The newer Sams have slightly shorter effective top tubes relative to their seat tubes than the first generation ones. The 60cm model had a 61cm top tube and today's 58cm model has a 59cm effective top tube. That may work better for you with drop bars and maybe worse with upright bars.
The 2016 and on 58cm model will have a single top tube as well. Does your bike have a double top tube? I would guess that a double top tube would make a bike less lively, but more tour worthy. If you are more leg than torso I would have recommended going down in size vs up as long as the bars would end up where you want them. Smaller bikes tend to feel more lively and bigger ones tend to be more stable because of the longer wheelbase, but I'm dubious there is a speed difference. I believe that the early Sams had thinner wall tubes but I can't find the specs on those. The "Silver" tubes on the current models are pretty darn thick. The top tube on the 55cm is 0.9 - 0.7mm and the downtube 1.1 - 0.8mm. I think some of the tubes are single butted. I have a early 56cm Atlantis and have always found it sluggish feeling compared to 56 Ram and 57 Bleriot. Its a good tourer and can fit 2" tires, so its a better trail rider, so that is a trade off I accept and I still find rides fun on almost any bike, but the Atlantis did not work out as the "bike for all uses" because of that. It can do it all, but it is not as much fun on unloaded zippy day rides. I believe the current Atlantis has thicker tubing than the early generation ones, but Riv doesn't like to talk about tubing so I'm not sure. -Dave J On Thursday, January 5, 2017 at 5:29:16 PM UTC-5, John Bokman wrote: > > I'm trying to discern if there's any real (not imagined) physical > properties of the upsloping top tube on my 2009 Sam that would make it a > sluggish climber. I've never cared for the aesthetics of the sloped frame, > so I'm thinking it could be in my head. But the truth is, I've always felt > the bike is sluggish climbing, and I'm curious what other's think. Granted, > tires make a big difference, but regardless of tires and tire pressures > (I've used many variants), the result is the same for me: sluggish > climbing. Whatever you do, please don't tell me it's the motor! > > > -- 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.
