Bombadil on its Archetypal Route (loads of photos)

[Jason Fuller]

I had a particular route in mind when I bought this frameset from Joe, and today I rode it (well, one version of it). It's just outside of town here in Vancouver BC, and its quite special. We have an immense wealth of trails on our north shore, though most are technical mountain bike or hiking trails. I love those trails, but this route features the only extended stretch of gravel that is fully closed to motorized traffic as well as the only paved parkway that extends into the wilderness in this region. 

I can ride it from my doorstep; it's about 11km to get to this paved parkway - popular in summer, but pretty quiet nowadays. 

This path carves through the rainforest for about 5km, leaving cell service behind, until a pretty hard-to-miss singletrack turnoff takes you down a steep embankment to this grand clearing, known as The Spot among friends here. Despite its established looks, it's both well hidden and hard to access, and therefore goes unknown to many who ride this region. 

From here, my route follows a steep downhill stretch of singletrack to a marsh, where a gravel access road begins and will take me a further 7km into the valley and away from the city. 

This access road, called Spur 4, used to be charming double-track with grass up the middle but it was graded this year with fresh gravel. Unfortunate. Bears and cougars inhabit this area and humans are few and far between - combine this with the lack of cell service and the fact you're now over 10km into the woods, it can be pretty humbling to ride alone. 

A connector trail brings you back to the main parkway, where most people are. It was a little wet today, but that's fine by me. I can't imagine life without full-coverage fenders! 

Above is the view of the lake, which is as far as you can go. It was only about 2:30 but already the sun was falling behind the tall peaks to the west; I'm far enough north that it's getting dark shortly after 4pm now. 

The first leg of the return route is called the Hatchery Trail, and it's the highlight of the whole route for me. It's a non-technical trail that winds through the moss-rich forest, including placards with information on local wildlife. It's beautifully maintained and quite wonderous, considering the nearest vehicle parking is 10km away!   

This puts you back on the paved parkway, which I followed for the full 10km back out of the forest. At the parking lot, I followed a steep downhill connector trail to the trail network to the east. 

As I dropped in elevation I entered a pre-sunset fog. Combined with the beginnings of a sunset, it really made for a cool effect with the moss and lichen covered trees. 

The full route from my door falls a bit short of 60km, which is a nice length for me - big enough to be rather epic, but can be done in about 4 hours and leaves me with a bit of gas in the tank so I'm not a wreck for the rest of the evening! 

Thanks for following along with my ride report / coming to my TED Talk! 

[Jason Fuller]

Here is the route from Strava: 

And another photo of this magnificent, majestic beast of a bike: 

I had actually added a lot more photos and commentary on the original post but went through about a thousand revisions trying to reduce its size so that google groups would accept it. I hardly remembered what was and wasn't included by the end. 

I did lose the photo my buddy that I came across just a few hundred meters into the return trip on the paved parkway: 

[Joe Bernard]

Now that's a Rivbike in its proper environment. Nice work, Jason! 👍

[Robert Hakim]

Wow, that route looks spectacular! It seems like you caught it on a spectacular day as well! 

Does that area get much snowfall or can you ride there year round?

Cheers!

Robert

[Roberta]

A beautiful ride on the most perfect bike. Your words and pictures helped me live the adventure vicariously thru you. Thank you for taking the time to indulge us. 

[David Hays]

Thank you Jason. Beautiful and inspiring.

David Hays

Buffalo, New York  

On Nov 28, 2020, at 11:50 PM, Jason Fuller <jtf.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

I had a particular route in mind when I bought this frameset from Joe, and today I rode it (well, one version of it). It's just outside of town here in Vancouver BC, and its quite special. We have an immense wealth of trails on our north shore, though most are technical mountain bike or hiking trails. I love those trails, but this route features the only extended stretch of gravel that is fully closed to motorized traffic as well as the only paved parkway that extends into the wilderness in this region. 

I can ride it from my doorstep; it's about 11km to get to this paved parkway - popular in summer, but pretty quiet nowadays. 

<IMG_2849rs.JPG>

This path carves through the rainforest for about 5km, leaving cell service behind, until a pretty hard-to-miss singletrack turnoff takes you down a steep embankment to this grand clearing, known as The Spot among friends here. Despite its established looks, it's both well hidden and hard to access, and therefore goes unknown to many who ride this region. 

