Thanks, Liesl! I love that paint... would love to ride one, too. (SLCS, I mean.) I've tried to convince my wife to get the Cheviot, but she's not there yet. Oh well, could mean AHH in my future.
--shoji On Wednesday, May 7, 2014 1:57:24 PM UTC-4, Liesl wrote: > > Hi Friends! Sheesh, between my crazy work schedule and our last blast of > freezing sleety weather it's taken me some time to get riding in and catch > up with the group! Here goes... > > *In General:* This bike puts a smile on my face whether I'm riding it, > standing next to it, our just being with it in my living room. Makes me > feel like a kid again (which after all is Keven's *raison d'etre*). Fun > to ride, comfortable to ride. I haven't taken pictures or anything, plus > the photos on the blug are more than I could do, so words will have to > suffice. > > *Specifically (short people, read this):* The super long chainstays make > a profound difference. I'm 5'2" and this is my third Riv. What's different > here is that the bike is so crazy stable. In talking with Grant, he > described how difficult it is to make a wee bike that doesn't feel tippy. > I'm not gonna go into geometry here or try to explain why—but rather invite > Grant to do a blug or a post on that topic. What I will describe is my > experience. Up until now, I never wanted to sit as I pedaled up hills. It > always felt like I was always going too slow and pedaling too fast and > spending time correcting my steering. Yuck. So I just stood. But not > with the custom! It's like a new world! The most dramatic example was > going tto the May Day festival at a big hilly park here in Minneapolis and > just riding anywhere as if I were...I can't even compare it...effortless > effort. I know it's a mix of the big tires and the long chainstays and the > Riv crew gearing it right, but it is crazy fun! > > *Tires & Weight:* I am not a gram counter but I am a gram > trying-to-understander. The bike is heavier than my Saluki and the Big > Bens are stout. I do feel this, and for the time being, I am slower...but > I don't really care. The ride is so comfortable and potholes disappear. > And it's not a bad thing to be more in shape. I've said repeatedly to > friends here that I might be slower, but I can go anywhere and I could do > it all day. I'm experimenting with tire pressure from 10 to 30 pounds. > Great fun. > > *Cockpit: * Kevenized Paul Thumbies (meaning flipping them so that they > are on the inside of the grip rather than the outside) ROCK! Bullmoose > Boscos ROCK! Miesha's Cork Grips ROCK! Okay, I like my cockpit. I think > the thumbies are my all-time favorite shifter set-up (compared to bar-ends > and stem mounted). Just right there and easy. I'd switched over to Boscos > on my other bikes, so I already knoew that I like them, but the Bullmoose > version is sweet and I never wonder about whether it will slip even with > the long grip area. Finally, this is my first set of Miesha's Cork Grips > (just the plain ones with no grooves but shellacked) and they are > wonderful. Right amount of cushion, fantastic shape, good temperature, and > seem to be doing well with sweat. I don't wanna wear gloves! Oh, and > maroon cloth tape, not shellacked, twined with undyed waxed linen. Still > need to wire the dyno/supernova set-up. > > *H2O Cages:* There isn't a lot of room for the waterbottle that's fitted > to the diagatublettes, but it's a fun problem to solve. The trick is not > that a bottle doesn't fit, it's getting it out of the cage that feels > squeezy. I use kleen kanteens and they recently came out with a really > short "kids'" version, which solves part one of the problem (the bottle > length). Part two is now having a short bottle cage. I'm working with > Paul Sykes to make a short cherry wooden cage that will match another > regular-sized cage he made. That older one looks great and works perfectly > on the downtube. > > *Saddles, Racks & Bags:* I have a Nitto Mini Front with a medium Walk > basket and a medium tan Shopsack. Sweet! What an all purpose set-up. The > rear is trickier and I don't have it figured out. I put a Brooks Champion > Flyer Select on a Paul Tall and Handsome seatpost and this is dreamy > comfortable. But the dang springs coupled with the little frame make it > not so compatible (if at all) with a saddle bag. Even the small Sackville > Saddlesack, which I borrowed at Riv, was rubbing on the bodacious tires. > And with the Super Long ChainStays (SLCS! New acronym!), conventional > racks don't quite set-up well. I tried a Nitto Campee and a Tubus Cargo > and both were unsatisfying. I might catch up with Mark A. at Riv on that > front. If any of y'all have thoughts, post 'em! So far, though, the > basket/shopsack combo covers a lot of situations. > > *Paint:* So subtly dramatically beautiful in any light, but especially > sunlight. The opal/pearl flecks gleam. > > *Fenders:* Still to come. Working with my homeboys who have mad > wood-working skills and precision tablesaws and such! The idea is > light/unstained birch or maple and 3" wide with Sackville flaps. Might do > some woodburning on 'em. Once those are on, there will be photos for sure. > > Okay, that's enough for the moment. > > your grinning pal, > RCW > > > -- 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.
