I have to add, if you've never tried a carbon bike, you should take a spin. Light and fast is definitely pretty fun. Light and fast with decent width tires even moreso. Not what I want to do all of the time (or most), but definitely enough of the time that I keep a carbon bike in the stable.
Will On Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at 8:26:40 AM UTC-4 Nicholas A wrote: > I used to race bikes, I still watch bike racing, I may even go back to > bike racing when my kids are older, it makes me happy. > > I don't own any race bikes anymore. I have two, hopefully later this year > three, Rivendells, they make me happy. > > If your bike makes you happy it's a great, relevant, wonderful bike. > > On Wednesday, 2 April 2025 at 01:19:25 UTC+1 Garth wrote: > >> Well gee, this group is rather insulated bunch. In the rest of cycling >> world. Relatively speaking, a Riv bike costing well over 2 grand on the low >> end isn't exactly in the "common person" category. Tell a non-rider what >> your bike costs and they are generally shocked. Point being, Riv riders, >> Grant, or Jan Heine, or any other cycling related author isn't in any >> position to be telling people what's relevant in the cycling and or >> non-cycling world either. They are sales people also after all, just like >> all the carbon manufacturers and bike racers and organizers. I read all the >> time in other bike forums how the brand Rivendell is irrelevant to them,. >> So it seems everyone is irrelevant to someone. L'eggo my E'go ! >> >> Hey, I don't relate to commuting on bike either. I don't relate to riding >> the CA hills on a hillybike either. I don't relate to high sweptback bars >> either. I don't relate to wearing wool or whatever else Riv sells for >> clothing. I don't relate to the common Riv bike fit either. And I don't >> relate to wider tires being anything other than, hark ! wider. >> Oh the humanity ! ... and so what ? >> >> I do relate to the manual bike though. The steel frame, and rim brakes >> and friction shifting. I like Schwalbe tires also. I like bikes one can >> work on at home. I like that I can wear whatever I want to suit my >> locality. >> >> So see, all that non-relating is really irrelevant. In my own family, >> there's many things about everyone I don't relate with and vice-versa. How >> well does anyone really know anyone anyways, truly ? Yeah, so what ? What >> fun would that be, for everyone to like the same things, to be a bunch of >> mini-Me's ? Booooooring and frankly, un-natural. The World thrives on and >> AS It's Inherent diverse nature, not it's non-existent monotony. That's >> where the supposed do-gooders have it all backwards. What already exists >> can't be made, and what doesn't can't be unmade. >> >> On Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 3:39:11 PM UTC-4 [email protected] wrote: >> >>> And you can add the fact that Jan Heine has pulled an April fools joke >>> for at least a couple of years now. >>> - But seriously, ride the bike that jazzes you and keeps you coming back >>> for more. >>> >>> >>> On Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 2:22:53 PM UTC-4 [email protected] >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Guys, it's April 1st. >>>> >>>> There are so many "clues" in that "story" I'm actually shocked anyone >>>> took it seriously. >>>> >>>> *"Well, this ends our plans of sending a team on 55 mm tires to * >>>> Paris-Roubaix" >>>> >>>> That and the fact RH makes a very, very specific sized 31 road tire. >>>> >>>> On Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 11:20 AM Steve <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Different strokes for different folks. Whatever spins your wheels!!! >>>>> >>>>> If charging up a battery so you can shift gears and emulating the >>>>> attire of paid professionals is your thing, then do what you want to do >>>>> (to >>>>> paraphrase the Isley Brothers). If you are enamored of a CF handlebar >>>>> with >>>>> a digital display that tracks your kph and watts per hour then go for >>>>> it. >>>>> >>>>> But if you like riding a Rivendell - like I do - then my hat is off >>>>> to you!!! >>>>> >>>>> Steve in AVL . >>>>> >>>>> On Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 1:58:38 PM UTC-4 Shannon Menkveld wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> First, riders haven't had to fix their own race bikes since the >>>>>> "Googles and Dust" era, and even then it was mostly because Henri >>>>>> Desgrange >>>>>> was an utter, flaming asshole... races that he didn't run were much more >>>>>> lenient. And, as a spectator sport, somebody brazing their fork back >>>>>> together at 10 pm in the rain just isn't that much fun to watch. As a >>>>>> fan, >>>>>> I'd get ride of tactical mid-race bike changes, i.e. you pick your bike >>>>>> for >>>>>> the course, and you're stuck with it. If it breaks, you get another of >>>>>> the >>>>>> same bike. I'd also remove the team radios. Let riders communicate with >>>>>> their team cars through race radio, where everybody else can hear what >>>>>> they're saying. The radios have made races less tactical and more >>>>>> predictable, less dependent on the rider's ability to read the race. But >>>>>> in-race mechanical support? No, that stays in. As a spectator, it'd be >>>>>> lame >>>>>> to watch someone lose their chance to win a race because their chain >>>>>> broke >>>>>> or they flatted. Plus, I like the tradition that attacking someone who's >>>>>> had a mechanical is considered poor sportsmanship. >>>>>> >>>>>> 2nd, adults who ride bicycles when they don't have to are really, >>>>>> really weird. And even among those weirdos, the weirdos who ride their >>>>>> bikes to the grocery store are really, really weird. Most of the >>>>>> bicycle-riding weirdos ride for fun and exercise, not for >>>>>> transportation. >>>>>> and that's unlikely to change. If the industry stopped making racing and >>>>>> racing-inspired bikes tomorrow, the vast majority of them wouldn't >>>>>> become >>>>>> utility cyclists. *They'd just stop riding.