Ordered a Hunq today....

[Robert F. Harrison]

I just happened to be in Walnut Creek today and...

Okay, I actually had planned my vacation this year to include San Francisco and Walnut Creek. I arrived yesterday after spending the last 12 days or so biking the Oregon coast and spending time with family in Portland. I'd added a leg to SF when I discovered it wasn't very expensive to add the leg to my ticket and I got a great deal at The Mosser in SF that made an extra 5 days possible. Admittedly it's a tiny little room, but holds me and my bike so there you go.

Today I took the BART out to Walnut Creek thinking that Grant would be off on his book tour but he was in town, actually doing some other publicity stuff. I got to meet him in person, get a copy of his book, and then worked with Vince on a little something else.

I had my PBH remeasured and sure enough, I'm still mostly leg, at least 95.5 (and I'd thought I was 94). 

I test rode the 64 Sam and the 62 Hunq.

Both were fantastic. The Hunq was just slightly more fantastic for me. I stress the "for me" bit because it could easily be the other way around for someone else. I just like really fat tires and riding on the Big Apples they had attached showed me just how comfortable that bike can be.

I went with the stock build kit for a couple of reasons. First it's good stuff and does save me a bit on the build. In a perfect world I might have toyed with a few things but that would have added unnecessarily to the cost. In the future I'll upgrade when things wear out.

The only thing that concerns me is the Alba bars. They were really nice on the test Hunq I rode, though I'm a moustache guy. I'm thinking that I may swap the Albas on the Hunq with the M-bars on my QB. I use the QB around town for the most part. That'll be like getting two new bikes. :-)

After spending all that money I spent the afternoon on the trails leading up to Mount Diablo. I didn't go up because it was hot and late in the day, I hadn't eaten much today, and I only had one bottle of water. That and I didn't want to climb 2,000 feet after all the climbing in Oregon. It was still a lovely day for a ride and next time I'm in the Bay Area I know exactly how to get there. :-)

All in all it was great to meet Grant, Vince is a great guy, the Hunq is a super bike, and I'm still a bike short, I only have 'n' bikes.

My arsenal now includes (as of July)

62 Hunq 

66 Quickbeam

?? RB-1 (in Hilo)

Bike Friday New World Tourist

Fujiyama (a house brand for McCully Bicycle back in the day) single speed beater (freshly powder coated and shod with Big Apples)

That'll do it for a while.

--
Robert Harrison
rfhar...@gmail.com
statrix.com

[Mike]

Robert, congrats on the new bike. Looking forward to seeing it built
up. I'm curious, did you try the new Bosco Bar? I've really grown to
like the looks of the Albatross bar on the Hunqa. There's a little
Youtube clip of a 62 Hunqa with Albatross bars and the whole set-up
looks great and very capable for dirt road rambling.

--mike

[Allan in Portland]

Hahaha. Congratulations Bob!

For everyone else, I'm laughing because one of the topics on the ride back from points hinter, was that Bob was going to stop at Riv to look at a new Hunq, but hopefully not buy one because, hey, obviously one needs a new hole in their wallet like new hole in their head. Well, we all had the good manners not to voice it, but at the same time we all knew he was going home with one, because when the strongest protestation you can muster is "hopefully", umm, yeah. Good luck with that.

If it helps, I've NEVER heard someone make the old saw about the two best days of owning a bike are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. To the contrary, most  (not all, but most) folks forget about the expense within a paycheck or two. As my brother is wont to say, "women's made for lovin', money's made for spendin'."

Best wishes for you and your new Hunq,

-Allan

[Robert F. Harrison]

Hahaha is right. 

I swear I was okay till I rode the Hunq. Sure it's lovely, but I can resist all sorts of lovely things. I was even okay after riding the Sam. Don't get me wrong, the Sam is a great bike. I'd love to own one. I just didn't want to pay for one. 

And yes, I'm one of those folks who forget about the expense in a few (not one or two, but not dozens either) of paychecks. That's why when Vince said I could put money down on the frame and pay the rest when it came in I declined and got the whole thing over with. By July it'll be like getting a free bike after an expensive vacation. 

