What front derailleur are you using? I have a similar setup, but have issues with the tire clearance. thx.
On Jan 4, 11:22 pm, Earl Grey <earlg...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I bought a Hillborne a couple of months ago, built it up for commuting > and mixed road/off-road riding, and have been loving it. I feel like I > have found my perfect bike, even though as recently as a year ago I > never seriously thought of buying a Rivendell. Here it > is:http://tinyurl.com/y8ay6gg > The following is the history that led me to buy a Sam, and I thought > it might be of interest to some of you (I sent a version to Grant as > well). > > The funny thing is that the Hillborne is almost exactly the bike I > have wanted for the past 20 years, although at times I didn't quite > know it. And the bike I have been riding for the last 19 years is a > lot like a Sam Hillborne, only not nearly as nice a bike. So here is > the back story: > > Back in 1991 when I bought my first "real" bike, I looked at > Bridgestones, but wanted neither a road nor a mountain bike, and the > RB-T was still too much of a road bike for me. I also had a Shimano > bias (since cured), which made at least some Bridgestones less > attractive. I wanted a bike that could do anything, and in my college > student's $600 price range, the Fisher Sphinx (basically a rigid 29er > with drop bars, or a proto monster cross) was almost exactly it. > > I still consider the Fisher Sphinx a ground-breaking bike, but it > never gets mentioned in discussions of the origins of all-arounders or > whatever you want to call them, and I've only ever been able to find > ONE photo of it on the web: http://tinyurl.com/yhlo7jy(with all > stock parts excecpt the tires: it came with 38mm semi-knobbies; note > the "it's so hideous it's almost good" 'sharkbite' paint job). I'll > put photos of mine up on cyclofiend at some point. > > I did admire the Bridgestones though, still have the 1992-94 > catalogues, and even bought a long sleeve wool jersey with tagua nut > buttons from Bridgestone. I particularly liked the XO-1, and if it had > had a triple crank and 700C wheels, I might have bought one and sold > the Fisher. In the late 90s I tried buying an MB-1 off a friend who > wasn't riding it, but he wasn't selling, either. :) The Fisher is > still my main ride (well, was, until the Sam arrived), but it bugs me > that it has a 1 1/4 headset and 88mm bottom bracket shell, which mean > it's going to be a pain in the butt to maintain long term. The frame > is also not of terribly high quality, with a chainstay bridge that > runs diagonal, and some subpar welds. > > Even though I vaguely knew about Rivendell from early on, I somewhat > strangely did not think of buying a Rivendell until fairly recently. I > still remember my first conscious Riv sighting, at a critical mass in > San Francisco around 2000. I was very intrigued, but also mystified. I > talked to the owner for a while, admired the burnt orange paint job > ( a lot like the orange Sam) and the SON dynohub, but thought it was > trying a bit too hard to look retro. Another part of not thinking > about buying one was the high price, not wanting to own a bike that > precious and unusual, and partly, since I already had a very sensible > bike, I wanted something a bit racier for fast club rides. In '96, I > had bought a NOS 1995 Bianchi Veloce, the last lugged steel bike with > steel fork they made, I think. At the time I remembered being a bit > sad that the Veloce didn't come with a carbon fork, but over the years > I became glad it was all steel. I also considered buying an Ibis > Hakkalügi cyclocross at one point (I already had an Ibis Uncle Fester > tandem, which I loved), but wasn't quite ready to build up a frame > myself, and also thought it too precious/expensive. The Bianchi was > stolen in 2003 or so, and in 2006 I replaced it with a used > Independent Fabrications Planet Cross (http://tinyurl.com/yduufyx) > that could do double duty as a fast road bike and an off-roader > (though the rear can't quite fit 42 mm knobbies). My Sphinx meanwhile > wore fenders and got me to school and back. I even went so far as to > buy a silly aero wheelset for the Indy Fab so I could switch it back > and forth from road to off road quickly, and was thinking of replacing > the dowdy Sugino triple with something sexier and lighter-weight (I > hadn't yet reallized that there isn't anything sexier than a Sugino). > > But then it started bugging me that the Indy Fab couldn't take fenders > or racks (no braze-ons) and slowly the things that initially turned me > off a bit about Rivendell (why do the MUSA pants have to be two-tone? > Flat pedals? Without toe-straps, even? Mud flaps? In California? > What's up with the ridiculously high stems? [I still don't understand > why Riv doesn't promote Periscopa type stems more, I think they would > look much better than a Technomic raised to the max]), well, those > things didn't bug me so much anymore. I still didn't want to/couldn't > spend $2000 on a frame, the Atlantis seemed heavy and 26" wheels look > wrong to me on a medium-sized drop bar bike, the AHH didn't have > enough tire clearance and I like cantilevers, and for the last couple > of years I was thinking of getting a Surly Cross Check or a Soma > Double Cross and just moving the parts from my Sphinx over. But then I > saw the Soma Speedster and thought why can't someone make a sub-$1000 > cantilever bike with lugs? And then along comes the Hillborne. And in > my favorite bike color ever, burnt orange. And not with (to me, on a > bigger frame) ungainly 26" wheels, yet with good clearance, although > by now I was enough of a retro grouch that the up-sloping top tube > bothered me. :) So I started leaning towards the Velo Orange Rando, > but then I realized that the Hillborne had a much better chance of > being well-thought out in every little detail than the first > production frame from a new company. Besides, the VO Rando still isn't > shipping, and its clearances will probably be smaller than the > AHH's... > > So here I am with my first Grant-designed bike, almost 20 years after > his sensibilities started influencing my bike thinking. I have only > ridden it for a couple of months, but I have the feeling I will ride > it for as long as I ride bikes. I can't imagine outgrowing it or > wanting something different, with the possible exception of an > Atlantis for serious 3rd world touring (though hopefully any touring > will happen with my wife on our tandem), or perhaps a single speed at > some point down the road, or a 650b porteur for running errands, or... > > Thank you, Grant. The Hillborne was worth waiting for. > > Gernot > > Chiang Mai, Thailand -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. 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