The plot thickens. All the feedback given got me thinking again, not sure if that's good or bad...
I was pretty much set on selling the Atlantis, but... the question of keeping only the Atlantis if I went to just one bike kept swirling in my mind. I had definitely confirmed that between the Hunqapillar with its Bosco Bullmoose bars and now a C17 Carved saddle which feels very nice and the Atlantis with randonneur drop bars and Berthoud saddle, the Hunqa was definitely much more comfortable for me. Even the comparison between the Atlantis and the Homer, both of which have Berthoud saddles and randonneur drop bars (although not identical) has me feeling more comfortable on the Homer. But, the one thing I never did was try upright bars on the Atlantis. I have several Bosco (non Bullmoose) and other similar Nitto variants that I had used on the Betty, although I finally settled on the narrower regular Bosco bars there, so I decided to test all those bars and see if the nature of the Atlantis changed. The Bosco bars were quickly ruled out; even with an 11cm stem, the top tube isn't long enough, the ends of the bars got in the way, especially if I had to turn the handlebar while off the saddle. The shorter narrower variants from Nitto were better, with the Nitto Grand Bois Promenade that looks like a mini Bosco feeling promising, but when I tried the Nitto Jitensha B2522 Touring bar and following that, tried the Nitto Grand Bois Elysées, things really changed. Right now, after just some riding outside sans-brakes to get the feel for the different bars, the Nitto Grand Bois Elysées feel like they will be the key to the bike having the totally different feel I was missing that the Bosco bars gave me on the Hunqa. Upright for comfort yet allowing me to grab the bends when I'm riding a bit faster. I used the 11cm stem I had and the reach seems perfect. Feeling pretty excited, I decided to also install the Pass & Stow rack I had removed long ago from the Hunqapillar to try it on the Atlantis with a Freight Baggage Porteur Rack Bag I had gotten and never used. The Pass & Stow rack has an Edelux light I painstakingly routed through the tubing of the rack, but since I hadn't used it on the Hunqapillar for so long, I was also thinking of putting it up for sale. Later this week I'll connect the brakes (with Paul reverse levers) and try a C17 carved saddle to see how it compares to the Hunqapillar in handling and comfort. I never put the steel fenders back on the bike, but if I like how it rides, I'll probably do that and then ride both for a bit to see which one I'd rather keep, and if so, would I dare consider coming down to 1 Riv bike only, or would it be back to keeping 2 or more. Or completely renouncing the idea of downsizing the Riv bikes at all, and rather getting rid of the Tallboys, which would mean that my son decides he won't mountain bike at all, and in which case I'd let him borrow one of the Rivs whenever he agreed to come on a milder trail/road ride with me. Ahhhh, the things that happen when you consider getting rid of some of your bikes... at least the whole exercise has me riding again, or so it seems. René On Sun, Mar 8, 2015 at 2:06 PM, GeorgeS <chobur...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have a lot of bikes including a custom randonneur and some beautiful > vintage bikes (Hetchins, Masi, etc.). If I had to go down to one bike it > would be my Atlantis. > George in New Orleans > > > On Friday, March 6, 2015 at 8:16:10 PM UTC-6, René wrote: >> >> Hi all, >> >> For almost a year, I've been facing the need to downsize the number of >> bikes that I have for a number of personal reasons. It's an emotional >> challenge that has me paralyzed, because while my rational mind is anxious >> to proceed, my emotions get the best of me every time I start debating >> which bikes to let go and which ones to keep. >> >> Therefore, in the hopes of finding out what the interest would be within >> this group before I post anything on Ebay or Craig's List, I want to list >> the bikes I have and see who's interested in what. I have no idea of asking >> price yet, but if you are interested and feel like making an offer, feel >> free to do so. My goal is to go down from four Riv bikes to just two. I >> also have two Santa Cruz Tallboy FS mountain bikes that I'm debating >> whether to keep or sell, mainly because they only made sense to ride with >> my son, but he's not that interested and if I sell his, I'd have to ride >> alone or find a group, which doesn't seem to be a high priority right now. >> Whether one or both stays has nothing to do with bringing the number of Riv >> bikes down to two. Last, I also have a Bike Friday Lama that I use when I >> travel for a week on business, which isn't that often now, but which I want >> to keep for it's flexible use and because it's as fun to ride as the Rivs. >> >> Here are my four Riv bikes; you can see images of past and present >> configurations on my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/ >> photos/orthie251/sets/ >> >> 1) Hunqapillar 58 with low trail fork and front/rear racks. I may keep >> the Bosco Bullmoose handlebar currently on it, but have regular Bosco bars >> that would likely go with it, or the regular Bullmoose handlebar. Steel >> Berthoud 60mm fenders, brand new custom paint job, etc. >> >> 2) Atlantis 61 with low trail fork. Between the Hunqapillar and the >> Atlantis, I think I'm leaning to keep the Atlantis. It's low trail fork >> only allows for a maximum tire width of 40mm, and I love how it rides. >> >> 3) Homer Hilsen 61, my very first Riv purchase and a bike I ride seldom >> since I'm losing the weight loss battle for now, but when I ride it, I just >> fall in love with all over again. >> >> 4) Betty Foy 58 with 42mm 650B red Hetre tires and steel Berthoud fenders >> that were an odyssey to install. I just love how this bike rides, it >> immediately connects me to being a child and riding, and it's the bike I >> envision I'd ride when I'm very old. I bought it with the idea that one of >> my daughters would ride it, but they didn't care to and after I tried it >> myself, I couldn't let them trash it. >> >> Sometimes I feel like keeping the Homer and the Atlantis, sometimes I >> feel like keeping the Atlantis and the Betty. Sometimes I think that since >> both the Atlantis and the Hunqapillar have the custom low trail forks (I >> still have the original ones), those are the ones I should keep. >> >> There you have it; apologies for the long post. I'm doing this mostly to >> build my courage to post two of them for sale and get a feel for the degree >> of interest in any of them. >> >> Thank you, >> >> René >> > -- > 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. 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