On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 8:59 PM, Esteban <proto...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I think one of the critical questions that wasn't asked during the > rSogn design dicussion (IRRC, as the discussions were pulled down), is > "why change the Sogn?" That being said, the new bike sounds really > cool.
I feel like I remember there being some rumbling around tubing size and profile as one reason to change it. People liked the fat tire and steeper angles on the bike, but wanted a livelier tube set. But maybe I'm projecting my own selective memory. > > I've sat at two dinners where it was discussed how people have broken > their standard-diameter tubed frames off-road. With a standard- > diamter Ebisu on the way, I took note. Even Grant warns against some > rough riding on the OS Roadeo (and Riv always overbuilds in terms of > strength). Yep. The bikes can break, I've busted/cracked tubes at the bottom brackets twice on standard-gauge Bridgestone road bikes (an RB1 and an RBT) by riding off-road on them. But in my case, I'd blame the shoddy bottom bracket brazing before I blamed the standard gauge tubing. But, there is a lot more flex at the bottom bracket with standard gauge tubing than there is with big fat and thick OS tubes, so there's likely some blame towards the standard tubing for these failures. If I were in Grant's (or any bike maker's) shoes, I'd overbuild too. But steel is fixable and generally fails in a way to give you plenty of warning. Whether or not the difference in handling characteristics is worth it is the question. To me, it's worth it and I have no problem fixing/brazing/hacking broken stuff together for the sake of the ride quality characteristics/handling I prefer. (Here's an example: http://tinyurl.com/2a86nca -- kind of hard to see through the mud, but the yellow paint around the chainstays is where we drilled/filled some cracks around the bottom bracket. This is a really fun bike to ride -- I prefer it because it flexes so much and as a steep-ish front end.) > > There's a reason, I think, why the Bomba has that cross-tube. The > last thing you want to think off-road is that something may break and > you've got a 5 hour hike to the next water. My take on the cross tube is that it's both strength and an aesthetic thing. For any type of riding I like, I think the Bomba looks way over built. -- John Speare Spokane, WA USA http://cyclingspokane.blogspot.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
