Grant Petersen Discussion on Reddit

[Doug H.]

If you've been following Grant's "Bicycle Sentences" on Instagram you probably saw the one about saddle to handlebar rise. It spurred an interesting Reddit conversation linked here: Reddit

Doug

[Mackenzy Albright]

I saw this post - read the top comment and immediately went on my merry way. It's an opinion bias and Grant sees it's a good setup for recreational riding and makes bikes to make this easily attainable. I think there's still a strong bias that "low drop bars are for serious cyclists, high bars are not". As somebody in their mid thirties with lingering neck and shoulder injuries I can't go below the saddle - it's  a fun setup. but I can't without physical harm. I'm happy that somebody has really rallied  this high bars as a viable build option that works well for touring, camping, commuting etc and is building nice frames and components around that. I also don't theoretically disagree with Jan Heine's opinion on long and low rando setups can be just as comfortable. My body however, agrees 110% with Grant. 0% with Jan. 

[Garth]

This reminds of Three Dog Night ..... the band ... for all you pretend kids out there.

"Joy To The World .... All the boys and girls now ..... joy to the fishies in the deep blue sea ..... joy to you and me "

A Joyful Fishy is a free fishy 

Neither da'bait or da'baiting

For all the Sea

Joy to You and Me

[Philip Williamson]

Ah, Three Dog Night. They won more Grammys in one night than Bob Dylan did in his entire career.

Which is about as fruitful a comparison as one crew of nerds commenting on the opinions of another crew of nerds.

Philip

Sonoma County, Calif

[Joe Bernard]

Not a big fan of "Joy to the World" aka the Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog song but "Easy to be Hard" and "One" are stunning pieces of work. Those boys could sing. 

[Roberta]

Grant responds. 

 

GrantthatGrant

· 5 hr. ago

We let everybody pick their saddles, and encourage them to ride one they already have and like, rather than buying new. But boy or boy, wait till you see what we've got coming from Brooks. It may be a year or even two out. My favorite Brooks ever, good for men or women with upright positions. It won't be right for everybody, but it'll be hard to hate. Not impossible, just hard.

1

Reply

Share

ReportSaveFollow

level 2

GrantthatGrant

· 4 hr. ago

Metal fenders are fine, but plastics are good, too...and as a business we have to be careful about things that individual riders don't have to give much thought to. SKS recycled plastic fender, besides being quiet and only about a thousand times easier to mount (if I am allowed an exaggeration) also have a quick-release feature on the front, and that's a safety thing I've got to insist on if I'ma gonna sell them. I'm not saying Honjo fenders are dangerous. I'm saying there's an extra level of prudence that comes with being a seller of stuff. I am not saying that other businesses are irresponsible. I am just saying that when it comes to things like this, I always try to err on the conservative side. That way, I don't have to fret as much. That's all. My first two posts on Reddit. I probably won't get hooked, but I saw this and the Brooks one, and thought what the heck, I'll risk it.

[Doug H.]

Roberta,

I hadn't seen that response from Grant. I wonder if they plan to bring back the B68 or a similar design from Brooks? Interesting.

Doug

[Doug H.]

Okay, a little more information about an upcoming Rivendell saddle from Grant on Reddit:

:Bingo, but not all good news. Details, requirements, timing. But still, yes. I don't know whether it's just you, brindonoid, or everybody reading this (not Redditt-fluent and prob never will be)..but if it's just you, I'd be happy to spill the whole can of beans about it. I don't, uh, "trust the community" to hear the details and not get all judgey and mean, and I don't have the constitution for that. So if it's you, find out how to pm me, if it's worth it, and if you kinda wanta know more. I'm glad that you like the B.68. No saddle works for everybody, but that one is nearly perfect.

We are also and slightly unbelievably working on, let's just call it, a cheap plastic saddle that will be less fun but more affortable, and with the features we like (includeing bag loops). If somebody else made it we'd get it, but there are like five quintillion plastic saddles out there, a small amount of variation, and I've seen none with bag loops.

G"

[John Hawrylak]

Roberta

I believe Grant was spot on regarding the metal fenders drawbacks.  I recently installed 52mm VO Zeppplins and the installation was a challenge.   In contrast, the SKS go on much easier.

John Hawrylak

Woodstown NJ

On Wednesday, April 27, 2022 at 7:12:37 AM UTC-4 Roberta wrote:

[Roberta]

The Zeppelins and the other VO metal fenders are beautiful.  When I got my first bike with fenders (I never knew fenders existed before I got a got a Riv five years ago), I went with the SKS ones because of the breakaway tabs.  Years later, Riv carries the tabs for metal fenders, so perhaps beautiful metal fenders will be in my future one day (as long as someone else installs them). 

I'm looking forward to seeing your new bike at the Devil century.

Roberta

[Patrick Moore]

Just for the record, and not trying to change anyone's mind: I've used most major brands, extant and defunct, of plastic fenders, and many makes of metal fenders, aluminum and stainless steel. 

Good plastic ones -- SKS, Planet Bike (not Avocet or Zefal!), perhaps Bumels, tho' it's been too long for those -- are sturdy, relatively easy to install, and -- if long enough: some PBs and SKS's are shamefully short in front -- work well, especially if you add mudflaps at the "spray" end, ie forward edge of rear, trailing edge of front.

