Roadini - 1,000km Impressions

[Dan]

Background - why the Roadini?

Adelaide is a road cycling city. Strung out between a gorgeous coastline and the Mount Lofty Ranges, there’s good road riding to be had whether you love climbing or just want to get some fast, flat kilometres in between coffee stops. Every year in January, our city hosts the Tour Down Under, a week-long festival of cycling that is the first stop on the global Tour circuit. Early on Saturday and Sunday mornings right through the year you’ll see lycra-clad groups fill out the cafes and stringing along the main roads to and from the coast or the popular climbs into the hills.

I’d never been that interested in taking part in this culture, despite its strong presence. I don’t want to wear lycra, and my cycling interests veer strongly to exploration and just pottering around. However, last year in the wake of the festivities of the Tour I started joining a social group ride on Wednesdays after work. Run by the social arm of a chill-and-friendly cyclocross team, the ride consists of a pilgrimage through the suburbs to dead-end road in the foothills that we all then proceed to ride up and down as many times and as fast or slow as we like. It’s a great way to clear the mind of mid-week work stress.

In my jeans and flappy t-shirts I was never going to be ‘fast’, and I rode my Surly Straggler on those rides for a year, going my own pace. It was fun, but I began to wonder what it would be like to ride a bike that was more suited to this sort of riding. More precisely, I wanted more speed at less effort, yet in a bike that was still beautiful and comfortable. I wanted to finally have a ‘road’ bike. 

What did that mean to me? Wide-ish tyres, steel frame, room for fenders and, for mostly aesthetic reasons, rim brakes. It should also be designed to be fairly upright as my Straggler had a million spacers under the stem which I’ve disliked the look of since I got it. Other bikes I considered and moved on from were: the Bassi Montreal and Riv Sam Hillborne were stunning but perhaps slightly more touring oriented than I was going for. I wanted a road bike, not another Surly Straggler. The Crust Malocchio was tempting, but couldn’t fit 38s and fenders. I had my eye on the Roadini, and when I saw Blue Lug had one last TIG’d Sergio Green frame in my size in stock, I placed an order.

Impressions - what I love

This bike is beautiful. Like many here I agonised over the sizing before and after I ordered, wondering if I’d made the right choice. Aesthetically speaking, I think the 57cm Roadini looks perfect for me with my ~89cm PBH and ~77.5cm saddle height. For some reason, quill stem bikes look great even with the bars raised high! The colour is surprisingly nice too. I didn’t think much of it before ordering, but Sergio Green really is stunning in person. It alternates between having a silver and gold sheen depending on the light. I had fun picking out two colours of bar tape to set it off, and it’s the perfect complement to my purple Appaloosa. I also love the mix of classic and contemporary styling of my build: the timelessness of the silver parts, steel frame and rim brakes contrast in a pleasing way with the modern-looking derailleur, disc-section rims and ‘compact’ (expanded) geometry of the frame. It’s for this reason that I actually prefer the aesthetics of the TIG’d frame too, and I’m glad I went for this over the newer lugged version.

Secondly, the bike is extremely comfortable. I selected a stem size by drawing up the Roadini frame and bars in CAD and tried to land on a position the same as my Straggler. I was disappointed at first to find that I was a little more stretched out than expected when I rode the bike for the first time. I thought I was clever and had it right!

But over the hundreds of kilometres of riding since, and after tweaking the stem up and down, the bike and I have become used to each other. The main position on the hoods is both upright enough to be comfortable and stretched out enough to allow power delivery. The deep drops still feel very comfortable, and I use them all the time. And - here’s the magic - the Noodle bars are something else. I didn’t know how nice it would be to just slide my hands back a touch from the hoods, and have another 2 or so hand positions there before even considering the tops! It’s all very natural and intuitive. 

