You're correct, Doug, about the YG v. Betty Foy. I too was thinking "What's the dif?" and leaning to the Foy over the YG. Still, the Soma holds my interest. As for the corporate thing, don't forget that Grant Peterson just designed the Amos for Soma, and he will be selling that frame at RBW, so I don't think they are entirely evil. That said, I do like the notion of the semi-custom Ebisu. Price, too, is a consideration, but not necessarily a deal breaker.
Does anyone have pix of the Velo Orange mixte other than what's on the site? Ray ________________________________ From: Doug Van Cleve <dvancl...@gmail.com> To: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com Sent: Sun, March 21, 2010 4:00:41 PM Subject: Re: [RBW] Re: Gomez versus . . . (Was: Part #1 of a Three Part Question A few thoughts: YG or Ebisu = supporting the little guy, Soma = large faceless corporation pretending to be counterculture. Single TT a la Herse/Singer is absolutely stiffer, that's why most craft built mixtes have been that way. YG and Ebisu are lugged, Soma is welded (right?). As already mentioned, anything other than drop bars makes it easy to deal with a longer top tube. Ebisu has cantis, debatably stronger than sidepulls and easy enough to set up assuming modern ones. Why is the YG $200 more than the Betty Foy? Other than being named after a female character, is there anything more feminine about the BF than that YG? For $200 less, I think I like it better. I personally would narrow it down to the RBW product or Ebisu. Money not an object, the Ebisu is the classiest. Since they are at least semi-custom, I wonder if you could get horizontal dropouts on one of those? Regards, Doug On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 3:45 PM, Ray Shine <r.sh...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > >Thank you, everyone --- > >My handlebar choice will be (at the moment) either inverted Albatross or a set >of Jitensha flat bars that I once had mounted on my Atlantis. Those bars >still have the Paul thumbies and the Paul levers on them, so that is the >option I'm leaning to. > >The other responses regarding tire width -- I'd like to do something between >35 and bigger. Thanks for the link to the Soma 650B conversion. That looks >interesting. I do like the canti brakes of the Ebisu. I like canti brakes. > >The other neat thing about the Soma is the horizontal drop out. I was giving >serious consideration to trying out that new 9-speed IGH. And, I really like >the double top tube design. I wonder if it is as strong as the Riv and Ebisu > designs. > >As for the Riv's. Yes, I am a Riv fan (I own three Riv's already) but the >Gomez just doesn't catch my eye, frankly. I could get by the goofy name and >"International Man. . ." thing if other aspects came together. I like the >intended use of the Gomez, and the way it could be set like a Hillborne, but I >think it's the least stylish of the three bikes I mentioned. > >Thank you also for the Velo Orange link. That looks good as well, so maybe >now it's a choice of four models. > >Ray > -- 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. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- 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. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.