I think that part of the issue is racy weight conscious 25mm tire riders probably aren't looking at rivendell or surly since they have aspirations to be "fast" in the club. I banish them to madone land, hahaha. Sometimes you can't have it all, why not just 2 bikes that each serve a purpose they were built for. There is enough room in even my tiny brooklyn apt for two dedicated rigs, but neither one is for racing, I leave that to the lance wanna bes out there in their team kit crouched over tiny plastic bikes. On May 17, 2012 10:52 PM, "Aaron Thomas" <aaron.a.tho...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Jim, > > As someone who straddles the line between Rivendellish sensibilities and > club rider hammering, I can relate to the seemingly divergent desires of > your customer. And I wonder whether there needs to be such a stark > dichotomy drawn between a "practical" bike and one suitable for > fitness-oriented clubby rides. > > Others have suggested a Surly LHT. My thought is another: why not one of > the new Surly Pacers, which are designed for standard reach brakes? It > could be built up in a racy, weight-conscious way with a smart mix of > Ritchey or FSA parts and a SRAM Apex or Rival gruppo. A Burly could be > affixed when necessary. And I'm blanking now, but aren't there pedals out > there that have simultaneous clipless and regular shoe capabilities? > > Perhaps she could be outfitted with two wheelsets, one with some Jack > Browns for Burly duties, the other with some "sensible" (to me) 25mm > performance tires, such as Michelin Krylion or Panaracer Type-D. > > The only thing that might get in the way of a truly dual-purpose Pacer > would be the rack, which would add unnecessary weight and drag when used > for club rides. > > Sounds good to me. Wouldn't mind one myself! > > Aaron > > On Thursday, May 17, 2012 6:09:55 AM UTC-7, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery > wrote: >> >> Just Ride was on my mind yesterday when I tried to help a woman decide on >> her first nice bike. She wants a sporty-ish bike for Burley-pulling and it >> would be nice if it had a rack. Easy enough. But she's also athletic and >> aspires to the racer archetype. I should add that she's the type of woman >> that most men would notice in any crowd, which means that various bike >> dudes have tried to "help" her with all sorts of advice. All the usual >> suspects were present: the necessity and efficiency of clipless pedals, the >> magical properties of carbon, and the (baffling-to-me) popularity of >> time-trial bikes, none of which are necessary, or even desirable, in a bike >> for daily errands and family rides. Anyway, she was clearly struggling with >> the perceived compromises between making a bike useful and making a bike >> fast (or at least light/expensive enough to impress the racer wannabe >> crowd). I thought to myself: this would be a lot easier if she could drop >> the racer notions and stop hanging out with guys who read Bicycling >> Magazine as a comprehensive source of cycling wisdom. >> >> On Thursday, May 10, 2012 1:15:32 AM UTC-5, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery >> wrote: >>> >>> Maybe there should be a spoiler alert here - be advised that I will be >>> discussing various aspects of the new book, so navigate away from this page >>> if you prefer the content of the book to be a complete surprise. >>> >>> I finished reading the book tonight, which if I can summarize in a line, >>> is about all the good things about bikes that appear only when you toss >>> racer prejudices and attitudes out the window and Just Ride. After the >>> first few chapters, I thought that maybe the editors really sanitized GP's >>> historically familiar against-the-grain opinions to be more blandly >>> vanilla, hopefully to be appealing to a broader audience. The general >>> content wasn't unpredictable to me, having read the Readers and Catalogs >>> and most everything else Riv going back to 2004 when I wanted a touring >>> bike and couldn't find any to buy except the Atlantis (that's how I first >>> found Riv in the internet universe). But I was somewhat surprised that >>> there was little to no discernible lug evangelism or quill stem absolutism >>> or singing the praises of friction shifters, and the Retro-Grouchiness was >>> held to a dull roar. >>> >>> But as I got further along in the book, I started to think that maybe Mr >>> Petersen has simply mellowed about the trivial details over the years (I >>> know I have!). Or maybe more accurately, there's less to be peeved about in >>> the bike industry now than there was 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. >>> After all, smart, sturdy bikes with ample tire clearance and useful >>> braze-ons and some attention to classic, non-billboard aesthetics have >>> become, dare I say, normal. If racing bikes and gear are the status quo in >>> the world, then I must live in a lucky bubble in South Minneapolis where I >>> ride and fix bikes every day, as I see lots of reincarnated 1980s >>> sport-tourers, old steel MTBs, and new(ish) Surly Cross-checks and LHTs on >>> a daily basis, but feel like I see relatively few "road bikes" being ridden >>> by obvious faux-racers. To the extent that bike trends have steered toward >>> the benefit of the "Unracer" over the past decade or so, my opinion is that >>> Grant and Rivendell played a large part in it. This is not to say that all >>> smart bike designs and product offerings are shameless Riv-ripoffs, but >>> that Grant gave voice to a backlash movement and opened a long-neglected >>> market to a lot of smart, creative people who maybe couldn't or wouldn't >>> have done it without some pioneering coattails to ride on. >>> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/6oS99OY1c4gJ. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@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. > -- 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-bunch@googlegroups.com. 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