My wife has a Roadini and a Hillborne. I have a BMC Road (orange with flat fork crown) and a Toyo built 650b AHH. All but the Hillborne are set up as road bikes with drop bars. Down tube shifters on the Roadini and AHH, brifters on the the BMC Road.
First I think a lot of folks would say the price difference is significant, but that's easy enough to look up and form ones own opinion about, so as the op basically asked price aside what do you think, here's what I think. The most significant difference is that the BMC has a threadless headset and stem, whereas the Roadini uses a quill stem. Which is better seems like a mater of personal opinion. Bar height adjustment is easier with a quill stem and you don't take a hack saw to your steerer tube. With threadless there are lots of stems available and they work with the now ubiquitous 31.8mm handlebars. My ritchey threadless rig is likely lighter than the Nitto stem and bar on my wifes bike. Other functional differences are the rear rack mounts of the Roadini that the BMC doesn't have, the different clamp diameter for the front derailleur, and the seat post size. The BMC uses a 27.2 post and there are lots of those on the market. The Roadini's is 26.8 which is less readily available. That said the Roadini comes with a perfectly serviceable seat post in it, and RBW stocks the excellent two bolt Nitto post in 26.8, how many options do you really need. Beyond that I think the differences are mainly cosmetic and so YMMV. The socketed drop outs on the BMC are quite nice but the fork ends and stay to rear dropout junctions on the Roadini are, in my opinion, way nicer. I also think the shaping of the chainstays on the Roadini is very nice, and I like the seat lug. The Roadini head badge is a real head badge as opposed to the BMCs decal. The paw print decal on the non drive side seat stay of the Roadini is a nice touch. The BMC top tube is closer to level and I find the slope much less notable than on the Roadini. On the whole I think the Roadini is a prettier frame but I also think the BMC looks great. I wouldn't argue with anybody who preferred the cosmetics of either one over the other. Now for ride and handeling. Set up for my wife the Roadini does not fit me so I've not really ridden it. But I'd be very surprised if somebody who likes the way the Roadini rides wouldn't like the way the BMC does, and vice-versa. I would not choose between the two based on that. Hope some of that helps. On Sunday, January 14, 2018 at 8:15:09 AM UTC-8, Dave Grossman wrote: > > Anyone have both, or at least ridden both? Prices are close, so that > aside, let me know what you think. Still debating just getting a monster > cross so I can run ss. > > -- 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.
