Sam appreciation and envy at STP

[Scot Brooks]

Living through this last weekend's Seattle to Portland bike ride was pretty great, and there were quite a few Riv spottings along the way. There was a couple with two...Atlanti, Atlantises...whatever, a couple Rams at least, and I think I spotted a Bleriot. Non compared to the Sam I saw while waiting in the UW parking lot for the bike trucks to unload. It was a new color 56 with double top tubes of course, nitto front and rear racks, Nigel Smythe front and rear tweed excellence, Brooks of course, Silver shifters, SON dynohub, Edelux (I believe) light, and the list goes on. It really was the ultimate expression of a Sam for me. What's worse is that it made mine look like a wretch. Mine has all the sam SORT of stuff, but just the low brow versions of...everything. I think the bell was even better. Hopefully it made it back to its owner, because it was there for at least 2 1/2 hours while I was waiting, and I left at maybe 11:45pm. 

[Peter Morgano]

Take heart in that since there are no pictures it didn't really exist!  :-)

On Jul 16, 2012 9:20 PM, "Scot Brooks" <scothi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Living through this last weekend's Seattle to Portland bike ride was pretty great, and there were quite a few Riv spottings along the way. There was a couple with two...Atlanti, Atlantises...whatever, a couple Rams at least, and I think I spotted a Bleriot. Non compared to the Sam I saw while waiting in the UW parking lot for the bike trucks to unload. It was a new color 56 with double top tubes of course, nitto front and rear racks, Nigel Smythe front and rear tweed excellence, Brooks of course, Silver shifters, SON dynohub, Edelux (I believe) light, and the list goes on. It really was the ultimate expression of a Sam for me. What's worse is that it made mine look like a wretch. Mine has all the sam SORT of stuff, but just the low brow versions of...everything. I think the bell was even better. Hopefully it made it back to its owner, because it was there for at least 2 1/2 hours while I was waiting, and I left at maybe 11:45pm. 

--
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/-/SEFYAPDDWhIJ.
To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.

[Scot Brooks]

Haha, that's a very good point Peter. I gave it a go, but the iphone couldn't muster the high ISO necessary for a dark parking lot shot. Maybe the proud owner will come forward and provide a photo or two. 

[rcnute]

I only saw one this year--yellow Hilsen on "the hill" on day 1.

Ryan

[Andy Smitty Schmidt]

I was running an errand in north Portland on Saturday morning and happened on some STP signage. I followed it for a ways on my AHH but then it went that way and I wanted to go this way. I'm not exactly sure how this little anecdote is relevant other than I don't have any pics to prove it happened. :-)

--Andy

[Tony Lockhart]

Scot, focus on the doughnut...not the doughnut hole. You've got a really awesome bike.  (:

On Monday, July 16, 2012 6:20:23 PM UTC-7, Scot Brooks wrote:

[gep7...@gmail.com]

Hey Scot,
Everything from the paint up is nearly frivolous and unimportant. I mean, the difference. There is beauty in low-brow, and it's hard to talk about it with precision, because there are so many other associations that lead you astray. Even "low-brow," although we all know what you mean. The "beauty" in it is the same kind of beauty there is in a Little League home run compared to a Major League homer. Nobody could say it's any less, and in its own way it's even more. Also, don't discount the "everybody's bike is cooler and rides better than mine" phenomenon. Obviously if the bike doesn't fit or there's something wrong with it, but there is absolutely a tendency to wish you had what you don't. The new Sams are no better than the early ones. Not even by an atom!

On Monday, July 16, 2012 6:20:23 PM UTC-7, Scot Brooks wrote:

[Andy Smitty Schmidt]

I believe it was Jim Thill who made a comment a while back about how he loves when a "nice" bike has some less-nice components or accessories. I agree. The tragedy is a bike that's 10 years old and is still new. I've seen FS posts like that on the list here a couple times... Somebody buys a really nice bike and outfits it with top shelf stuff, but then it sits and never goes anywhere. I remember in one instance it was health related but I'd guess others are more "now that I have my perfect bike, it's too nice to ride" kind of attitude. The bike that gets ridden is the beautiful one. 

You don't need to look any further than the bottom of this recent Blug post for a perfect example. That's not what most of us would consider a "nice" bike, but the kid's out there touring on it. I'll bet he's having the time of his life on that bike. When River is back home talking about and remembering the trip he's not going to be concerned with whether or not shinier bits would have made it better.  

I'm guilty of falling into one side or the other of the "that bike is better than mine" envy (or smugness if I'm thinking it's my bike thats the better one). I try to catch myself before my head gets too big or I get too obsessive about upgrading some shiny bit. I find the more I ride the less I get trapped in the theoretical analysis of what parts I need to better my bike.  

Your Sam is an awesome bike. I have no idea how you have it set up now but with the turn of a few screws it can be a tourer, an off-roader, an on-roader, a trailer hauler, a basket wearer, you can fender it up and ride all winter. The beauty of a bike is more than the sum of it's shiny bits. Just ride it. 

On Monday, July 16, 2012 6:20:23 PM UTC-7, Scot Brooks wrote:

[Scot Brooks]

Thanks for the wisdom everyone. I do love my bike to an almost embarrassing degree, and I show it by turning its pedals 7 days a week and giving it care when the need arises. It's nice to see the "if money was no object" version, though; gets the gears in my head turning for my Sam's long future with me! :)

[Benedikt]

They're never finished. Mine is always changing. I always have some new thing to look forward to buying some months off in the future. Case in point - Right now I have a perfectly good set of wheels I built up myself (I'm proud to say) that have stayed true for thousands of miles but they are black and I want silver. That sort of thing.

[Mike]

It's funny, someone will post a picture of a really nice Hilsen and I'll almost envy it only to realize it's basically identical to mine. A lot of times it's the quality of the image that does that. I'm pretty happy with my Hilsen and have no desire to change components other than maybe trying it with Albatross bars at some point. What I do like changing on my Hilsen are the tires, racks and bags. It's amazing how changing tires from say Jack Browns to 40mm Schwalbe Marathons makes it seem like a whole new bike. Pedals too. There are times when I set it up in "go fast" mode with SPDs, Jack Brown greens and no racks and other times where it has Grip Kings, racks, big tires and bags. And recently, a kickstand. The versatility of the Hilsen really keeps me intrigued in the bike. 

--mike