And under the “if I knew then what I know now” department… It is really tough to buy a boutique bike without having ridden it. If you’re going to pay >$3000 for a fully tricked-out Rivendell, or ~$1500 for a frame+fork, you want to get it right. So…
Do you have a bike you ride or have ridden that you think really fits you? Try to find that bike on bikeinsights.com, then compare it to the Sams on the same site for stack and reach. You can make an account that lets you modify the configuration - like bigger tires. https://bikeinsights.com/compare?geometries=5b8578f548f3a30004789b21,5d250fb4ff3c94001746ed6e, Take the minimum Sam that has 700c wheels (say a 54) and put out a request on this list to test ride one. “Anybody near (your address) have a 54 Sam I can try?” You’ll get more offers than you think. Live near Atlanta? Come and ride mine. Find a Rivendell dealer, or ideally go to their store in Walnut Creek, and test ride everything you can. You might find that a Sam isn’t quite what you want, but an AHH is. And if you really want that 54 Sam, and your size is close, go get that 54 Sam and modify it until it is your perfect bike. Seat height, stem length, grips, pedals, bars, tires. You can change the whole feel of the bike in a lot of different ways. This method is expensive, but it does result in a good set of tools. -- 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/29ba12b9-f9db-4a0a-b5f4-6956093c63d3n%40googlegroups.com.