And the only bike I regret buying was fat-tubed, but too small road bike about 25+ years ago. I was riding a "too big" Schwinn road bike  and got talked into buying a new bike that was the "right size." I wish I'd kept the Schwinn...with any luck it's still on the road. As for it's "too big" size - probably smaller than my Quickbeam. My regrets are mostly in hindsight though, the bike was okay - sold it to a friend a couple of years later and it did, in fact, fit him better. 

Aloha!

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[Brian Hanson]

Rob - great story, and I can relate!  I received my 54cm Hunqapillar today.  It's gorgeous!  The packing job was impeccable, and I got some doodle art on the box, as well. 

I am in between sizes, so I originally rode a 54 and 58 while visiting Riv HQ last summer.  Since I will be primarily using this for camping/off-road as a foil for my AHH, I decided on the smaller frame size.  I really liked the 54 with a moustache setup, so when I heard they were nearly out of the original color, I had to pick one up.  Brian Tester helped out (he has a 54cm Hunq too).  I started the build today, but am waiting on a few parts.  Here's the pics so far:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzeCUFj

BTW - I put a Haulin' Colin rack (http://www.haulincolin.com/porteur.html) that was originally designed for the newish Rawland rSogn on it.  It fits just right, and makes a really solid mount the front.  He is doing another batch soon, and was wondering if he should market this rack to Rivendell owners.  I would say yes at this point - no modification is necessary on the Hunqapillar, and if the hourglass mounts are in the same place on the other Riv canti models, it should be a go for them, as well.

Brian
Seattle, WA

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[Mike]

Brian, definitely looking forward to pictures of your build. It looks
like it's gonna be a winner.

--mike

[Allan in Portland]

Congratulations to you too, Brian. I sooo wanted to get in on one of those. You are the envy of my domain.

I can't help but wonder if those will go down as the last gratuitously extravagant frame before the Fed & Congress beggared (ahem, buggared) us all.

-Allan

[Allan in Portland]

On Tuesday, May 8, 2012 11:15:59 PM UTC-7, Statrixbob wrote:

And the only bike I regret buying was fat-tubed, but too small road bike about 25+ years ago. I was riding a "too big" Schwinn road bike  and got talked into buying a new bike that was the "right size." I wish I'd kept the Schwinn...with any luck it's still on the road. As

At the risk of taking this off-topic, I find it incredibly hard not to comment when someone is beaming over their new bike that is 2 to 4 _inches_ too small. Just yesterday my neighbor, that had been talking about getting a new Kona all winter long pulled up on what looked to be 56 "Honky Tonk". He is about 6', maybe even 6'1". WTH? He's got 2 or 3 inches on me, and I'm riding a 59.

Believe me, I'll never be a downer over anyone's new bike, but aye, they sure make it hard don't they.

-Allan

[PATRICK MOORE]

I earned the ire and exasperation of a shop employee when said
employee was trying to persuade a young man at least 6'4" tall that he
needed a -- wait for it! -- 56 cm. I snorted and growled and
spluttered and finally broke out in tones of dismay and disgust that,
hell, even I at at short-legg'd 5'10" had a very comfortable 60 cm
bike. I think the customer walked.

(Psst! Don't tell anyone, but my first custom Riv Road was a 54 c-c! I
told Grant I wanted to try to get it on the Riv gallery and he said,
"Don't you dare!")

Patrick "comfortable on 60s as long as the tts are short" Moore, who
loves his Fargo because it has a road-bike-like 57 cm effective tt.

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--

-------------------------
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.

Rainer Maria Rilke, Buddha in Glory

[Brian Hanson]

I ride a 59 AHH and am about 5'11".  I've had a number of close bike-crazy friends who think I'm nuts and on a frame that is too big.  Everyone has an opinion.  I find it comfy, and would guess that I could easily go with a 61cm on a relatively flat top tube bike.  Getting the handlebars high without having to use a really long stem height is more important to me that worrying about how close the top tube is to my "junk".  I'm of the opinion that wanting to keep a low top tube is something the industry legals did to minimize the new biker injury claims rather than educating folks on how to ride a properly sized bike without hurting yourself.  The problem is that your injury on a "too small" bike just takes longer to manifest, but will definitely happen, whereas a bump on the junk only takes one time to get folks in the mindset on how to avoid it in the future.

