I tend to remember the bikes that really helped to influence and ultimately shape my current preference...
- ''63 Schwinn Typhoon fat-tired SS coaster. (That unmistakable style/look AND feel still lives in my heart) - Garage sale 70s Atala 10-spd frankenbike (probably in it's second or third life). It had nice Campy derailleurs and carried me all around Boston during my college years (late 70s/early 80s)... I also credit this bike with getting me interested in loaded touring - My first mountain bike - 1985 Peugeot Orient Express... mediocre, but re-awakened my interest in biking - 2005 Salsa Ala Carte - after years of full-suspension I re-discovered steel (and have never looked back) - 2007 Kogswell PR - traded in my alu-carbon go-fast Felt racer, further reinforcing my love of steel frames. - 2010 Bombadil - 'nuff said Today my stable consists of only steel bikes... A few 80s MTB-turned-Rivish-all-rounders (StumpJumper, Rockhopper, Trek 970, Schwinn Cimarrons, Mongoose ATB), a 1986 Nishiki Prestige racer, 1989 Fuji Touring Series IV, Niner MCR and SIR, and my trusty Riv SimpleOne. My bike life is perfect (if not a bit crowded...) I want for nothing. Peace, BB On Friday, February 28, 2014 12:13:47 PM UTC-5, jinxed wrote: > Over the last couple weeks I have been fortunate to get out and ride each > of the bikes in my stable. This offered some really surprising comparisons > and conflicted some of my previous thoughts on each bike. My bikes are USA > made and they're all steel, and I'm attached to all of them. They also > happen to be different wheel sizes. 26" Riv AR, 650b OAC Rambler, 29" Spot > MTB, and 700c Cross/race. > > My biking trajectory was BMX - MTB - Cross - Road - and now is some sort > of hybrid of all those. I was a staunch opponent of 29er and clung to 26" > adamantly until I finally gave up and tried the larger wheel size. I had to > eat a lot of crow when I enjoyed it. Since then I've never gone back to 26" > off road, but still held on to romantic praise for it. > > CX was just a natural offshoot of MTB when trying to ride on the road. > Although I raced road bikes, I much preferred riding them in the dirt. My > ultimate ride is a fast swoopy twisty turny jaunt through wooded > singletrack on a CX bike. It's what my bike dreams are made of. > > My first Rivendell was also my first 650b and it felt like a bridge > between the MTB and CX. It seemed to be the true all round that perfectly > fit the way I wanted to ride, and more importantly where I have the most > access to ride. I have several dirt trails I prefer riding on, but I must > take pavement to get there. I think the best aspect of the Rivendell line > in it's entirety is that they do well in many types of terrain. Obviously > age and life circumstances affect how and where I ride, but I find much > more enjoyment out of the exploration type of riding I'm doing now. I > attribute much of that to this list and the ideals behind the bike designs. > > This brings me to my recent riding. If I had ranked my bikes based on > mental attachment, it would have been AR, CX, 650b, 29er. But after riding > them all back to back I realized my enjoyment of the ride of those bikes is > a different sequence: 650b, CX, 29er, AR. > > I'm surprised I prefer larger diameter wheels, because I refuse to admit > 26" is dead! But if I were to choose, 650 is the smallest platform I'd go > to. > -- 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 rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