<IMG_2851rs.JPG>

From here, my route follows a steep downhill stretch of singletrack to a marsh, where a gravel access road begins and will take me a further 7km into the valley and away from the city. 

<PXL_20201128_222541680.jpg>

This access road, called Spur 4, used to be charming double-track with grass up the middle but it was graded this year with fresh gravel. Unfortunate. Bears and cougars inhabit this area and humans are few and far between - combine this with the lack of cell service and the fact you're now over 10km into the woods, it can be pretty humbling to ride alone. 

<IMG_2861.JPG>

A connector trail brings you back to the main parkway, where most people are. It was a little wet today, but that's fine by me. I can't imagine life without full-coverage fenders! 

<IMG_2863rs.JPG>

Above is the view of the lake, which is as far as you can go. It was only about 2:30 but already the sun was falling behind the tall peaks to the west; I'm far enough north that it's getting dark shortly after 4pm now. 

<PXL_20201128_230524452.jpg>

The first leg of the return route is called the Hatchery Trail, and it's the highlight of the whole route for me. It's a non-technical trail that winds through the moss-rich forest, including placards with information on local wildlife. It's beautifully maintained and quite wonderous, considering the nearest vehicle parking is 10km away!   

<IMG_2871rs.JPG>

This puts you back on the paved parkway, which I followed for the full 10km back out of the forest. At the parking lot, I followed a steep downhill connector trail to the trail network to the east. 

<IMG_2877rs.JPG>

As I dropped in elevation I entered a pre-sunset fog. Combined with the beginnings of a sunset, it really made for a cool effect with the moss and lichen covered trees. 

<PXL_20201129_000243149.jpg>

The full route from my door falls a bit short of 60km, which is a nice length for me - big enough to be rather epic, but can be done in about 4 hours and leaves me with a bit of gas in the tank so I'm not a wreck for the rest of the evening! 

Thanks for following along with my ride report / coming to my TED Talk! 

--
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/8ac409e1-a5c4-4a7e-85cc-a570fdd7f2b8n%40googlegroups.com.
<IMG_2851rs.JPG><IMG_2861.JPG><PXL_20201128_222541680.jpg><PXL_20201129_000243149.jpg><IMG_2871rs.JPG><PXL_20201128_230524452.jpg><IMG_2877rs.JPG><IMG_2849rs.JPG><IMG_2863rs.JPG>

[Bill Schairer]

Wonderful, Jason!

Thanks,

Bill S

San Diego

[JAS]

Thank you for the detail in your ride report and especially for the photos, Jason. I’m a bit south from you (Whidbey Island) and experienced the same pre-sunset fog you described yesterday about 4:30pm. Your non-technical single track is my favorite riding conditions on Clem...someday the border will open and I’ll head to North Van to try it out!

—Joyce

[Jason Fuller]

Gosh I'm glad the story has been enjoyable!  It felt a little self-indulgent as I wrote it; I just wanted to share this ride with others and unfortunately I can only do so virtually right now. 

Robert - we don't get a lot of snowfall at lower elevations here, since we're right on the coast. It's the only area of Canada that does not live up to people's expectation as a snowy, cold place in winter! We tend to get a few good dumps of snow a year, and the temperature will hover either side of freezing most of winter. I used to frequent the ski hills but the lines, drive etc have become too much to bother so I now just ride year-round! Mountain biking here is great even in the snow, as it's usually not too deep. 

Joyce - One day! I would be happy to either provide a detailed route plan or join for the ride when you do! The 'trial and error' of putting together these non-technical routes usually involves having to hike-a-bike on unrideable trails, but I can save you that trouble now. Some sections are challenging but most is quite leisurely. 

[brendonoid]

Absolutely magical. Thanks for sharing.

[Patrick Moore]

Very pretty photos. One of my favorite kinds of riding is dirt or gravel roads or trails that are not technical, just like those you show. I live close to a lot of them, but ours are sandy; tossup whether I'd prefer sand or mud. 

This moves me to resolve to explore more of our trails north of where I live, and spend half a day doing that, sometime soon!

--
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/8ac409e1-a5c4-4a7e-85cc-a570fdd7f2b8n%40googlegroups.com.

--

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

Patrick Moore

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

[greenteadrinkers]

Wow! Amazing loop! thanks for sharing! You mention bears and cougars, do you ever carry bear spray? 

Scott

[Paul Richardson]

thanks for posting this.  really enjoyed reading it and these photos look like fern gully.  wish i had easy access to that kinda wildness!

paul

takoma park, md.

