I think the reason the SO was retired is that it';s a hard bike to justify on paper. If you can only have 1 bike it doesn't feel versatile enough, if you already have a bike it's hard to see the need. But let me tell you, once you get it, it's a great bike. It's my favorite bike of the 4 i own, it just doesn't make sense on paper (a singlespeed steel bike, really?), but the combination of classic rivendell fit, lightness, speed, make this a great bike. i could be overstating it since its the only singlespeed i own, but i love mine. now that it's discont. wait a few years and snap one up second hand!
Well, except for the "dedicated single speed" part, the Surly Cross Check is an obvious SO/QB competitor. I run my CC as a fixed gear most of the year. It easily fits a 700x40 with fenders, and accommodates front and rear racks. I've occasionally lusted after the RBW single speeds, but my CC is a bike I can beat up, ride it in winter, throw it around when I portage it over rough terrain, and not feel remorseful if something bad happens to it. I have a compact double crank and geared rear wheel for it, and can convert it to a touring bike in under an hour.
Is it the handling? I know that my two Riv fixies are the darlings
just for that reason.
Note: you can always convert your Sam Hill, Ram, Rom, Legolas or what
have you to fixed/ss -- just take out your Dremel, hacksaw and Vise
Grips ...
Patrick "I've done it, too" Moore
> --
> 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-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.
>
--
Patrick Moore
Albuquerque, NM
For professional resumes, contact
Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html
Another factor that I think relevant to lagging sales: my exhaustive demographic research suggests that RBW's target market is 58-year-old upper-middle income types who own multiple bikes (including, perhaps, a "vintage" frame that can be converted). Single-speed popularity tends to be driven, I dare say, by relative youngsters who have only one bike that they ride and lock up everywhere. It's not practical or fashionable in this crowd to have a nice/expensive/new bike. Far more street cred is attached to machines lovingly assembled from dumpster frames and parts.
Pete in CT
FWIW, in response to the poster who decried his mtb conversion
experience, I converted a nice old top-of-line Diamond Back Axis Team
into a ss all rounder with 60 mm Big Apples, fenders with air and a
~63" gear. Felt and handled wonderfully, but of course, in no way a
Rivendell. (160 mm Q btw with a custom Phil **145 mm** bb assembly! TA
Cyclotourist single.)
For me, the single most important qualities of the Rivs I've owned are
their impecable fit, feel and handling -- tho' I have reservations
about the Sam Hill. Everything else is relatively incidental.
> --
> 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/-/R1HREkME7qcJ.
In other words, there is not necessarily a difference in chainline in the different width hubs UNLESS you're using one of the 135 mm SS MTB hubs on the market. If the chainline is 42 mm, regardless of overall hub spacing, you can use the same narrow BB and narrow-tread crank, provided the chainring and crankarms clear the chainstays.
120 mm is only an advantage if you already have a stash of hubs/wheels in that size and/or you believe that maintaining "traditional" dimensions is important and/or you want to run genuine track-bike parts (which Riv doesn't). 130 mm or 135 mm would give the added advantage of being capable of accepting a cassette hub with a spacer kit and 1, 2, or even 3 cogs. Not that 120 mm spacing detracts from the coolness or quality of Riv's SS attempts - just trying to point out that the argument for/against one hub width dimension and another is not one-sided.
That's definitely true if you're talking about the Cross-check as a geared bike. In that case, the two bikes have a lot of similarities, except one looks fancier and costs $600 more (for the frameset only). The price difference is more profound if you compare the CC stock complete bike to a similarly equipped Hillborne, which is not available as a mass-market complete bike. But lots of people, for various reasons, think the price difference on the Riv is plenty acceptable. Lots of people are willing to shell out for a special bike. Cool.
But single-speeds are different. People think "single-speed" and in the same thought they think "beater" or "winter bike" or "bar bike" or whatever other utilitarian, un-romantic category applies. In that case, you look at that $600 price difference and you think about rust and dents, and that Surly, what it lacks in panache, it makes up in ruggedness and, ultimately, in the worst case scenario, replaceability. In the case of single-speeds, the preciousness that many of us assign to Rivendell bicycles is a drawback. And that's why I say more mundane frames like the CC make it hard to sell the QB/SO.