* >>>>>> >>>>>> Really, what we used to call fast-recreational riders who are riding >>>>>> those race bikes would be better off riding high-end versions of what we >>>>>> used to call sport-touring bikes. Indeed, many of them are... they're >>>>>> just >>>>>> called "gravel bikes" these days. Longer chainstays, low gears, wide >>>>>> tires, >>>>>> lots of attachment points for racks and stuff, etc. And you know what? >>>>>> Their owners still aren't taking them to the grocery store. >>>>>> >>>>>> --Shannon >>>>>> On Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 9:35:14 AM UTC-7 Doug Williams wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Yes, most likely April 1st. But that doesn't change the fact that >>>>>>> race bikes are useless to real people. In times of old, you had to do >>>>>>> your >>>>>>> own repairs during a race. If racers were required to do their own >>>>>>> repairs >>>>>>> and to start and finish on the same bike, we would all be riding USEFUL >>>>>>> and >>>>>>> reliable bikes instead of single purpose race bikes when we go to the >>>>>>> grocery store. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 9:28:14 AM UTC-7 [email protected] >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> (April) 1st of all, I'm betting that you got trolled. More >>>>>>>> importantly, riding a bike quickly around a paved loop to and from >>>>>>>> your >>>>>>>> door, (H/T Maynard Hershon, "roadies ride from the door",) just for >>>>>>>> fun and >>>>>>>> fitness and because you can, is not a less legitimate use of a bicycle >>>>>>>> than >>>>>>>> riding one to and from work, or the grocery store. Not every bike has >>>>>>>> to be >>>>>>>> "useful." >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> And as to "carbon is unsafe," it's simply not true, as shown by the >>>>>>>> number of bonded carbon Treks that are still ridden regularly three >>>>>>>> decades >>>>>>>> after they were made. And that includes the mountain bikes, which >>>>>>>> presumably got ridden hard and crashed a lot... that's what happens to >>>>>>>> mountain bikes. I've rarely seen any carbon frame break in a crash >>>>>>>> that >>>>>>>> wouldn't have broken a metal bike, and the rider would have been >>>>>>>> equally >>>>>>>> screwed either way. I don't ride carbon bikes because I don't care for >>>>>>>> the >>>>>>>> way they feel, not because I think that they're unsafe. They're not, >>>>>>>> and I >>>>>>>> don't. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> And, if there were no barriers to owning all the bikes we want, I >>>>>>>> bet that most of us here would have at least one lightweight, >>>>>>>> modernish, >>>>>>>> go-fast bike. Mine would probably be steel or titanium, but that's >>>>>>>> just >>>>>>>> because I prefer the way that they ride. Every carbon bike Ive ever >>>>>>>> owned >>>>>>>> has been weirdly feel-less. All of the aluminum ones have been too >>>>>>>> stiff >>>>>>>> for my taste... I like a bit of bend in the bottom bracket. (And I'd >>>>>>>> really >>>>>>>> like a Vitus 979... blue anodized, please.) >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> --Shannon >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 9:05:48 AM UTC-7 Bruce Byker James >>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> [image: Screenshot 2025-04-01 at 12.02.06 PM.png] >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> On Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 11:55:33 AM UTC-4 Doug Williams wrote: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> This is why bicycle racing is completely irrelevant to people who >>>>>>>>>> actually use their bike for transportation. For a long time, I have >>>>>>>>>> been >>>>>>>>>> saying that race bicycle design is so divorced from real world >>>>>>>>>> useful >>>>>>>>>> bicycling as to be completely irrelevant. Why on earth would anyone >>>>>>>>>> buy a >>>>>>>>>> race bike and use it for their commute or for..well, anything except >>>>>>>>>> a >>>>>>>>>> professional race while being followed by a motorized maintenance >>>>>>>>>> crew >>>>>>>>>> carrying several backup race bikes? A carbon fiber race bike is >>>>>>>>>> fragile, >>>>>>>>>> dangerous, and completely unsuitable for any real world purpose. For >>>>>>>>>> quite >>>>>>>>>> some time, the scientific consensus has been that wider tires are >>>>>>>>>> safer, >>>>>>>>>> more reliable, and more comfortable. Now that science is equally >>>>>>>>>> clear that >>>>>>>>>> wide tires are FASTER on real world roads, the reaction has been >>>>>>>>>> to...ban >>>>>>>>>> tires wider than 31mm? >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> https://www.renehersecycles.com/uci-limits-road-bike-tires-to-31-mm/ >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Seriously, the bicycling community needs to wake up and stop >>>>>>>>>> idolizing racers, race bikes, and the companies that promote them. >>>>>>>>>> These >>>>>>>>>> people are working to promote bikes that are terrible for any useful >>>>>>>>>> transportation purpose. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Doug >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> -- >>>>> >>>> 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 [email protected]. >>>>> >>>> To view this discussion visit >>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b394de67-b8c2-48b6-97e1-751359dd5c73n%40googlegroups.com >>>>> >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b394de67-b8c2-48b6-97e1-751359dd5c73n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>>> . >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> — >>>> >>>> Philip M. Watts >>>> (917) 514 2207 <(917)%20514-2207> >>>> >>>> — >>>> >>> -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/661b8929-3f60-4d02-9ca6-e50359956008n%40googlegroups.com.
