Roadeo dreaming...

[William]

I stopped by the Rapha Store in San Francisco.  I'm not sure I understand this part of the business model, but Rapha opens these temporary storefronts as little cafe-boutiques and then shuts them down.  It's in San Francisco through July.  It's cute, and it's nice for me at least to be able to touch the products.  They have the Tour de France on bigscreens all day and have a lot of informal seating.  It's a cool vibe, if you don't mind pricey clothes boutiques.  

Anyway, they had a very small Chris King display upstairs.  The highlight of the display for me was a gorgeous white Cielo Sportif.  It's essentially a Roadeo ie a fat tired road bike.  It takes 57mm brakes, comes with fender braze-ons, steel fork, etc.  The key differences are it has a more muted monochrome look, no fancy lugs, but it had a couple really cool little reveal accents showing the stainless underneath (around the seat cluster, cute little headtube rings).  It appears to have a dead level top tube and not quite as much BB drop as a Roadeo, and it has a 1-1/8" threadless steerer.  It's basically the same price as a Roadeo frameset ($1895 f/f no headset).  The bike had a decidedly modern vibe to it (nobody is going to ask "nice bike! how old is it?"), while still having a timeless classy steel look.  Very very appealing.   

So, the point of my post is twofold:  1.  check out the Rapha boutique in SF if you care about such foppery.  2.  Two of you should step up and buy me a Roadeo and a Cielo Sportif so I can ride them both.  ha ha.  

[cyclotourist]

Somebody has to write the review, might as well be you!!!

On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 1:58 PM, William <tape...@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

.  Two of you should step up and buy me a Roadeo and a Cielo Sportif so I can ride them both.  ha ha.  

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Cheers,
David
Redlands, CA

...in terms of recreational cycling there are many riders who would probably benefit more from
improving their taste than from improving their performance. - RTMS

[Michael_S]

I don't think this is a fair comparison.... The Roadeo seems like a much better bike for the $$ to me.  Nuthin' bad to say about the Cielo except they are TIG welded.  To me it's exciting that these kind of bikes are getting out in the mainstream. I think any road bike that only takes 25mm tires is "diversity challenged".

[William]

I'd love to ride them both for a couple thousand miles to find out if the comparison is fair or not :)  

[Michael_S]

The geometery of the Riv is more my cup of tea. Longer chainstays, slacker seat angle are big priorities for me.

When you finish your side-by-side test for Bicycle Quarterly  we can all read about it.

 

~mike

[Philip Williamson]

I've seen several Cielos, but never ridden one. They are very very
nicely made and finished machines. Just beautiful.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipwilliamson/3981065885/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/philipwilliamson/5066427065/in/photostream/

Philip

Philip Williamson
www.biketinker.com