[Andrew Stevens]

Amazing amazing photos! Thanks for this!

[Andy Beichler]

I was listening to Soul Serenade from the live album King Curtis cut out at the Fillmore West as I was scrolling through.  Your pictures and his beautiful playing went together quite well.  Thanks. 

[Eric Marth]

This is some choice content, Thanks Jason

[Jason Fuller]

Rode the same route today, but freezing rain made it 50km of ice, basically.  What a day! 

[Andrew Erman]

Jason, my name is Andy.  Thank you for this post - your photos are art.

Best,

Andy

On Dec 12, 2020, at 6:40 PM, Jason Fuller <jtf.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

Rode the same route today, but freezing rain made it 50km of ice, basically.  What a day! 

<PXL_20201212_205537808.jpg>

<PXL_20201212_223450048.jpg>

--
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/918fd001-5b6c-4771-8a99-ce8f4db255aen%40googlegroups.com.
<PXL_20201212_223450048.jpg><PXL_20201212_205537808.jpg>

[Robert Hakim]

Wow, really looks like studded tires would have been a good choice! Good for you for (presumably) staying upright. 

I separated a shoulder and partially tore a rotator cuff in similar conditions. That was on a fat bike with knobbies larger than those on your Bombadil, mind you! Studs are now my friend when it gets icy. 

-Robert

[Jason Fuller]

Andy:  ha, I appreciate the compliment, but the environment gets all the credit for the beauty of the photos; I just haphazardly waved my cell phone around and pushed the button. 

Robert:  I did!  Although I was riding with one other person who fell once (was OK), and my Instagram story of the ice resulted in a half-dozen replies from locals who had fallen on the ice that day!  Studded tires are something I plan to get for my commuter next winter, when I'm back to actually commuting. We have a mild winter here but there's certainly a bunch of frosty mornings over winter that make cycling quite dangerous without studs. 

[Matthew P]

Awesome Jason.

Thank you for sharing. The route sounds ideal to me. I want smooth trails, not death trails.

Your Bombadil might be my favorite bike that isn't mine.

I wish there was a "Best of RBW" to put or tag this post, and other great ones, so they could be found easily.

-Matt

San Diego, CA, USA

[Alex K]

Longing for the PNW air, looking at these pictures.... Are those WAVIE bars?  Thinking about switching from BILLIES to Wavies and wondering how you like them?

[Jason Fuller]

Thanks so much Matt!  I am glad this post was so well-received. 

The handlebars are MAP / Ahearne, 610mm width, quite similar to the Wavie bar.  I really like them, I had originally planned on Billie's for this bike but the 45-ish degree sweep gives me better bike control than the near-90 Billie or Albatross style bars when off-road. 

[Benjamin L. Kelley]

I'm running wavies on my QB and love em.  Compared to Sycip JJJ, Surly Open, and Dimension Arch bars I have/had on other bikes.  I think the wavie is a bit more comfortable for my biking posture.

--

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/95f1e02f-e959-48b5-af5c-5ca7e35178f4n%40googlegroups.com.

[Jason Fuller]

Got up to some good NYE shenanigans today. Nearly 40km, rode directly to the north shore mountains (~9km to trailhead), then traversed a nice series of wider dog-walk type trails over to one of our most popular MTB areas (and the trails that are world-renowned as "the north shore trails") where I climbed to 600m. Snow line is high here after a week of mild weather, I didn't really see much snow until ~550m.  I definitely feel like a black sheep riding up that service road; it is very rare to see a hardtail even, virtually everyone is on latest model 6" enduro bikes. I do actually have one myself, but I couldn't ride it from home like this! Also it's pretty fun to under-bike sometimes, even if I had to walk a few sections to prevent ripping my front fender off. 

 

[Takashi]

Hi Jason,

The last time you posted pictures of your ride they looked like quasi-monochrome, and this time they're colorful again.

Both look great! Your bombadil, complete with fenders, looks quite at home in the woods.

Takashi

2021年1月1日金曜日 13:18:35 UTC+9 Jason Fuller:

[Jason Fuller]

Today's Bombadil ride was four hours of steady rain but pretty mild temperatures (still had frozen fingers at one point, but kudos to me for bringing a second set of gloves to switch to when the first were soaked!), and as per the rules, a good mix of long stretches of pavement but also lots of trails and gravel paths too. Apologies these photos are a bit more blurry because I didn't bring the nice camera. 

