New Bike-Trade Day - A(nother) Quickbeam

[Patch T]

Hi Bunch,

tl:dr - Kyle's Quickbeam was too big. Mine was maybe too small. We swapped. Photos.

I've ridden an orange Quickbeam for about 5 years. It's seen all sorts of builds, all sorts of rides, camping trips, commutes; the slow end of a toxic relationship and the start of a healthy one, an engagement, a cross-country move (again), a pandemic a career change... As you can imagine, I'm in love with the bike. My first and only Rivendell (so far) but I don't really feel the itch for another. Ok maybe a Mountain Mixte. Or Roadeo. Or Saluki, maybe. I digress. 

I sold a few frames so I could purchase it, used, from an angel named John who even let me pay in installments. I've learned a lot about bikes and about wrenching, but also about sizing in the short 5 years since - one thing I learned is that I should/could ride larger bikes than I thought. 

For a while it was my only bike. Kyle from Golden Saddle Cycles used to frequently catch me outside riding the QB back when I lived in LA, or when I visited his shop, and every time he would remind me he'd gladly purchase that bike when I'm ready to sell. You can imagine my answer - however, he never let up. 

Fast forward to cruising Instagram late last year, now living in NYC, and I saw that Kyle finally got his holy grail - a silver Quickbeam - but in a size too big for him. He thought he'd like to try out a French fit, but it didn't work out. So I wrote him, thinking his new-to-him 56 would fit me better (or, differently + nicely) than my beloved 54. He agreed, and we packed and shipped each other our frames (he had me ship his to Black Magic Paint!) 

I've spent the past month rebuilding; highlights include a TA crank, shiny VO fenders, Compass Maes Parallel bar, Swift rando bag, dyno lighting, Paul brakes (minimoto front, touring rear), 38mm Gravelking slicks.

Was it worth the $80ish in shipping? Maybe. It's not necessarily *more* comfortable, but *differently* comfortable. I do like having a shorter stem, and less seatpost showing than before - that feeling of being *in* it, rather than *above* it. All in all - with the new color and different (again) parts - it's kinda like a new bike day, for under $100.

Patch

BK/NYC

 

[Bill Lindsay]

APPROVE!

I want a silver 58cm Quickbeam.  There's a green 60cm locally, but I don't like British Racing Green on bikes.  I might end up with it anyway, but I'm not going to cry if somebody else buys it.  If that 60cm green was a 58cm silver, I'd already have it...

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Doug H.]

Bill,

There is a 57 cm Frank Jones Sr. on eBay if that interests you. I'll post the link in case you hadn't seen it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/185245621839?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&siteid=0&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&toolid=20008&campid=5335981329&customid=with-subcat

Doug

[JohnS]

Patch, that's a great looking bike. I'm always impressed with how versatile the QB/S1 are, commuter, rando-like, trail, does it all, as long as it's not too hilly (DP would recommend walking in that case, lowest common gear).

Good luck,

JohnS 

Who's only Riv is an orange QB.

[Matt Beecher]

I'd like a silver 58 too, just for the kickstand plate.  For now, I am thoroughly enjoying my green 58, or at least I will again in the spring.  I'm not yet sure if I want it enough to deal with shipping, then selling mine, but you never know.  

Best regards,

Matt - competition for Bill - Beecher

[Bill Lindsay]

Thanks Doug, but that's out of my price range.  It may be naive of me, but I think used-anything should be half-retail.  $2800 for that build strikes me as a fair bit more than half retail, even though it is a high-end build.  Add to that the fact that the FJ Senor has essentially zero cult following.  Maybe it's collectors prices for the Paul Racer brakes?  HAHA

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[lconley]

I would classify the FJ Sr as the Rivendell most likely to "plane" of any recent Rivendell bike doe to it's smaller diameter tube set, that is, if I had any idea what "planing" was. 

Laing

[Bill Lindsay]

Laing pointed out the FJSr has a "smaller diameter tube set".  

It's just the downtube that is smaller diameter, but I agree with you that the planing zealots should love that.  That said, the planing zealots generally scoff at long chainstays and/or easily find other things to complain about.  

If that $1500 MSRP frameset was being sold used for $750, I'd grab it.  I don't think I could part out that $2800 build to get it down to $750 for a F/F/HS.  

[Dave Grossman]

That is a great story!  Only Riv's would have such a history!  Matt has my old green 58 and I'm currently on Jamisons old 62 so this is the carousel of QBs!

[Patch T]

Thanks folks - truly an honor to get an 'APPROVE' from Bill! I'm a huge fan of his whole stable, to the extent that he's shared it here or iBob over the last few years... 

I thought I really liked orange; but I think I prefer the QB in silver now. Orange may be the fastest color but silver is the plane-iest!

