> I know it's easy to see the steel and lugs and think "Ahhhh, Bob Jackson-ish" > or "Just like my old > Raleigh Competition," but those aren't the target with this one.
Grant, I follow your points, but this is not at all what started me on this topic. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the Roadeo was a lighter bike but with longish chain stays that can finally accommodate modern wide but low rolling resistance tires like the 35 Schwalbe Kojak. Traditional race bikes - at least from the Merckx era on (my first post is a response to an article saying the Roadeo is a shades of Merckx bike) don't take tires much over 28mm. I have passed on buying some very lovely classic Italian frames because they could not take the tires I want to use. Admittedly, I know very little about club racing dynamics, but I expect the majority of people who buy the Roadeo will never use tires wider than a 28. At least not when they are with the guys and gals at the club. Brifters or no, the bike as used - the tires part anyway - will wind up having more in the Bob Jackson-ish and old Raleigh Competition than the design intended. On Aug 29, 12:28 am, grant <grant...@gmail.com> wrote: > I think Doug VC got it pretty right---about this being an alternative > to carbon bikes. It is specifically and intentionally from conception > to production a club-rider's bike. I know it's easy to see the steel > and lugs and think "Ahhhh, Bob Jackson-ish" or "Just like my old > Raleigh Competition," but those aren't the target with this one. > > About 98% of club riders don't ride downtube shifters, and this is a > club-rider's bike. > > Another thing is that with our higher-bar bikes and our up-sizing, the > dt shifters are much lower down and less accessible than they are with > a low-bar bike. > The other thing is the thin tubing. It's better to keep the footprint > smaller and closer to the lug so the thinner tubing is left more > alone. DT weigh more and require more heat to braze on in a thinner > part of the tube. > > As for Wford's influence--this is our bike. It is an ongoing thorn of > sorts that we don't hide our builders, and then our bikes are thought > of as their bikes. If we want the DT shifters, we can get them---but > for the reasons above, we don't want them. > > However--if anybody on this list wants the bike with DT shifters, we > will use a different down tube and do that for a $50 upcharge. The > upcharge isn't the pure, physical price of the shifter bosses. That's > about $17. But then we round the bases to reduce the stress riser; and > that's labor. And then there's the special handling of the different > tube. Anybody who has worked in a shop knows that setting up a machine > for a five-minute operation can take 40 minutes; and that introducing > exceptions increases the risk of a screw up. Our cost on this is about > $120, but we'll split that cost and charge just $60. > > I stll wouldn't recommend it. I know DT shifters are fine, but they > aren't a perfect fit with the concept of this particular bike. Still, > we can do them. > > We've worked a lot on the Roadeo, and that work disappears as soon as > the bike shows up. Nothing on the frame landed their by default, and > nothing left off was overlooked. There are lots of forks in the road > that present two or three or four good options, but the bike has room > for only one. > > Hey--the headbadge sample should be here in about 2 weeks. It's made > in Rhode Island, and is coming along pretty nicely! > > Best, > > Grant --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