[Steven Sweedler]

Jason, that Weeping Cedar is spectacular, where is it. Steve

On Sun, Jan 31, 2021 at 7:10 PM Jason Fuller <jtf.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

Today's Bombadil ride was four hours of steady rain but pretty mild temperatures (still had frozen fingers at one point, but kudos to me for bringing a second set of gloves to switch to when the first were soaked!), and as per the rules, a good mix of long stretches of pavement but also lots of trails and gravel paths too. Apologies these photos are a bit more blurry because I didn't bring the nice camera. 

--

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/ea01ee5a-cb47-48f6-a299-18d7cc48bdf0n%40googlegroups.com.

--

Steven Sweedler
Plymouth, New Hampshire

[Jason Fuller]

Isn't it?!  I had to circle back and ride up the grass field to get a photo. I've passed by it easily a dozen times but hadn't fully taken in its grandeur. It's in New Westminster, BC - home of fellow Rivlister Sky I believe 

On Sunday, 31 January 2021 at 18:15:07 UTC-8 Steven Sweedler wrote:

Jason, that Weeping Cedar is spectacular, where is it. Steve

[brendonoid]

Again, thank you for sharing your ride photos. It looks so cold I can almost forget it is 40ºC outside...

Can I please ask how the Sugarloaf Basketbag handles the wet weather?

[ascpgh]

Wow Jason, you document a strong case of how much a bicycle can connect you with places. The better the places and the better the bike for getting to them really increases the demonstrative power of that connection. 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[Jason Fuller]

Brendon - 40C?!  I assume you're in Australia or similarly southern hemisphere?  That's tough to ride in. This day was about 6 or 7C, and I'll take that over 40 any day!  This model Sugarloaf is the waxed canvas model they did when they first released the bag (2016 sometime) and I haven't maintained the wax at all (there is no perceptible wax left) and it still keeps the contents dry every time!  

Andy - Your words are appreciated and echoed. My favourite part of these rides has been discovering new things that I would never have any other way. Often they're just ordinary things that I found interesting, like the carport with car in it I found behind an old house whose driveway had completely grown in to be forest again (the car's reg was 20 years expired), or a new bike path bridge in an area of town I had never been in before. Having such an expensive bike isn't strictly needed for this, but it certainly encourages me to go further and more often!  

[Jason Fuller]

Last weekend's Bombadil outing - this weekend's going to be much colder and probably snowy, not sure yet if I'll get back out there! 

[Takashi]

Jason, the route looks very beautiful with lots of green, but I'm sure you'll have fun riding the same route covered with snow.

I'm curious about the small tunnel. Did you go through it?

Several years ago I came upon a similarly small tunnel; I went through it to find out that it lead to a rice paddy, so I assume it was a private path excavated by the owner of the rice paddy.

https://flic.kr/p/iTB6m4

Takashi

[Jason Fuller]

Takashi - you are quite right, I woke up today to 4 or 5 cm of fresh snow on the ground, and ventured out after lunch.  I didn't plan on more than 5 or 6 km around the neighbourhood when I left the house, but ended up crossing the bridge north and riding the same route!  I even got photos in the same spots. Just beautiful and lovely to ride with the fresh, crunchy snow. I'm sure it'll be an issue once we get a couple freeze cycles, but today was glorious. Nearly 40km round trip, with about two-thirds of that on trails. 

I haven't gone through the tunnel but it parallels the trail so you can poke your head in both ends - it's from the logging days long ago, though I still find it quite curious!

[Tim Baldwin]

Jason, you sure do have some great scenery in Vancouver. I enjoyed the ride shots from Feb. 12 and those snowy pictures are lovely. Your Bombadil fits right in out there. Vancouver is definitely on my list of places to visit when travel opens up again.

[Jason Fuller]

The trail rides are lovely and scenic but most of the Bombadil's miles these days are on my 40 km round-trip commute with a pannier.  I do sometimes wish that I had a zippier bike for commuting, but it rides so nice and comfortable.. 

Pictured is a mis-matched wheelset as one of my Velocity Cliffhangers is on backorder; soon there will be a fancy White Ind / Cliffhanger rear wheel to match the front! 

