New to road riding in 2001, I followed the hoi polloi and went lighter and trendier from Trek Navigator to Fuji Touring to a KHS race bike. They were progressively lighter and less comfortable. All steel frames though! In 2005, I came across Rivendell while looking for a part online at the Harris Cyclery website. Particularly the Rambouillet. I was intrigued by the "unracer" mindset and riding without being hunched over or clipped in and still staying up with others. In 2006 I ordered the Ram (which is currently out of r a repaint) and was just wowed by its ride, fit and finish. A pretty bike that got lots of positive comments and is easy to "just ride." I followed that the next year with a used canti Saluki off this list for touring. TBH, it was under used as I found touring was okay but not really my thing and I passed it on, again through this list. I picked up a 1995 Road Prototype frameset again from this list in 2009. It has a level top tube and short headtube. It also has standard Waterford front geometry coupled to a slack seat tube angle and longer stays that are signature RBW. 4 1/2 CM larger than my size in a 700c bike, it fits great with a 650B conversion. This bike was made at Waterford from Reynolds 753. Last Summer, it developed a crack in a chainstay. I emailed pictures to Grant who replied that it was very fixable. A frame builder in Clearwater FL was suggested to me and the tube was successfully replaced. It is being repainted this weekend (first coat) and I'll get it back in about 2 weeks. The cost is about 1/3 that of a new frame from Waterford or an RBW made by them. I'm looking forward to getting both back and building them back up in new ways. It will be just lke 2 new bikes! I've put about 15K on the Ram and 10K on the Road, thhe rest of my miles (about 52K total) spread around on other bikes no longer here and 2 that are still around.
The Riv way is not always entirely in synch with my own tastes (some of the current bikes, pine soap or hatchets for example), but the over arching ideas of bridging gaps with bikes, of their being an extension of ourselves, and being like a 6th sense that helps us take in the world around us resonates strongly with me. Pictures of the repainted bikes as they happen! -- 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.