But metal ones are stiffer, quieter, lighter, generally have fuller coverage, can be adjusted more precisely, and look better. OTOH, they do take practice. I can install them quickly and accurately now, but at the expense, in the past, of more than a couple of sets installed badly and having to be replaced. I would say, either get expert help for your first ones, or buy 2 pairs, one to mess up and the other to install correctly. Or, if you are handy and follow the instructions on the Jitensha Studio site, you might do it right the first time.

I happily rode SKS's on my ex-Ram and many other bikes and have used a few PBs out of many pairs that weren't sinfully short, but IMO metals set up more like an integral part of the bike.

I can see how the owner of a small business might panic at the thought of all the returns, bad feeling, and bad press that might come from selling metal fenders to neophyte klutzes.

Patrick Moore, who ceased being a neophyte klutz the hard and expensive way, in ABQ, NM (where we say, "Rain? Whazzat?" -- who actually has metal fenders on 2 bikes, and though he'd get caught in a SW downpour on this afternoon's ride, but it blew away in the strong southeasterly headwind).

--
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-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/88aeb53f-ef30-4100-9fcb-591cedcf9159n%40googlegroups.com.

--

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[Garth]

  SKS fenders may be easy-er than nothing to install for someone like a bike shop looking for a path of least resistance, but sheesh .... they look awful. I have some Bluemel P50's on my Bombadil. Frankly, any fender can be a challenge to install so I'd rather have some metal ones that look like they belong on the bike if I'm going to have anything on there.

 As Patrick pointed out though, regular SKS fenders are much too short in length, and they doesn't make longboard styles for the larger 700c fenders. They do sell x-long flaps as add-ons, but it's an add-on that would be better served as being included. SKS is wildly inconsistent in their fender offerings.

  I ordered some 63mm VO fenders for more coverage and they look nice. I'll likely have to move the front stay down because it looks like they drill it for right where the toes would come closest to the fenders and the bolts stick out. I like the way Berthoud does their stays though as they are flattened at the bend.

  I read that the Portland Design Works safety tabs work for VO stays. Again, it would be nice to have them as standard on the VO. I really dislike buying new stuff and then needing to change something about it.

  The funny thing is most of the times I've been caught in rainstorms have been on my 1999 custom Franklin that has no fenders. I used to rain ride for hours in Minnesota back in the day with no fenders , nor would they have fit on a racing bike.

  I was out riding today in cold and wind and felt like crap. Then I thought of Mike the Mailman riding all those hard miles on his whatever bike he had. So I let go all silly ideas of obligations and rode on, broke out in songs of appreciation .... and just enjoyed everything about it.

 The Secret to Life is that there is no Secret to Life..... tee hee hee ....

[Brett Callahan]

Nobody asked, but here's my somtwo cents: VO metal fenders are much easier to install **well** than the SKS plastic ones.  They're predrilled, so you only need basic tools like allen wrenches and a little bit of patience (maybe a drill if you're going to directly mount to a rando rack, too). Once they're installed, they stay in place much better than the SKS. The stays are thick enough that if they get whacked, they're unlikely to bend.   With many metal fenders, you can gently reradius them for a better fender line.  Installing metal fenders stays from VO and similar brands requires you to cut or dremel the fender stay, so four cuts. VO helpfully includes both a bracket and daruma for mounting to a variety of frames. Once they're on the bike, VO fenders tend to stay in place and seem to have a nice fender line.   

SKS fenders have fiddly stays, which I'm constantly finding get bent out of shape.  The fenders have an arc that can't be altered, so you'd better hope it fits the tire (or not be concerned with frivolity like fender line, but hey, I am).  The stays, if they require cutting, have more metal to cut and it's flimsy. Once cut, you've also got sharp ends facing your legs, which SKS helpfully provides little rubber thingees to cover. These are a total PITA to mount in my experience. Once on a bike, I find that they are easy to knock out of alignment. There are positives: SKS fenders are pretty minimal, so can be squeezed onto a bike well. They do have the nice QR feature when something gets jammed between fender and tire. However,  if you're worried about a QR system, Portland Design Works sells a quick release tab that I put on bikes with knobby tires and metal fenders for safety. 

The real challenge, IMHO, are the Sim Works and Honjo (maybe redundant, as Honjo makes the SW models?) versions that are completely  undrilled. You get infinite options for mounting and infinite chance to err. I call these six pack fenders, and they generally take a day to install. They generally look fantastic. 

Anyway, Rivendell and other manufacturers that include plenty of space and provisions for fender mounting are the best, and we should all buy their bikes!

Brett in pdx

[Igor]

I prefer working with Honjo undrilled fenders over any other. Need a lot of patience and some good tooling. If that is not something one is into, yes VO are better.

Here's a great video of CS Hirose installing fenders that helps :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xbveQQHo00

[Igor]

This whole playlist is nice, actually https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TRV_IycEfY&list=PLV6B9dYFPh0J2jT-E3LIgu3WnEfamf17g

[Edwin W]

Watching Mr. Hirose (RIP) install fenders or do just about anything on a bicycle would have been a joy to watch live!

Edwin

[Richard Rose]

Watching this makes it all look so “doable”. And fun.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 29, 2022, at 11:02 AM, Edwin W <dween...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Watching Mr. Hirose (RIP) install fenders or do just about anything on a bicycle would have been a joy to watch live!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3e891c64-903b-454f-8678-940d6071da71n%40googlegroups.com.