steerstopper experiment

[Tom Horton]

I'm running an experiment. Having embraced big Wald baskets on the front of my atlantis and clem L, I have also bought into unexpected wheel flop, bike falling down; was very lucky on a recent long ride not to have bent a wheel when my atlantis twisted in a bike stand.

so I've invested in two of tom melcher's steerstoppers, a piece of equipment (google it if you wish) designed to stabilize the front wheel. it's well made (in USA), relatively pricey, and we shall see how they do on my two bikes.

most problematic will be the clem, a 64 cm.  the mixte design means the steerstopper cannot be installed ideally. melcher, who is great on customer service, even sent me a special extension part free to make it work better, but for now I'm just gonna go with the standard steerstopper on both bikes and see what happens.

the only thing I can say for sure is that while I was worried the steerstopper would clutter up my cockpit, so far it doesn't, though aesthetics will differ on this, no doubt. even with stem mounted thumb shifters on the atlantis, no problem; of course the large frame helps some.

I'll report back in a few months. I'm optimistic; but if you see two steerstoppers for sale on this site, you'll know how it turned out.

and yes, I've been the route of bungees, vinyl coated twist ties and the like...they all serve the purpose, but not well enough to suit me.

and yet another experiment:  I've long thought the coleman green paint job on my quickbeam did not do justice to the bike's lugwork; so I've taken it to steve bilenky's shop in philly for a repaint that I hope will better accentuate the qbeam's joinery. pick it up in late nov/early dec. and will send (my usual bad) pix.

[Kainalu V. -Brooklyn NY]

That's a serious piece of equipment! Looking forward to seeing your repainted quickbeam, is it a 68?
But back to the topic of parking stability (which I find fascinating!), I've been making "parking brakes" from 3/4" velcro tape stuck together. This velcro belt holding my front brake lever engaged has been super quick and relatively stable (wheel can flop, but not rolling keeps the bike upright). Useful for other things too, depending on the length you choose. Maybe not strong enough to ensure a front rack like an Irish strap, but it's faster! But not nearly as quick as the steerstopper's lever. Nice being ready for action.
Enjoy!
-Kai

[David Bivins]

Wow. That's a lot more serious than the spring thing I got from Velo Orange. Looking forward to hearing your results, and nice to learn about another innovative, useful product.

--
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/6ae4ac66-4896-454d-853a-1697b0a5f97d%40googlegroups.com.

[Julian Westerhout]

Tom, 

I've been using  Steerstoppers on my 64 cm Clem H and our Bilenky tandem for a couple of years. They're pricy, as you noyed, but they work great. I use the clem for commuting and shopping with a basket and shopsack, and the Steerstopper prevents bar swing, bike tipping, etc. 

Julian Westerhout

Bloomington, IL 

[Tom Horton]

Good to hear yr steerstopper success  especially with the clem

And yes the qbeam s a 68  an extremely comfortable ride

Sent from my iPhone

--
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/Fmn2TQ4oX1g/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/12664886-0c51-4353-aa14-6f6ab7dd3f38%40googlegroups.com.