No one asked, but I thought I'd share that the rear fender is mounted using these safety tabs. They look nice enough and allow for easy-enough wheel removal with the rear-facing dropouts. Handy for the (very) occasional hill out here on which I would enjoy 'shifting' from 44x16 to 44x19.

Patch

[Patrick Moore]

I highly approved this build.

Signed and certified by Patrick Moore.

Hermaneutic: Mr. Patch chose the ineffably nice Maes Parallel bar, the best bar in the universe, and he installed it properly with ends of hooks strictly parallel to Mother Earth.

The saddle-to-drop relationship is just right. (Metric: I like it and would so set a bike up myself!)

VO shiny fenders over plump but not obese tires.

Patch: Is the drivetrain fixed or merely single speed? You can push your overall score from 98.3275% to well over 100% by having a fixed drivetrain.

In all seriousness (no!), that's lovely.

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Patrick Moore

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

[Patrick Moore]

"Approve." Posted before reading Bill. But still, I approve.

[Patch T]

Just as chuffed for your *Approve*, Patrick :) You've pointed out my favorite bits. Especially those bars, I've not found a *better* drop bar for me. But I really hate to disappoint: the photo/uneven ground is obscuring their actual ~1deg of uptilt, as I might be crazy but my hands do like the tiniest bit of angle. But 1 is basically 0, right? Still approve?

No, I know, it would be the coolest set up fixed. I should really throw a 17t or 18t cog on the other side of that Suzue hub - I haven't ridden a lot of fixed, and not in a very long time. 

They make 3/32 fixed cogs, right?

Patch,

whose knees are already trembling in BK, NYC

[Max S]

"No one asked, but I thought I'd share that the rear fender is mounted using these safety tabs. They look nice enough and allow for easy-enough wheel removal with the rear-facing dropouts. Handy for the (very) occasional hill out here on which I would enjoy 'shifting' from 44x16 to 44x19." 

I noticed that and for a moment thought you had them backwards, but this is an interesting idea! I use them with my front metal fender, but not the rear. (For that I have been using a Paul SS/Fixed hub that uses bolts, upon removal of which the wheel can be dropped out vertically. There are some other hubs that use a similar set-up. Retrogression sells many of them.) 

- Max "learn something new today" in A2

[Bill Lindsay]

Patrick Moore stated with mock-sincerity:   "Hermaneutic: Mr. Patch chose the ineffably nice Maes Parallel bar, the best bar in the universe, and he installed it properly with ends of hooks strictly parallel to Mother Earth."

Patch apologized with the correction: " But I really hate to disappoint: the photo/uneven ground is obscuring their actual ~1deg of uptilt"

I'd like to match Patrick Moore's mock sincerity with an assertion of the real and true rules for the angle of one's drops.  Patrick Moore states that everybody's drops should be parallel to the horizon.  This is false.  The rules are as follows:

1. drops can never have a downward tilt

2. drops can only be parallel to the ground when on a bike with a level top tube

2.a. drops parallel to the earth can be permitted on a bike with no top tube

2.b. drops parallel to the earth can be permitted on a bike with a curved top tube

3. on bikes with an upsloping top tube, drops must be parallel to the top tube, NOT parallel to the horizon

4. It is permitted in all cases for the drops to have 0 degrees up to 2 degrees MORE upslope than the top tube.  

5. It is never permitted to have the drops "flatter" than the top tube.  All bikes with the drops flatter than the top tube slope are objectively "goofy looking"

Patch is correctly observing the real rules.  The correct observance deserves a restated: APPROVE.  

Bill "speaker of truth" Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Paul Brodek]

Fabulous Fort Lee!!!!!! Go Bridgemen!!! Er, Bridgepeople!!!!

Paul "Formerly From Fort Lee" Brodek

Hillsdale, NJ USA

[Brady Smith]

Great bike! I also share Paul's enthusiasm for the view. Until June I lived right on the other side of the bridge from where that shot was taken and rode my bike into the city for work. Utah has natural canyons as opposed to man-made ones, but I do miss those long, rolling hills along the Hudson and the whole NYC bike commuter scene.  

Brady in SLC

[Chris Halasz]

Drops are properly tangential to Earth's surface, orthogonal to earth center. 

[Patrick Moore]

I'm chuffed by your chuffedness, and we all chuff along. It is a nice bike.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b3c34128-9770-4045-bed7-aa2fc2724accn%40googlegroups.com.

[Bill Lindsay]

Maybe my assessment of the market on Frank Jones Senor is pretty accurate.  That very slick build, offered for $2800, is now being offered for $2200.  That's a lot closer to something I might be able to roll with.....

Bill Lindsay 

El Cerrito, CA