Then there’s the comfort of the frame itself. Wow. Riding this bike is, somehow, almost as smooth as riding my Appaloosa which has much wider tyres. The front end is unbelievable - the bars, stem, fork and tyres all flex together to smooth out most of the irregularities of the road. At the rear, I think the chainstay length is just right for a road bike - long enough to take the edge of bumps and smooth out the handling, but not so long that riding out of the saddle feels like a chore. I’ve read here and elsewhere that people consider the Roadini ‘overbuilt’ for a road bike, but for me it has been a revelation. The whole frame flexes in all the right ways to make pedalling as hard or easy as I want a joy, and I never feel like I’m pushing harder than the bike wants to go. The only limit is my own, ha. The outcome of the above is that I feel fresh, even after an ~80km ride through the hills.

Finally, it’s fast, just like I wanted! No, it’s not as fast as a carbon road race bike, but the comfortable cruising speed is anywhere from 18~32km/hr, compared to ~14-22km/hr on my Appaloosa. It’s swift - that is, fast-ish and comfortable. In that sense, it’s exactly what I wanted. I can keep up with my friends on road bikes when we ride socially, though I’m notably less aero on the downhills. But I don’t mind.

Things that aren’t perfect

There are two quirks of my bike build that annoyed me a lot at first but I have since worked through and/or come to terms with.

The first is that the combination of the narrow brake tracks on the Velocity Quill rims and long-reach brakes makes for very finicky front brake pad adjustment. I have this issue on two bikes, the other being a 650b with long-reach dual pivots. The thing is, if the pads aren’t set just so, they have a tendency to push up into the tyre under heavy braking. On the Roadini, this contact happens at the top of the pad, for some reason! After much cursing the pads can be set just so and it doesn’t happen, then I forgive and forget. But maybe I would recommend rims with a wider brake track to someone doing a fresh Roadini build.

The second is that, well, the frame can shimmy, at least on my setup. When I put a Switft Catalyst bag on the handlebars and load it up, the whole bike likes to wobble when I remove my hands from the bars. This is remedied (of course) by putting my hands back on the bars. I don’t like it, however, so I’ve come across alternative setups for storage that don’t make it happen. That is, either a small bag on the bars (Outershell Drawcord Handlebar bag) or the Swift Catalyst as a saddlebag. The shimmy/wobble is annoying, but I tell myself I wanted a flexy road bike and not another touring bike, and that it’s the other side of the coin of the stunning ride quality.

Build highlights

• Roadini, size 57cm
• 46cm Noodle bars with a 7cm Technomic stem
• Microshift Sword brifters and shifters
• SpaCycles 44-28 double crankset. 44t is almost too low for this bike. 
• Shimano 11-36t casette (I wanted silver!)
• Paul Racer brakes
• Velocity Quill rims laced to Bitex Road hubs, 32 spokes each
• Rene Herse Barlow Pass Extralights. 38mm nominal, measure out to 41mm on these rims.
• SKS P45 fenders. The tyres juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust fit. My LBS had to machine down the bolt nut that fixes the fenders to the seatstay bridge, which is the tightest point. Otherwise I am comfortable with the clearance for a road bike.
• Ergon SR Allroad saddle. I don’t notice it - the best praise a saddle could have.
• MKS Gamma pedals. Too narrow for off-road riding on my Appaloosa, but perfect on the Roadini.

Thank you for those of you who read this far and apologies for the wordiness. I just wanted to share my thoughts to give back to this community. Happy riding!

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

What a pure pleasure to read. I feel like I’m reading a more polished version of my own experience, only I went with a Charlie and you chose a Roadini. But again, so nice to read about such a similar situation - wanting a more clubby Riv but not wanting to part with Riv ethos and comfort. It’s a tightrope, or it was for me!

I also wanted a road bike, but not an uncomfortable one, and one with some of the same accessories I enjoy on my other bikes. I love that you went with fenders. I fendered my “road bike” and I’m glad to have some company. I did not, however, use drop bars, and that was the biggest deviation I made. I sometimes wish I’d given them a try because my upright bars really affect my effort in high wind conditions.

That shimmy you mention - I have that, too. I didn’t know what it was, but it stops when I put my hand on the bars. It makes a little squeaky hum (the fender bouncing around?) So that is just a flexy road frame? 

