Nice write up and great bike. Hope your 4-yo gets better soon. shoji
On Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 12:47:10 AM UTC-5, Tim Wood wrote: > > Hey folks! I wanted to share a brief ride report/update/review on my Clem > Smith Jr. as I've put a few miles on it now and made some changes that have > really improved it for me. > > The major change I made was swapping out the bullmoose boscos for an > albatross-tallux combo. I stuck with a 120mm stem length and am happy with > the fit. The new bars give me a bit longer reach, more upper body lean, and > I feel more balanced on the bike. The bar swap also made the bike's > handling feel more nimble and slow speed maneuvering and turning radius > feels better. I also think the bars look better to my preference. > > I've also added a banjo bros medium saddle bag which really added to the > function, and form in my opinion, of the bike. It's a great size for day > trips and I'be been pleased with its capacity. It's not so big that it > dominates the look of the bike and when empty it stills holds its shape. > One critique I'd give it are the closing straps, as I would prefer a snap > or twist closure vs the thread and poke style on this bike. > > Also added was a Nitto big front rack. I've yet to lash a wald on to it > which is the plan, nor have I ridden it with panniers attached. I like the > look of it and I'm curious to see how the Clem rides with a mainly front > biased load. One thing I did notice since installing the rack is a shimmy > or wobble at medium to high speed - only when riding no handed. Prior to > installing the rack I experienced no wobble riding no handed, and while > this isn't a common scenario, I sometimes take both hands off the bar to > adjust clothing etc. Any ideas? > > Other than that, I threw on some king iris cages, some Klean kanteens and > my road morph pump on the down tube. She's pretty much ready to tour if I > make the time. > > Available time to ride, and life, took a hit lately as my 4 year old > daughter fell and broke her hip and is currently in a body cast. I've had > to stay home from work to care for her and it is sad to watch her in so > much pain and discomfort. She's been in the cast for 2 weeks now but after > a call for help to grandma I found myself with some free time to go for a > mini adventure. > > I recently moved to the Vancouver area (Canada not Washington) and wanted > to combine my love of riding with my love of beer. Vancouver has lots going > for it and cycling infrastructure and good craft beer are two of them. I > set out from my house and rode some nice designated bike lanes, multi use > pathways and forest trails to the Skytrain which took me downtown. Riding > the train with bikes is fairly easy except during rush hour which I would > find out later this day. > > Arriving in downtown I was amazed and impressed at the bike lanes and > infrastructure and I took a greenway path sans automobiles to an area of > town affectionately known as the brewery creek district. I hit up Main > Street Brewing company and had an excellent Pilsner and an award winning > session ipa. The brewery is an an old, reclaimed factory and is full of > charm. > > Next up I rode some more awesome bike lanes and trails to Bomber Brewing > where I had, quite possibly, the best Pilsner of my life. So good that I > picked up a 6 pack to go and threw it in the saddle bag. I wanted to hit > some more breweries in the area but I was at my limit for safe riding so I > started zig zagging my way to the Skytrain. > > At this point it was rush hour and getting dark and this is when I learned > that riding the train with a bike, especially one as long and lanky as my > 59cm Clem, proved impossible. I couldn't get on the busy train and was > forced to ride the 30 some km home in the dark. Looming over this journey > was the massive Port Mann bridge which was recently built and I was unsure > how cycling across it would go. Fortunately, after some Google research I > found the bike route over and it turned out to be a really enjoyable > journey. I got home tired, hungry and satisfied. All in all I had a great > time on the Clem with not an issue, neither mechanically or biomechanically > to report. In conclusion, I love this bike and I felt that this type of > journey is what it was designed for. > > Here's some photos, cheers everyone! > > -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
