Morning Patrick, Kudos to you for staying on a fixed for that long, I can't even imagine..I really, really like gears! :)
Interesting on the tubing issues.. Lemonds are nice bikes for sure, but one thing I will saw from them is they are typically a "long and low" geo.. if that works for you, then great.. just be sure you find a good geo chart, which can be difficult.. you often need to find an older catalog that has that was more of a "build book" to get all of the numbers.. I guess my concern reading your concerns with tubing is if you've bought into the "Rivendell ethos" of bikes, meaning long chainstays, high bars, large sizes for fit (IMHO), etc, I think you may have trouble finding bikes built in this way with "lively" tubing unless you go custom or find a used custom.. I hope I'm wrong, but it just seems bikes build like this are often heavier/stout steel, like a Surley.. One bike I did have at one time that I really liked was the second iteration of the Salsa Casseroll (the blue one).. really good geo/design IMHO, beautiful bike, and just rode beautifully for me.. can't say if it was "Stout" or not, but I regret selling it.. they only made then 2 or three years, so might be kind of hard to find.. Finally, I would point you to the forum I haunt that often has some pretty nice, higher end bikes that will often have sanely designed frames.. ;) https://forums.thepaceline.net/index.php this used to be the old Serotta forum.. Good luck and happy hunting! Chris On Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 7:06:59 PM UTC-7 Patrick Moore wrote: > I asked this on the boblist, but this bears more directly on Rivendell > models. > > I’m not ready to buy one yet, but longer (for me, >30 miles) or hillier > (steep or long hills on distances over 20 miles) rides the bikes I now own > are non-ideal, at least for a rider who is basically fit but 70 years old. > I need, or would like, a wider range, more ratios, and a *freewheel.* > > The wonderful 1999 Rivendell Benchmark Bike is handicapped by its fixed > drivetrain and, even with the wonderful TF hub, I get only 1 alternate > gear, 25% below direct/cruising; thus with the usual 76” direct the > climbing gear is 57”. > > The Matthews #1 — dirt road road bike — has the widest gear range, not > surprising because it’s the only one that has a derailleur drivetrain; with > the Soma slicks, from 96” down to 32”. But while it rolls very nicely on > the flatlands I generally ride it on, on steep hills either the weight or > the admittedly non-sparkling Somas (despite their 360 gram weight for 51 > mm), it felt rather like a pig on the steepest climbs last Sunday: too much > effort expended for forward and upward movement gained. [I think to myself > that the 1999 fixed gofast at 18 lb versus 30 lb might well climb as > easily: much better on shallow inclines, not too much worse, although > requiring standing, on the steep ones; but it’s the steep *and long* ones > that worry me. > > The Matthews #2 might be better: fixed gear, but 3 of them: 72” 65” and a > stump-pulling 54”. But it weighs 26 lb and with the extra light RH Naches > Pass 42s it just doesn’t feel as fast-running as the gofast. > > Both Matthewses were predicated on a more or less Rivendell-like handling; > that was one of Chauncey’s principal remits; and the #2 is a geometrical > clone of a custom Riv road so that’s all right. The Matthews #1 handles > rather like a Riv road with the 622 X 51 mm Somas but obviously even quite > light 29” wheels are not going to handle like very light 26” wheels with > narrower tires. > > Long, long windup. Question begins here: > > Should I look at a Roadeo? I see that there’s a 14 month or more waiting > period after a $1400 non-refundable deposit, but one might score a used 57. > > Used Riv Road? > > Roadini? > > Used Ram? > > I’d probably use 32 mm tires, RH extralights. This will be a *road* bike > for longer distances and hills; I have all rounders and dirt road bikes. > > But I owned a Ram and while it was “not bad at all,” it just felt a bit > staid even with Paris Roubaix open tubulars. I hear the Roadini is quite > stout, and was even told once that I ought to bypass the Roadeo because > with its OS tubing, probably not thinnest-wall, it would probably not > match my proclivity for light tubing. As I’ve said, I sold on m 2003 Curt > custom because the stout tubing (so I assume) seemed always to slightly > hold me back, this over 17 years of riding it. > > Other suggestions? Several suggested LeMonds from a certain period. > > I think of getting a builder to custom-clone that 26” wheel 1999 road > fixed gofast for a derailleur drivetrain; probably not much more expensive > than a Roadeo or a high-end off-the-shelf model as I’ve got most of the > parts for a build. > > Thoughts, general as well as particular? > > Again, just thinking out loud at this point. > > I might just get narrower, 44 mm, RH extralight Snoqualmie Pass tires with > TPU tubes on the Matthews dirt road bike. I have a 50mm+ knobby wheelset > and don’t need 50s; the Somas don’t do well in sand, as it turned out. > Worth the expense? > > Thanks. > > -- > > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing > services > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > *When thou didst not, savage, k**now thine own meaning,* > > *But wouldst gabble like a** thing most brutish,* > > *I endowed thy purposes w**ith words that made them known.* > -- 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]. 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