Your build is very thoughtful and interesting to read about. I’m so glad you love the end result and that you are able to ride faster with buddies. Club riding is fun; it’s a way to get a lot of miles and to do it in the company of other bike people. 

Leah

[larson....@gmail.com]

A very well thought out review! Thank you for taking the time to share this-a beautiful bike!

Randy in WI

[Nicholas A]

Great write up! I'll be building a lugged one up myself later in the year.

[Patrick Moore]

Dan: Lovely bike and very informative review. Your review and many others, including BSNYC’s repeated praises, make me think I’d like one.

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[Dan]

Thanks all for the kind words.

Leah, yes, I feel that our experiences are similar, and I've taken much enjoyment and feelings of solidarity from reading your roadbike journey!

I feel you ride 'club' rides more than me, for what it's worth.

With regards to drop bars, I can't deny that there's a large aesthetic component to it. Drop bars = road bike (or so my brain says). One day I might get over that, and I feel that there is a future for the Roadini with more swept back bars. I feel like it would still ride very very well with them.

An additional note to my impressions: the Rene Herse extralight tyres are fragile-ish and I'd been telling myself that I wouldn't use them again when I wear them out. But they feel so good, so I might just keep going with them. Has anyone else here used them? The one thing I am nervous to try on them is extended sections of gravel - but is that worry all in my head?

[Ben Miller]

Dan, great write and fun hearing about the bike culture of Adelaide! I got to visit Adelaide last October for a work conference that was right after had gotten married so we turned it into a Australian honeymoon tour. Because my conference was in Adelaide and was all day, I didn't actually get to see much of the city was I was there, but my wife explored it over the 3 days of the conference. By the time it was over she told me that she'd seen it all and wanted to go to the countryside. We ended up finding a room at the Mount Lofty House, which was absolutely one of the most fabulous hotel experiences I have ever had! Didn't get to bike while I was there, but I could definitely see myself biking up Mount Lofty, it was beautiful! We stayed in Maclaren Vale too and went to Kangaroo Island. KI looked like an especially great place to bike around on those "strada biancas." Anyways, South Australia was very beautiful and can definitely imagine having some great rides there.

I have Extralight Barlow Passes on both my Riv "road" bikes: A Roadeo and a Rambouillet. For what's it is worth, I don't find them to be fragile. I usually get about 3000+ km out of them and never had a torn sidewall or anything. They are definitely my most road-ish bike, so I'm not taking them on most of my gravel riding, but I still feel confident in the tires more than enough to take them off-road here in Northern California. And the really do feel so good :)

I also have Paul Racers on my Ram with 25mm rims (Mavic A319's). And I have Mafac Racers with 23 mm rims on my Roadeo. I'm curious why you found them some hard to set up? I haven't had any issues with either brake/rim combo on either bike. Also, with those rims my Barlow Passes measure out to a true 38mm on the Ram and just a bit less on the Roadeo (37mm). 

Anyways, thanks for sharing your beautiful bike build and impressions. The Sergio Green looks great and that XD2 crank really ties the build together! Is that a Hobo Pieces Restuvus I see??? 

[Ted Durant]

On Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 12:41:39 AM UTC-5 Dan wrote:

Thank you for those of you who read this far and apologies for the wordiness. I just wanted to share my thoughts to give back to this community. Happy riding!

Beautiful bike, thoughtfully built, excellent review! Welcome to the lovers of Noodle bars club :-) I never had the problem of brake shoes displacing on my long-reach calipers. I wonder if you might try some different brake shoes, if they might bolt more securely to the calipers. I have had uniformly great experience with Compass/Rene Herse tires, mostly the extra light variants. I don't ride in thorny areas, so my puncture experience has been quite good. You'll know when it's time to replace a tire, though, when you get 3 flats in a week :-) I have been very happy with getting thousands of kms out of tires before that happens. 

Shimmy - such a frustrating thing. One other thing you can try when it happens is to touch a knee to the top tube. If that works, you can get in the habit of putting a knee there whenever you want to take your hands off the bars (though, of course, that means coasting, too). For the sake of science, you could try changing tire pressures, especially if you're loading up the handlebar bag. In my experience, though, the steering geometry that Grant prefers for road bikes tends to make handling a challenge with a front load. 

