Thansk for the 411 on that, Rod! I'm liking the looks of the Ulv as well: http://ravn.rawlandcycles.com/#ulv
On Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at 6:32:47 AM UTC-7, Rod Holland wrote: > > > > On Monday, October 12, 2015 at 12:05:05 PM UTC-4, iamkeith wrote: >> >> >> - Even though I won't need one, I got curious and decided to check the >> news regarding the Ravn progress, over on the rCog forum. Looks like that >> project might be dead. Or at least its not going to be the uber-bike that >> it once was. Lots of angry and disappointed people. Seems they've been >> having trouble getting a manufacturer who is skilled enough to build with >> the flexy, raked fork blades, cantilever brakes, and precision tubing >> tolerances. . I really hope that doesn't mean that these tires will be >> available only as a fleeting thing. As pointed out above, there probably >> aren't that many non-custom bikes out there that can even utilize them, >> other than these XO-1s, All Rounders and smaller Atlanti. >> >> >> So, the original Ravn spec went through a number of crowd-sourced > metamorphoses, in the best Rawland tradition. A pretty attractive bicycle > emerged from that: light, lively, and low-trail, with canti or V brakes, > and, of course, clearance for the Rat Trap Pass tires, with fenders, > available as a frameset or a complete. As you relate, Rawland's long-time > Taiwanese fabrication vendor seems to have gotten stupid (probably through > the loss of key personnel, the way it usually happens), and delivered a > botched prototype that just wasn't going to be the bicycle folks were > excited about. MEANWHILE... a different design, disc brakes based, was > going very well, AND a new fabrication partnership and Rawland business > model emerged. SO... the Ravn brand will now be applied to a different > bicycle, which can still be called "enduro all road", said to be available > in Spring 2016, as a complete bike only. This last detail caused a good > deal of consternation on rCOG, both because the likely price tag is spendy > (wouldn't cause a ripple in the as a Riv complete, of course), and because > the typical Rawland owner actually likes building up bikes to their taste > and/or spare parts bin. So the Ravn is still a viable egg, but will be a > different bird when it hatches. See http://ravn.rawlandcycles.com/ for > more on that, as it develops. Meanwhile, lots of folks are experimenting > with the Rat Traps on a variety of bikes: vintage 26" mtbs, 26" touring > bikes, disc bikes with the necessary clearance (e.g., the Elephant NFE), > purpose-built customs. Here's mine, a Surly Trucker DeLuxe with Rat Trap > Pass Extralights mounted under Planet Bike Cascadia ATB fenders; I've taken > to calling it the Monster Trucker. Like it a lot... > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Dn2oE2Nuy_4/Vhl7dUXvP1I/AAAAAAAAg0U/eoa6gCuist8/s800-Ic42/20151010_142802.jpg> > > It would be surprising if some frame builder or manufacturer didn't step > into what looks like an emerging market. Regardless of subsequent > developments with the Ravn (and I wish Sean every success with it, btw), > looks to me like the Rat Trap Pass is here to stay. > > rod > -- 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.