[Jason Fuller]

Today's lesson was that even though the connection looks short on the map, it might actually be a technically challenging hiking trail.  I had some Rene Herse 650x48 Extralights that I got from a buddy, they worked well today!  Sure, not the same grip as my knobby Ultradynamico's when on the trail, but their quiet nature on pavement was pretty welcome.  A little under 60km today, about 25 of which was in the woods. 

[sam.per...@gmail.com]

Inspiring 

Sent from my iPhone

--
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/8ac409e1-a5c4-4a7e-85cc-a570fdd7f2b8n%40googlegroups.com.

--

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

Patrick Moore

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

--

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/949a444a-71cb-4ef8-87d5-71abae22305bn%40googlegroups.com.

[Addison Quarles]

Jason, beautiful bike and beautiful documentation of your rides! 

Can I ask what the gearing on your bike is like? Is that 11-42 in the back? 

Thanks! 

-Addison 

(I hope to reincarnate as a bike like yours!) 

[Jason Fuller]

Cheers, Sam and Addison!  

Addison - I am running a 34T front ring to 11-42 as you guessed. For my terrain (and fitness) it's as good as it's going to get within that range; I use both the low and high end gears regularly, and not having another gear in either direction is usually only a minor inconvenience at most. Now, if I'm carrying a lot, I'll wish for more low end!  I have all the parts to go to a 42-32-22 triple on those cranks, and will probably do so at some point for silly amounts of range

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/KamsmJ5JKuE/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, 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/26630758-fea6-41e5-a7f7-df2e74b7ccadn%40googlegroups.com.

[Bikie#4646]

Nice work Jason! I feel like I was there! Your side of the continent looks absolutely primordial compared to the Mid-Atlantic!

Paul Germain

Midlothian, Va.

[Jason Fuller]

Today was a lot cooler than the past few weeks have been (about 12C) and raining steadily.  But, heck, decided to venture into the woods and do this 'archetypal route' anyway - and was rewarded with minimal precipitation up the valley. Got absolutely soaked in the first few km's and again the last 10 km's though!  But between those, had 40km of lovely moody skies with just a sprinkle here and there.  

I finally collected all the bits to run triple rings on my XTR cranks, so I'm trying that out with a downtube-mounted shifter.  It's occasionally useful to have the extra range but I'm not convinced I need the extra complexity over my 1x setup (which was geared towards low-end, given where I choose to go on this bike). The ridiculous-looking bar end situation on the handlebars was actually more functional than I expected, but it's so silly looking I've already removed them hahaha. 

Regarding this spot - known as "The Spot" among my cycling buddies - I think I've mentioned before that it's a bit of an oddity in that it's quite far up the valley and not very accessible except by either all-terrain bike, or a long long hike. There is almost no infrastructure nearby, so this is a surprisingly developed little spot.  The reason it exists is because this picturesque valley is popular in the film industry, and this spot can be accessed by a forestry road that is off-limits to the general public but for films, they use this as a home-base for filming in these woods apparently. The revenue from these films is used to maintain the trail network to access this spot.  

[Hugh Smitham]

Jason,

Great write up. I really appreciate both the tone and tenor of the retelling and the ride. 

It makes me want to travel North once again to experience your fantastic route.

Hugh

[Paul Richardson]

i'll just say again that i'm grateful for these posts and pictures--they're consistently great and maddeningly fomo-inducing.  and i must add i'm glad the bar end / handlebar thing was only a temporary experiment!

paul

takoma park, md.

[Jason Fuller]

Hahaha, thanks Paul, yeah the weird bars were polarizing as one would expect - most in the "it's ugly" camp, many in the "if it works, rock it!" camp (who may or may not be in the first camp), and a few who genuinely liked the look it seems. 

The handlebar I keep eyeing that I think would look cool on the Bombadil is the Choco-moose, but not being able to adjust angle or reach is pretty scary!   

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/KamsmJ5JKuE/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, 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/8f9b8c52-f4b8-4254-b449-273762b78994n%40googlegroups.com.

[Jason Fuller]

Got out early this morning to beat the heat (we're entering a record-breaking heat wave here, it got up to nearly 100F so far today which is unheard of around here).  Rode a different route than normal with two pals - up a mountain (Fromme) which looped over to another mountain (Grouse); we never rode to the peak of either because it's not really bike accessible but we were virtually at the peak of Grouse, a little over 1200m (~4000 ft) which was climbed from sea level at a gentle grade most of the way, almost entirely off-pavement. 