Ted Durant

Milwaukee, WI USA

[Kat]

Hi Dan,

Beautiful build and always nice to hear from fellow Aussies. I too am thinking about a proper road bike to complement my Appaloosa. If HeapsGoodGarage brings the lugged Roadini here maybe...

Sergio Green is so nice. I think it's the nicest Riv colour but I am biased because my Appaloosa is Sergio Green. Love the chainring guard too. Your bike looks like it would be right at home among other modern road bikes (but more handsome). I like that Rivendells can be set up with modern aesthetics too - they aren't just for retrogrouches.

More photos of the bars and cockpit please! I like the two tone bar tape.

Kat

[Piaw Na]

An additional note to my impressions: the Rene Herse extralight tyres are fragile-ish and I'd been telling myself that I wouldn't use them again when I wear them out. But they feel so good, so I might just keep going with them. Has anyone else here used them? The one thing I am nervous to try on them is extended sections of gravel - but is that worry all in my head?

It's all in your head. My son and I use the skinnier 35mm version of those tires on the tandem, on and off road, no problem. My wife uses the 32mm version of those tires and she'll ride what many consider mountain bike trails with them. The bike is there for you to ride it. No point babying equipment, especially consumables like tires and chains. 

[Patrick Moore]

I think that the main liability with the thinner sidewalls of the extralight models is to sharp rocks that can tear them; as for the tread, I’ve ridden 42 mm and even 28 mm (actual) extralights on firm gravel with no problem (and of course on sandy surfaces but with their share of cottonwood roots and ruts).

On Mon, May 19, 2025 at 11:00 AM Piaw Na <pi...@gmail.com> wrote:

An additional note to my impressions: the Rene Herse extralight tyres are fragile-ish and I'd been telling myself that I wouldn't use them again when I wear them out. But they feel so good, so I might just keep going with them. Has anyone else here used them? The one thing I am nervous to try on them is extended sections of gravel - but is that worry all in my head?

It's all in your head. My son and I use the skinnier 35mm version of those tires on the tandem, on and off road, no problem. My wife uses the 32mm version of those tires and she'll ride what many consider mountain bike trails with them. The bike is there for you to ride it. No point babying equipment, especially consumables like tires and chains. 

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[Jason Fuller]

Very much enjoyed the write-up!  It's surprising to hear the brake pad challenges given the Quill isn't particularly narrow - I would probably have built it up with A23's which would be worse still.  As for the Extralights - I find them to be not too fragile. They are arguably less fragile than the Standard casing actually, as the weave is denser IIRC. I wouldn't be afraid to take them off-road unless you have sharp flint-like rocks, but certainly a little extra care to avoid nasty bits is warranted. Keeping the pressure balanced to avoid pinch flats but also allow the sidewalls to flex when contacting rocks etc should help. 

[Brent Eastman]

Same bike, same size, same color, same feelings!! I have velocity dyad rims and haven't noticed the issue. 

What tires and fenders are you running in that pic?

[Corwin Zechar]

I cannot agree here. I have Rene Herse extralight Barlow Pass on my Quickbeam. I ride in two types of environments: 1) Less affluent areas rife with sharp debris such as trash and glass. 2) More affluent areas rife with sharp debris such as screws, nails and other fasteners. The sidewall of my rear tire got irreparably sliced in the first month. Front is still going strong.

On the other hand, I often find the same debris embedded in my Schwalbes with no loss of pressure whatsoever.

I love the ride of Rene Herse extralights. But reliability is much more important to me than that cushy ride.

Regards,

Corwin

[Dan]

Ben:

Glad to hear you enjoyed your time in Adelaide! Yes, the city centre itself is small and the rest sprawls a lot. But how good is it to be able to go to Mt Lofty in, say, a 20 minute drive from the centre and be in another world? You picked a lovely spot in Mt Lofty House for a getaway. As the highest point in the Mt Lofty Ranges it of course features in a lot of people's road and gravel loop rides from the city. With your (and others') reassurances on the EL Barlow Passes, I've been inspired to try the Roadini on the gravel route to the summit! With McLaren Vale you picked the best wine region too - hope you were able to sample some nice local wine and architecture!

