Great first-hand info, John. I'd love to see a photo of your bike. From
replies in this thread, and the timing they relay, I'm kind of starting to
wonder if I don't have the last Joe Starck AR frame. I missed the drama at
the time but hope he's doing well.
On Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at 10:06:35 AM UTC-6 EverRed wrote:
> I ordered my AR in 1998 and got it in 1999. Between ordering it and
> receiving it the maker changed from Joe Stark to Match. GP wrote me a
> letter asking if it was okay to change. I wanted to stay with Joe but
> since it wasn’t possible I accepted Match.
>
> Mine is a 59 with 26 inch wheels but I think I would have preferred larger
> wheels for aesthetic reasons.
>
> When I got it I was disappointed with the plain lugs (like on Plumber’s
> red AR above) but I ended up liking them better than the fancier lugs. I
> think the simpler lugs were more in keeping with how I used it - touring
> and about town being the majority of my riding.
>
> It was also supposed to fit a front rack - Riv supplied but I don’t
> remember which one - but it did not. They sent me a replacement fork but
> the paint didn’t match so I ended up sending the rack and the replacement
> fork back. I bought a Bruce Gordon lowrider from someone on the BOB list
> and that fit.
>
> My only real complaint is that there is no provision for a fender
> attachment at the chain stay bridge. I came up with a workable solution
> but it would have been nice to have a straightforward attachment point.
> Soon after I got it GP wrote an article about how cool it was to attach
> fenders with wire ties and I’ve always wondered if that was because of the
> missing chain stay attachment point.
>
> The frame is a little noodly when fully loaded but in a good way - I like
> the way it feels. I have found that it shimmies when I use a handlebar bag
> although this might be because of a longish stem. Having said that, the
> handlebars are level with the seat.
>
> I still ride and enjoy it regularly but I have no experience of later Rivs
> so can’t offer a comparison. I’ve used Mustache, Noodle, Randoneur and
> Porteur bars over the years. The Porteurs are on it currently, I like the
> upright position but the ends are too close so I’ll be making another
> change sometime soon.
>
> I’ve recently got a purpose built touring bike (Rodriguez Phinney Ridge)
> but I doubt if I’ll ever get rid of the AR.
>
> John
>
> On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 4:31:50 AM UTC-4 divis...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Bruce Gordon's mid-fork mounts are intended for Bruce's lowrider front
>> rack, and for nothing else >:-P
>>
>> I built up my late lamented Raleigh International with BG front+rear
>> racks, and had long intended to have contact points brazed on for them,
>> along with pivot posts for centerpulls. I even sounded Bruce out once on
>> whether he'd be willing to do the work ("only if I don't have to mess with
>> the paint afterwards"). Bruce closed the shop before I got to it, then
>> died, then I wrecked the Raleigh.
>>
>> Bruce's attachment principles were similar to Grant's. He used
>> metal+rubber P-clamps for forks without properly located midfork braze-ons
>> (i.e., any fork he hadn't made), and used the twisted Erector set metal
>> diving boards to attach the rear rack to the seat stays. I found this
>> attachment method unacceptably ugly, and replaced the ugly-o P-clamps with
>> Tubus fork clamps in front (on the Raleigh) and Tubus
>> turnbuckles+rails+stainless steel seatstay clamps (the Raleigh had no rack
>> attachment points). Made the thing look far more purpose-built. The one
>> disadvantage was that the Tubus fork clamps pushed the sides of the rack
>> out about 5mm from each leg, as they're really intended as attachment
>> points for Tubus' own front racks. The BG rack sides are further inboard,
>> to get the weight closer to the centerline.
>>
>> I replaced the Raleigh with a Trek 720, which has midfork braze-ons. I
>> was upset to discover that the attachment points on Bruce's rack were about
>> 40mm above the fork's braze-ons, which were probably intended for the old
>> Blackburn lowrider. I've got the whole mess held on with P-clamps now, but
>> it ticks me off every time I think about it. Maybe someday I'll move the
>> canti posts to work as centerpull pivots, and have midfork braze-ons put in
>> the right location at the same time.
>>
>> The big question is: Why aren't more racks made like the Mark's rack and
>> the Nitto UD-1/UD-2 from Rene Herse? There have to be more people trying to
>> retrofit racks to older frames with idiosyncratic attachment points. I've
>> bought four different handlebar bag racks trying to fit the center brake
>> hole-to-canti post on the Trek (sized for 27"). None of them work, because
>> they're all designed for 700c.
>>
>> Peter "arrrgh" Adler
>> Berkeley, CA/USA
>>
>>
>> On Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 5:29:03 AM UTC-7 Steven Sweedler wrote:
>>
>> I wonder when Nitto introduced the flexible strut mounts (Mark’s rack)
>> vs. the rigid struts of the rack on Robert Tilleys AR. The 700 c AR that I
>> had came with the same rack as Roberts. Bruce Gordon’s mid rack mounts were
>> not compatible with that Nitto rack.
>>
>>
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