General maintenance is my project. I finished refitting my son's 1983 Trek 613. It now has bar-ends, better fenders, an Altus rear der. (very nice), Riv's bolt-on brakes (also very nice), a new Top-Line rear light to replace an older B&M model, and a B&M eyc (from Riv) for the front. It's an old-style sport-touring setup and he commutes with it. The dyno is a Shimano pre-built (from Harris) that's been running well for 3 years. He rides with lights on all the time. Also got him one of the Riv safety triangles. My son has been reticent with safety issues, like using helmets, but the Riv triangle changed all of that. He reports that cars now give him a lot of extra space when passing and he will no longer ride without the triangle. So this became a must-have for the family. We all ride with Riv triangles now.
I added Tubus Logo Evo racks to our two mixtes (the TouringSore.com), put Top-Line (battery) rear lights on them, and roll-top hi-viz panniers. The set-up is great. I don't think many realize that Tubus, B&M, and Ortlieb are co-designed. It's a profoundly impressive system. The lights are seriously good, the racks are seriously good, and the panniers attach/detach in seconds. I purchased Cygo Streaks for the mixtes from Riv. If you are looking for a great light that is simple to install and rather bright, and don't want to invest in a dynamo, these are definitely the ticket. They are cheap for the light they provide. Also added Riv's IRD thumbies to one of the mixtes, the other has the legendary Command units. The IRD thumbies are great. Like them more than bar-ends. Current project on the stand is #2 son's bike. I bought Riv's tektro cantis to replace some older cantis that are shot. Will also rework the drive train with an Altus, and a front der. to be determined. General thoughts: Riv's recommended parts never disappoint. The brakes and Cygos are great. The Altus is great. I do prefer the Tubus system to the Nitto rack-and-seat-bag system. But then... we park the bikes at public racks and easy on-off baggage is necessary for theft prevention. If the Tooth-Fairy dropped a pile of moolah on us. I think we'd all ride Riv-spec'd dynamo Cheviots with Tubus racks and Ortleib or Arkel panniers. That would be the supreme do-all bike. On Wednesday, December 17, 2014 4:37:11 AM UTC-6, ascpgh wrote: > > Riding, besides my commutes, get a bit scant from here on out through > winter. The season, the holidays, more deliberate prep for a trip in the > conditions, plenty of things distract from just a nice ride but I realize > that at this time every year I always seem to contemplate a bike project to > go with the anticipated springtime, fruition or not. It's biking fun for > the extra bandwidth. > > My project is a low trail, 650b wheeled, all-around bike made with a > lively tube set (versus sturdy for touring) with drop bars, center pull > brakes, generator hub, LED lighting. All on a budget recognizing the value > of experience, unlike the box bike/mass market interpretation, handmade > wheels versus machine made ones as an example. I am reading and including > many posting subjects and items in this project and admit that may not > reach reality, but it's fun to have on the drawing board. > > Andy Cheatham > Pittsburgh > -- 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.
