Roadini or Sam / Bike Bag

[Franco Rinaldi]

Anyone ever travel with a roadini or Sam in a bike bag? 54 or 57. Curious what bag you used!

Franco Rinaldi
c: 646.403.0661

-Pardon any typos, Siri typed this message-

[Ben Miller]

Not a Sam or Roadini, but I've flown with my Rambouie in Rene Herse Rinko bag. Not sure how your Sam/Roadini is setup, but if you can rink-o it, it's a pretty nice way to travel. Oh, it's a 64 Ram, FYI. I've taken 2 trips with it like that. I attached a photo from my first trip, which was to Ronnie Romance's Nutmeg Nor-easter 2021.

I also got a Post Carry Transfer Case, for my non-rinko bikes. I haven't actually used it yet, but it seems just as nice as the RH Rinko Bag. It does fit my XL Crust Romanceur with the super wide Towelrack bars, so I'm guessing it'd fit a 54/57 Sam/Roadini NP. It does fold up, just not as much as the rinko bag. 

[J]

That's impressive Ben. I've wondered if I'd be able to travel with my XL Romanceur without carboard boxing it. The Ram looks sweet, I don't remember seeing it at Nutmeg 2021.

[Ben Miller]

J,

I'm surprised you didn't see it! Me and my Ram were semi-(in)famous for very a mechanical just after the first stop. My very nice looking, but extremely fragile Huret Eco-par RD decided to commit seppuku by ingesting a Nutmeg Country stick and exploding. I believe half the Nutmeg crew tried to help me with various fixes, but all ended in hilarious failures. Ended up walking/scooting to the next stop and hitch hiking back to the farm. There is a brief shot of me riding in Helmet Kid's excellent video montage, but a much longer one of me attempting my first fix of the RD right after the explosion :) Regardless of the mechanical, that was such a fun weekend! What were you riding then???

I should clarify, the Transfer Case is still semi-rinko. You do still need to remove the front fork, so you need to make sure you can do that with you bike easily. And my Rom juuuuuuust barely fits. It's tight when it's all said and done. It's not going to work with racks installed, so either need to forgo them, or have something removable. I just took it out and put my Ritchey Ascent in it and, assuming you can do all that, it's a fairly smooth process. It's a lot beefier than the RH Rinko Bag (more padding and some plastic integrated into it), so a bit more piece of mind in terms of safely transporting your bike without it getting damaged. I still like the RH Bag for it being lighter/smaller, so when you actually arrive at your travel destination you have less dead weight/volume to deal with.

All this talk of bike travel adventures makes me want to go on one now! 

[J]

It's possible I did and don't remember, (although I struggle to believe I'd not remember your Ram, it's possibly my favorite that I've seen) I was pretty stressed out during that time, being Covid and all, and my memories from those years are spotty. That is quite a catastrophe on such a big ride. I also had a rough ride, at least at the start. I'd broken my ribs and got a concussion mountain biking 2 days prior, but decided to go for it anyway. After signing in and riding to the bottom of the first decent, at the cemetery, I realized I'd forgot my helmet so I had to ride back up the hill to the van to get it and halfway back down the decent I realized I'd lost my keys somewhere so back up the hill I went to fetch them from my van door. I'd sent my group on without me when I made the first trip back up thinking I'd catch them at the next stop, but they were long gone and I was nearly cooked from the broken ribs and racing up that climb twice. I met a couple from Salem Mass back at the cemetery who were having navigation issues and we rode the rest of the day together and they were so sweet, we kept in touch, I really miss them. That's the great thing about these non competitive bike gatherings, you can completely lose your crew and just jump in with someone else with confidence you'll be compatible.  

I was on my Appaloosa, and it was the day I finally decided I'd never ride with Albatross bars again. They are incompatible with my wide shoulders.