The ride actually starts like my "archetypal route" actually, making a bee-line for the bridge to the north shore, then following a residential street to its end where the trail begins.  A couple hundred metre climb on dog-walker type trails brings you to the upper residential area, and a quick noodle up and up places you on the gravel road that then continues for about 12 km of steady climbing to the location shown below. The road is rocky and loose with this dry weather, and a pal washed out the front end on the way down and is unfortunately at the clinic getting patched up now. Otherwise, it was a great day for all!  Too hot to be outside now... 

  

[Patrick Moore]

More lovely photos; thanks for sharing them. You are fortunate indeed to have such rides right from your door. I've got nice rides from my door, but not as nice as yours!

And as someone whose photographic skills are beneath contempt, I do enjoy competent composition and exposure.

How far did you go?

What is the bar on the 2-top-tube bike?

Oh, and I see that you have knobbies under fenders close to the tires. I take it you have had no problems and are not worried? OTOH, I have witnessed at least 2 instances of sticks getting caught in the front spokes of bikes with no fenders; this happened to my brother a few years ago, again, fenderless bike. He did a very graceful and slo-mo pivot wholly vertically over the axle of the now-stationary front wheel, but managed to bail before he toppled; he has very good coordination. Not even a bent spoke. I wish I'd got that on film -- almost ballet-like.

We had 10 days or so of 100 or more, almost record-breaking for the period, and 15* or more above seasonable averages; but of course when it reaches 104 here (as it did one day) the humidity is literally sub-Saharan: well below 10%, so that if you are in the shade and have a breeze or fan, it's not as bad as it sounds. My rooftop AC went out right as the heat began and the repair company of choice had a 12-day lead time, so I sweated indoors as well as out eking out comfort with a puny indoor evaporative cooler. (Needed R-22 or whatever it is.) Back to more or less normal this week, and about 90* today with -- mirabile dictu! -- forecast highs in the 70s (!!!) and rain (pre-monsoon, even!!!) for the next few days!

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/d10bed57-7b88-49e3-8c6c-ed9138717765n%40googlegroups.com.

[Jason Fuller]

Cheers Patrick!  This was about 56km and 1350m elevation (about 35 miles and 4500 ft in freedom units) from and to my door. The bar is actually a MAP Ahearne, so nothing unfamiliar to you there!

I do understand the risks of fenders with knobbies, but I (as well as almost all my riding pals) have been riding off road with such for years, and nobody's had so much as a close call yet - I think that while one component is luck, there's also a lot to be said about setting them up correctly (ie, keep the clearance as tight as possible at the entry point) and pairing them with the right knobbies - these have widely spaced and low profile knobs with a file tread center, so they don't actually pick stuff up much at all. As a preventative measure I have some PDW safety tabs on my desk actually, waiting to be installed - I will be getting those installed before the next ride actually. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgutoR_iRpDohxCZxL4QEY7%2BGjDbhy%3DU%3Dyh6jU2dF3AWfA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Eric Floden]

Jason,

you inspire me (I hope) --I used to be on the north shore on a bike weekly, pre-pandemic. But I have only biked past Burrard Inlet a couple of times since then. I really

hope I can get back into the habit once public health protocols allow it.

Meanwhile, I am hoping the oppressive heat leaves us soon...ugghh

EricF

Vancouver BC

[Jason Fuller]

Cheers Eric!  In the spirit, here are a few photos from this past Sunday's trip up the Seymour valley.  I have a few new parts collected to install on the Bombadil, and an Albatross bar in the mail which I think will do the trick - kind of wish I bought both it and the Choco just to try, but alas, I have too many handlebars as it is.  Going to swap off the knobby Ultradynamico for the slicker Cava's as well

[Jason Fuller]

Ever since I had the stick wedged in the front fender situation, which tossed me over the bars and made me realize I'm not as young as I once was, I haven't been willing to let the front wheel touch the ground.  I figure this avoids the problem entirely.  

(No new front fender yet - maybe this'll be a fenderless bike for a bit?  Unclear. One thing's for sure: I keep riding it)

[Jason Fuller]

...and here's some photos from the ride that ultimately ended in fender ruinage and full body aches. 

[Paul Germain]

Jason,

Sorry about your fender incident. As someone else said, those PDW Safety Tabs will help you regain your confidence. I've been using them for about 6 years. Though I haven't gotten a stick or rock caught while riding, I once dropped the front of the bike onto the rear of the front fender with the wheel removed while loading it into the van. 