Brian
Seattle, WA

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[robert zeidler]

How about the article in the latest BQ where the 6'4" guy is on the 59cm bike riding 171 mm cranks!

No way Jose!

RGZ

[Zack]

Riding a frame that fits (and figuring out what that actually means) is a total revelation.

I am 6'3" with a 94 PBH.  When I first got into riding, it was on a 56cm Trek 520 that someone gave me. Needless to say, my 64cm Sam is much easier on my neck, back, shoulders, and even my legs/knees.  

Congrats on the Hunq.  

I rode both the 62 Hunq and the 64 Sam myself, and loved both.  I went with the Sam as I figured I would mostly be riding around town and haven't done much off-road exploring on the bike in VT.  Both felt better than any bike I had ever ridden.

[Scot Brooks]

With the racing and want-to-look-racy world of bike fitment, it seems like they had a weird line of thinking that went a little like this: better get the stem way down, that's racy. Bike doesn't fit now that the stem is like that? Better get a smaller frame to bring the bars closer, don't even think about raising that stem, mister. Sort of a cart following the horse moment. Really weird.

[Jim]

When I started looking for a new bicycle last year (for the first time in a lonnng time), I got put on some spectacularly small frames (i'm 6-8"), including a Specialized Crosstrail, and some Giant bike that was around 60cm.  And they would have happily sold me those bikes.  I think it was the third LBS i entered where someone finally told me "dude, we got nothing, you need a custom".  Fortunately I found Riv and the AHH.

Jim in Boulder

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

Obviously, sizing varies from brand to brand, and frame size makes much less difference with threadless steerers (if the steerer is left long enough). So it's not out of line that a 6-footer could optimally ride a 56cm non-Riv.

Anyway: Back in 2005 when I rode and was comfy on a 58 Atlantis (I'm 5'8" with an 85ish pbh), my bike shop coworker, who was very experienced (unlike me at the time) and known as a fitting guru, expressed SHOCK that a short guy like me would ride a 58 (which is huge in race bike circles). I figured there was some brand-to-brand size discrepancy, so I took a $4000 57cm Lemonde something off the rack, and rode it for 10 minutes on my break. It actually felt pretty great with no adjusting from stock stem length or height and with a normal amount of seatpost showing. But my expert coworker suggested I try a 52 Trek Madone, which he said was more my size. Me riding that bike was high comedy and it was obvious that some pretty severe changes would be required if I was to have any hope of riding such a small-framed bike comfortably. I've thumbed my nose at conventional sizing recommendations ever since. Now I mostly ride two 56 cm Surly models, a 58 cm Curt Goodrich, and a one-size-fits-most Brompton. If I bought another Atlantis, Roadeo, AHH, Rambouillet or other traditional Riv, I'd probably be able to work with anything between 55 and 59 cm. I just set up a 54 cm San Marcos, and that feels pretty good, too.

[EricP]

Agree with you on that, Jim.  My new SimpleOne is a 60cm, and fits me fine.  Although in a perfect world, I'd probably be on a 62, or even 64 at 6' and 89is pbh.  But here's where it gets strange, both my Surly bikes are 58 cm and also fit fine.  And both have less seat post showing than the SO!  Go figure.  But a larger bike is so much nicer to ride.  Years ago (before I started going to Hiawatha) was talked into getting a 56cm Trek 1200 at a shop.  Now, it was a nice bike, but never could get the thing to fit.  Except with a stem extender and bars hiked way up.  Ended up selling it to a friend. 

 

Then again, my 56cm Sam Hillborne fits well.  But that was the first run.  I'd order a 60cm now to get the same fit.

 

Eric Platt

St. Paul, MN