I realized that there's another reason for the ride feeling like it does. Usually I ride this as a commuter, with a Kryptonite New York lock strapped on top of the rear rack, so much of my impression of the ride comes from this. Removing this saved about 7 lbs from right on top of the rear wheel. The ride is noticeably different without this weight, because the bike is much easier to rock from side to side. Once my current tires wear out maybe I'll try something high end and see what else that does for it.
Perhaps frame tubing stiffness makes only a small difference in ride feeling, while cargo weight distribution and tires make big differences. On Sun, Mar 21, 2021 at 12:44 PM Patrick Moore <bertin...@gmail.com> wrote: > I can vouch for the suppleness and fast-rolling quality of the 1.8" RH > Naches Pass tire, in the "normal" as well as the "EL" versions. In my > experience, they give up little, perhaps nothing, to the sublime rolling > quality of the ultra light, 175-gram RH Elk Pass. > > But I doubt whether even the best tire will make a dead bike feel alive. I > used the Elk Pass on my erstwhile 2003 Curt Goodrich Riv custom, then used > the same wheels and tires on the replacement Matthews frame. The Curt just > felt sluggish* in a way that the Matthews does not, and I was immediately > struck, on first riding it, how "easier to pedal" the latter is when, say, > coming to an incline or turning into a headwind -- all this especially > noticeable because on a fixed gear one cannot gear down. > > *Relatively speaking, that is, compared to, say, the 1999 Joe Starck > custom (also shod with the Elk Pass) and to other frames built of less > robust tubing. The 2003 wasn't *horrible,* just noticeably "non-optimum." > > On Sun, Mar 21, 2021 at 10:06 AM 'John Hawrylak' via RBW Owners Bunch < > rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> wrote: > >> Jan Heine sells 26"x 1.8" supple tires by Panaracer. perhaps a $72 >> investment would 'soften up' your ride to the maximum extent possible. If >> still too harsh, a new flexible frame would be the next step. >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/F2Xb1h39K4w/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfguAc_0caSpNpAnLJ1Fomjb_sQ1Nh_%2BkdbgMciH%2B6wzjog%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfguAc_0caSpNpAnLJ1Fomjb_sQ1Nh_%2BkdbgMciH%2B6wzjog%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAE_rN%3D2TWpuOzLqUpDKpxFbidjaF7NUiuyUWEqkxqS%2BGc5v95A%40mail.gmail.com.
