A Glimpse of the MIT A. Homer Hilsen?

[Hetchins52]

The Riv Blug site for May 22nd shows a fun video that demonstrates what you can fit in the new Sackville Banana Sack.

     https://rivbike.tumblr.com

What I found especially interesting -- I have an A.H.H. -- is this:

At 1:00 minute in, the bag is shown mounted on a blue A. Homer Hilsen. I take it to be a prototype of the Made in Taiwan version, identifiable by the ball bearing joint at the seat stay to seat cluster lug. You'll have to drag the slider and hit the pause button as there's only about 5 seconds that show the seat cluster before the camera cuts away.

The lugs look nice albeit a little simpler than the Waterford and Toyo produced ones.

It also looks longer than my 650B AHH in the garage door profile view at the end of the video. My 40mm Baby Show Pass rear has only 4cm clearance to the seat tube.

The new spec sheet shows that mid-size MIT AHH chain stays are about 4cm longer than the older frames.

     https://www.rivbike.com/pages/geometry

Have any recent visitors to RBW HQ seen or ridden it?

David Lipsky

Berkeley, CA

[Belopsky]

Youre welcome everyone

[Michael, SF/CA]

That's the sample MIT Homer, size 54.5 cm if I remember correctly. I rode it a few months ago, here's a photo:

[Hetchins52]

Thanks, Michael,
Looks like, except for the seat cluster, the visible lugs are the same as the Toyo and Waterford produced frames.

What were your impressions from the test ride?

DL

[Michael, SF/CA]

The chainstays on the MIT Homer are 4 cm longer so more "stable" but otherwise, the ride is true to the original Saluki/AHH, which I like a lot. The only other difference is the increased slope on the top tube, which of course allows less production sizes to fit more riders.

If you are in the market for "zippy and road-ish, with good tire clearance and provisions to mount everything you need to carry / camp / tour / go offroad," I wouldn't think twice about either MIT or MUSA Homer. It really depends on your budget and preferences for the details, but it's great to have a choice with 2 of their classic models now. I hope they sell a bunch!

M

[phil k]

thanks for the pic this looks good