trail, and probably because I don't try to ride hands-free at higher speeds. Maybe it would be easier to ride a high-trail bike hands-free at higher speeds. I do feel the bike design probably saved my butt one day. On my commute, there was a very steep hill with a 90 degree turn at the bottom. To build my confidence going into turns, I started taking the hill and curve as fast as I could push myself every day. On day, my front tire blew out in the turn. I felt it just go. The adrenaline kicked in, and I was somehow able to straighten up a little more so the tire didn't roll off the rim and still finish the turn without running off the road. Throughout those few seconds, it really felt like the bike was my friend. Since that day, though, I've been much more cautious going into turns. I think the adrenaline burns incidents like that into your brain. My top speed coming down the mountain is just shy of 40 mph, and that's the long straight section through Hyde State Park. I do a lot of braking before the switchbacks. I'll have to look up all the articles on trail and fork rake in Bicycle Quarterly and the Rivendell Reader. Some day I'm going to have to make a digital index to them, so I can locate articles more quickly. Paul Cooley --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bicycle Lifestyle" group. 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/bicyclelifestyle?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
