Re: [RBW] Re: Heron: Why the incorrect info about tire clearance?

[James Warren]

The OP did carefully go to the '99 archived website to try to research the exact model and year that he was getting. So it's not accurate to say that models changing over the years was the reason for his clearance expectations not being met.

However, Rivendell wasn't being deceptive in 1999. The excerpt in the OP's message says that 1999-Riv claims the bike can fit 700x35 with no fender. I would believe that it could fit a 1999 Pasela tire with the label "700x35" on it. (At this time, Rivendell was heavily selling the Panaracer Pasela in 700x35 as a wide road tire option, and it is quite likely that they were referring to this tire specifically in their Heron literature at the time.) The '99 Pasela tire says "35" but like many tires of its day, the nominal number was greater than its actual width.

So, as others have said, I'm pretty sure the discrepancy here is that many modern 32's are probably similar to or wider than the Pasela 35's of 1999. It wasn't until several years after 1999 that Rivendell, to their credit, started celebrating companies who began to make their tires' labels match their true widths. Also keep in mind, rim width can affect tire width.

So Riv in 1999 wasn't being deceptive; their literature was reflecting a status quo where tire labels were overestimating their true dimension. I think that's the only thing going on here. But you can't say it has anything to do with Heron changing ownership, because Jim, the original poster did his homework, carefully seeking the literature specific to the model he was getting. The only problem was that the referenced tire language in that literature doesn't apply anymore. Tires have changed in 15 years.

It's gonna be a great bike! Post photos.

-Jim W.

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Lindsay
Sent: Apr 25, 2014 1:09 PM
To: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com
Subject: [RBW] Re: Heron: Why the incorrect info about tire clearance?

It is a huge bummer when you think you're going to run a 35 and find that a 32 barely fits.  

On Thursday, April 24, 2014 1:28:00 PM UTC-7, Jim Martin wrote:

Hello All:

I just purchased a beautiful used 1999 Waterford built Heron and you can see the sellers ad here. Before buying it I looked at the archived version of the Heron website for 99 and read:
"A Heron Road has lots of the same features as a Rivendell, and is just as versatile. You can put fenders on it or ride it with 700x35s on bad roads and fire trails, and you can race it on a smooth course."

So imagine my surprise when I tried to install my wheels with 32mm Conti Sport Contact tires. And found that they are within about a half a mm of the rear brake bridge. No way you could ride a 35mm tire. Certainly can't ride the 32's with fenders and its hard to know if I can get fenders and 28mm tires to work either. Why the misleading information? I'm not blaming the seller because, after going straight to the web site, I already "knew" about tire clearance I didn't bother to ask him. So much for my trust in all things related to Rivendell. 

Jim

--
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/d/optout.

--
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/d/optout.