I would lean toward the Sam only because you sound like you're planning mostly road riding and only some trails. I agree with Evan's assessment that the Sam is a little more spritely due to the shorter wheelbase and slightly lighter tubing (I think). I've got a 56 canti-Sam (in the older, brighter, metallic orange) and I ride it on my daily mixed terrain commute loaded with all my books, teaching and office supplies and it handles it like a champ. On the weekends, I lose the load and put on a lighter wheelset for road rides so I can enjoy that spritely feel. I've also ridden mountain trails with a set of 45cm Smart Sams (no fenders) which is also fun. I've only had one short Appaloosa test ride in the rain and it did feel fantastic. Smooth, stable and, dare I say, graceful. I thought I might want to buy the Joe and sell the Sam with the intent of riding more trails with the capacity for fatter tires. Decided to keep the Sam since I ride roads a little more often than trails.
Good decision to have. I'm confident you'll be thrilled with either since you can't go wrong either way. John On Sunday, November 27, 2016 at 2:40:05 PM UTC-8, Ashwath Akirekadu wrote: > > Visited Rivendell HQ earlier this week. It was really hard to squeeze > time for it, but I thought I owed myself a ride on a real Riv before > committing to San Marcos project. It was a lovely experience. Had planned > on spending an hour. Ended up spending more than 4 hours ;). I was > discussing Sam H vs San M with one of the associates. At some point Grant > yelled from his office "Sam is just better". Rode 51cm Sam for an hour. > In the end my feeling was that there just can't be a single way Marcos > could possibly better. > > I should have purchased a Sam frame and left. I was curious about the > Choco-Moose bar that was on a Jeo. To try the handlebar I took Joe for a > quick ride. What a mistake :D Joe was quite different and felt strangely > pleasant. > > It was getting late, so I left decision pending. > > The color might also have played a role why I didn't decide on Sam then > and there. While I loved Sam, I didn't like the new Orange color. I > like the blue color of Joe. Looking at Joe's geometry though, 46cm seems > to be my size (PBH 81cm) which has 26" wheel. Aesthetically I don't prefer > wheels that small. > > Here's my planned usage for the new bike: Ride to work once a week (46 > miles roundtrip). Around the town, farmers market. Weekend overnight > camping rides 4-5 times a year. Sometime in next 5 years I'm hoping to > ride on Dalton Highway for a week to 10 days. > > Thoughts on which way I should go? > Will 51cm Joe (which works with 650B) be too big for me? > If I want a blue Sam, how frequently such frames show up on the used > market? > > Thanks! > > PS: my posts making through moderator approval has been a hit or miss. > Really hoping this one gets a pass! > > > -- 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.
