Agreed, not "bad" but I would rather support RBW or Jitensha than a larger and less personal company, all things being equal...
Doug On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 5:00 PM, cyclotourist <cyclotour...@gmail.com>wrote: > You're thinking of Merry Sales <http://merrysales.com/>, which is a > (smaller??) competitor of QBP. Similar to J & B which is another > distributer (they do Origin 8 bikes/parts). Doesn't automatically make 'em > bad folks to work with. Surly for example puts out some pretty innovative > bikes, same for Salsa. Much rather have one than a Special-Ek. > > On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 4:46 PM, Doug Van Cleve <dvancl...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> That may be, but isn't Soma owned by one of the big distributors, like >> Surly is by QBP? That is what I was referring to, and "large" is relative >> ;^) >> >> Doug >> >> >> >> On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery < >> thill....@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> There aren't many big corporations in the bike biz. I seriously doubt >>> Soma has more than a dozen full-time employees. I believe the frames >>> are made in the same Taiwanese factory that makes the BF/YG. >>> >>> On Mar 21, 6:00 pm, Doug Van Cleve <dvancl...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> > 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<rbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. >> > > > > -- > Cheers, > David > Redlands, CA > > "Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There is something > wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." ~Bill Nye, > scientist guy > -- 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.