The safety tab worked just as it should and I was able to pop it back into place, no harm done.

Paul Germain

Midlothian, Va.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/KamsmJ5JKuE/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, 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/7d3719e5-64ec-4023-93f1-990fe2a497d7n%40googlegroups.com

.

[Adam]

Sorry to hear about the fender mishap.

I'm running 2.1 knobbies under Tanaka 68mm fenders with the PDW safety tabs. I'm curious if anyone's had incidents with the safety tab setup? I caught a bit of stuff in the front wheel a few weeks ago and the tabs released, the wheel didn't lock, and I was fine. That made me feel better, but I'm still totally ready to abandon the combination.

I tried no fenders for a bit but just couldn't deal with the amount of mess after every ride.

Keeping the front wheel off the ground is definitely an elegant solution.

Adam

[Jason Fuller]

It's not quite done, so I should really wait until it is... but it might be a couple weeks for the last parts to show up and I am not that patient. 

Here's the same old Bombadil with a fresh coat and assortment of new parts. Feels like new bike day, even though it's technically not!  Bars will be wrapped with light grey padded Newbaums. Dual grey Riv fender flaps, and the rear Motolite are now installed (not pictured).  It was painted by Chris Dekerf, two coats of clearcoat, full lug detailing, addition of Rene Herse tail light. It was not cheaper than what Joe Bell would have charged, and it's also up to Joe's level of quality. 

2022 is going to be a heck of a year for this Bombadil, if all goes according to plan! 

[Erik]

That is a stunning paint job, Jason.  It looks beautiful.  Can't wait to see ride reports once its all built up!

[Paul Germain]

Very nice Jason! That model Rivendell is becoming the "classic". Fully lugged, details, "standard" chain stays, etc. To boot, it's bombproof and has room for wide tires. 

Of course, "classic" is a moving target. Expectations for a frame change over time and parts for older bikes get harder to obtain, pushing some older "classics" into the realm of "vintage". But unlike carbon, it takes decades for that transition.

Paul Germain

Midlothian, Va.

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/1e2bd61f-4a15-4876-bf17-583b1d4d79f8n%40googlegroups.com

.

[Ryan]

That IS nice. Chris Dekerf builds frames too. Canadian eh! I  remember seeing a couple of nice fillet-brazed frames in the late nineties in a shop owned by a good friend of mine.

https://www.dekerf.com/ 

Enjoy...sweet bike!

[Jay Lonner]

So it looks like you have RH Untanum Ridge tires on there, which are 650B - is that the stock size for this bike, or did you have the brake posts moved, or have you found some other workaround? 55s with room for fenders sounds great.

Jay Lonner

Bellingham, WA

Sent from my Atari 400

On Dec 31, 2021, at 3:48 PM, Jason Fuller <jtf.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

It's not quite done, so I should really wait until it is... but it might be a couple weeks for the last parts to show up and I am not that patient. 

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/cb1f8820-b8de-429a-9a6b-73633fbe2942n%40googlegroups.com.

[Joe Bernard]

That paint is AMAZING!!! 👏👏👏🙌🏆

[Juan Medina]

That;s one gorgeous bike! What’s the frame size? 

JM

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 1, 2022, at 8:30 AM, 'Paul Germain' via RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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/382260679.646496.1641047447752%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Jason Fuller]

Thanks Juan! It's a 52cm, which came with dual TT's only for the first batch or two from my understanding. 

Erik, Paul, Ryan, Joe - appreciated! I tend to agree :D 

Jay - this frame, and most Bombadils, is 650B.  I used to believe they all were 650, but iirc some of the biggest sizes are 700c. Good eye on the tires - can't wait to ride them!  I bought them in September but haven't put a mile on them yet. 

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/93D993E9-A8D3-4EF2-A110-5F9BB84B95C0%40gmail.com.

[Eric Floden]

My 60cm Bomba has 700's...

EricF

Vancouver

On Sun, 2 Jan 2022 at 12:30, Jason Fuller <jtf.f...@gmail.com> wrote:

Jay - this frame, and most Bombadils, is 650B.  I used to believe they all were 650, but iirc some of the biggest sizes are 700c. Good eye on the tires - can't wait to ride them!  I bought them in September but haven't put a mile on them yet. 

 w-owners-bunch/CAGBpHnfsgbM10M9j_Xt0M57-NpotUhuquBGfHfaMkZ6Qyxxkrg%40mail.gmail.com.