Even though I am still figuring out some crankset/BB issues on a preferred set-up, I could not stand it and built the bike up and went riding! This is very much the beta release, though the basics are certainly there. It will, I think, end up with Berthoud fenders, racks (Tubus Cosmo rear, Nitto 27f up front), a B&M LED mounted to the front rack (all from the last of the nice parts stash) and maybe even, at some point, a fancy Rivendell saddle bag?!
Current build: Mavic A719 rims, SON front hub, Phil rear, older but very nice 8-speed (12-32) cassette, Schwalbe Mondial tires (700x45 (marked 700x47)) Nitto Bullmoose bars, Tektro City brake levers, Silver shifters mounted on Paul Thumbies, Ergon GP1 cork grips Old school XT derailleurs Brooks Cambium C17 saddle - slate Currently XT M770 triple mountain crankset - eventually will be Sugino AT triple I love it!! These words do not come easily but I do believe this is my last real bike and build. It seems my knee is checking out before the rest of me so the ongoing succession of bikes I have had will slow or end here. But here, with the Appaloosa as the last, that seems much better than it could be. Impressions so far... At times it seems like a big bike, especially when getting it out the door(!), as it is longer and wider than some other bikes. But standover is perfect though I am accustomed to big bikes. This is a 58cm and I have a pbh of ~89cm for reference. I would never be able to ride 62cm though, at least not with the larger tires these bikes call out for. That said, at times it seems small as well, as it is light on its feet and very maneuverable even at slow speeds and great for exploring. The Bullmoose bars help with that I think but I have to say I was surprised to find the bars so, well, relaxed! I would have thought they would feel a little more aggressive down as low as they go but they are about level with the saddle and feel a little higher than that. The Appaloosa is just designed to get the bars up high without craziness. A Nitto stem with other bars could probably lower things if needed, not that I need. My other preferred bars these days are MAP/Ahearne's but I am not so sure they would be much different than the Bullmoose though experiments are always possible. I am only guessing but I also believe I could ride this bike with drop bars if I decided (probably with a dirt drop stem), again not that I think I will. Good to have options and ways to experiment though. One thing that really worked out well, at least for the moment, is the 8-speed shifting with the Paul Thumbie mounted Silver shifters. They just work perfectly, intuitively, and beg the question on how shifting could be any easier. I have always been a friction shifting guy but these take it all to a new level.... perfect for what I wanted. For reference I am using the special base adapters for using the Silver shifters with the Thumbies. Anyway, like I said, this is only the first, get it on the road, build. Apologies for the far less than great pictures as well... more to come and better I hope. I am lucky enough to have a very special Cheviot as well, so one day I will get pictures of that bike up to Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/21182339@N05/albums/72157682579281726 Bob Lovejoy Galesburg, IL -- 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.