> --
> 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-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.
>
--
-------------------------
Patrick Moore, Albuquerque, NM
For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html
-------------------------
A billion stars go spinning through the night
Blazing high above your head;
But in you is the Presence that will be
When all the stars are dead.
Ranier Maria Rilke, Buddha in Glory
Grant has stated his reluctance in the past to get involved in bikes with IGHs. I don't blame him. It's a case of a lot of people having unrealistic expectations that don't match reality.
Ram or Roadeo have vertical dropouts (as do almost all rivs except for
the oldest ones and the qb/so.
You can single-speed a bike with vert dropouts but you need a chain
tensioner and then, well, that's just like having a derailler.
-sv
-sv
--
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-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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
****************************************************
To ensure compliance with Treasury Department regulations, we advise you that, unless otherwise expressly indicated, any federal tax advice contained in this message was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding tax-related penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or applicable state or local tax law provisions or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.
****************************************************
****************************************************
This email (and any attachments thereto) is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email (and any attachments thereto) is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error please immediately notify me at (212) 735-3000 and permanently delete the original email (and any copy of any email) and any printout thereof.
Further information about the firm, a list of the Partners and their professional qualifications will be provided upon request.
****************************************************
==============================================================================
[Serious mode off.] I further state, asseverate, insist, proclaim,
announce and assert that fixed gears can certainly be wonderfully
practical errand and commuter bikes!
> --
> 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-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.
>
--
"I used a more drastic solution: on my Bianchi Osprey. I cut the rear axle short so that it didn't protrude past the surfaces of the locknuts. Thus, only the quick-release skewer went through the dropouts. Since the skewer is quite a bit thinner than the actual axle, this gives me considerably more adjustment room.
If the skewer is properly tightened, the axle is held in place by the friction of the locknuts being pressed against the inside of the dropouts. If this were not the case, horizontal dropouts would not be usable, since the forward pull on the chain creates a larger force against the axle than supporting the rider's weight does. Just to be on the safe side, I carried a spare skewer along with my spare tube.
I rode that setup for a couple of years with no problems, but later got a deal on a Bianchi B.a.S.S. purpose-built singlespeed frame that fits me better, is notably lighter and has horizontal track-type fork ends, so I'm no longer using that setup"
From this page:
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#vertical
(PS: I had the wheel in a v-dropout fixie before I got the CC frame, and it made sense to just keep using it even with h-dropouts. People who notice this always suspect that I have a wacky technical agenda with this system, but I don't. Honest!)
Ha! I have an eccentric ENO hub on my Cross-Check with long horizontal dropouts. Now I can adjust through a more or leas continuous spectrum of chain tension, wheelbase, BB height, and trail. I should send it to Jan for scientific analysis!
(PS: I had the wheel in a v-dropout fixie before I got the CC frame, and it made sense to just keep using it even with h-dropouts. People who notice this always suspect that I have a wacky technical agenda with this system, but I don't. Honest!)
--
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/-/OWp0voKJT-0J.
--
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/-/R9uQaYIPM4YJ.
I also took a big rattail file to the vertical dropouts of that
DiamondBack mtb to allow the ENO to accomodate a 3 t difference. But
you have to be careful that you file evenly -- a tiny error in
symmetry will make the wheel cockeyed. (There is a metaphysical idea
skulking in there somewhere, something about a tiny error in the
beginning leading to a major awkwardness in remote effects blah blah
blah blah...).
--
For my part, on this DB off road fixie, I removed the rear brake.
(Hacksawed off the seatstay canti posts too, dammit! -- for that clean
and uncluttered look.Turned out nice and minimalist with all braze ons
removed.) I wanted a mid 60s gear for pavement and a mid 50s gear for
dirt; thus 18 and 21 t cogs, 46 t ring, for 66 and 56. OTOH, I found
that trying to spin downhill on steep, dirt roads in a sub-60" gear
was so annoying that I later switched to a single 19 t cog for just a
63" gear (still no rear brake; didn't need one). I'd rather walkup
hills than flail impotently and despairingly on fast flats and down
hills.