And yes, that's a Restuvus. I wanted to try a saddlebag and it was the only option that looked good and sturdy. Expensive but thought I would just go for it. Works perfectly and complements the Paul brakes.

Ted, Jason:

The problem isn't so much the width of the rims, but the height of the brake track. I measure the machined braking surface as ~9mm on the Quills, vs ~13-14mm on the Cliffhangers. This means that the pads have a very narrow range they can be set before pressing on the curving section of the rim (too low) or the subtle flex of the whole brake arms push part of the pad to contact the tyre under hard braking (too high). Maybe it's a me problem? Anyway, touch wood, they are working fantastic at the moment. 

With the Microshift Sword levers the feel of these brakes is very, very linear. It reminds me of the brake pedal of a lightweight manual sports car: firm at first if you are used to overly boosted brakes (in this analogy, the spongy and grabby pedal of an automatic car, and in bike terms maybe V brakes or hydraulic brakes), but every extra bit of hand force you input gets you the same extra increment of braking force. It's very satisfying.

Anyway in the photos below you can see the slight angle the front pads have to be rotated to counter the flex/rotation under hard braking.

Brenton:

How good is it?!! Please share some photos of your current setup. 

I'm running 38mm Barlow Pass ELs with SKS P45 fenders. It works for me and looks great but try at your own risk, the clearance is TIGHT under the seatstay bridge ha.

Kat:

Photos below as promised! Newbaums maroon and eggplant, I believe.

Looking forwards to one day reading about your road bike journey!

(The last photo gave me a shock when I saw it. That scratch!! It's since been covered with clear nail polish.)

[Ted Durant]

> On May 22, 2025, at 8:15 PM, Dan <gril...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ted, Jason:
> The problem isn't so much the width of the rims, but the height of the brake track

I see in the photos you have Paul brakes with long pads. My experience has been with Silver/Tektro dual-pivot brakes with short road pads. So there are two possible contributing factors. One would be flexing of the Paul caliper arms, which would be greater than what you’d experience if the brake calipers were directly mounted to the frame. I don’t know if they flex more than the dual-pivot brakes I have used. Some people have complained about the amount of flex but I never felt it was an issue.

The second issue would be the long brake pads. Out the gates, those pads will need more brake track height because they are straight and the brake track curves. In addition, the greater length means the ends will travel farther than the ends of short pads for a given amount of caliper flex.

If it were me I’d try some short road pads on those brakes.



Ted Durant
Milwaukee, WI

[Daniel Grilli]

Thanks Ted.
Your logic is sound. I might try some road pad holders with Kool Stop Dura 2 inserts when I feel like having a play with the brakes again. They look like they have a slightly narrower pad contact width too.

Regards,

Daniel

> 23/5/2025 12:06、Ted Durant <tedd...@gmail.com>のメール:
>
> 

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[Dan]

My LBS has helped me ‘upgrade’ my Roadini by swapping the Sword brifters for separate brake levers and bar-end shifters. 

I’ve only ridden it home from the shop so far, but I am very much enjoying the feel of the RRL levers. I think they suit the Noodle bars much better than the Sword brifters, which felt a bit large and long for my hands on this setup. 

Bar end shifting is fun too. I enjoy the tactility! The rear shifter is actually an indexed 10 speed one designed to work with Sword. 

Bar tape to come after I ride it like this for a week or two so we can dial in the lever positions. 

Tweaking bike setups is fun!

[Brenton Eastman]

Hey Dan are those tires 38? Why do they look so beefy?! 

On Aug 13, 2025, at 10:06 PM, Dan <gril...@gmail.com> wrote:



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<IMG_2659.jpeg>

[Daniel Grilli]

Yes nominally 38, but on these rims (Quills) they stretch out to just over 41! Tubeless and extra light casing. 

Regards,

Daniel

14/8/2025 15:24、Brenton Eastman <brenton...@gmail.com>のメール:



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