frame swap? (My LongLow custom for your Atlantis)

[b hamon]

I have tried to ride and enjoy my '99 LongLow. Each time I come home less happy than before. The truth is that I am totally burned out on 700c wheels, and on the feel of this frame (which, due to multiple factors including the aging process, no longer fits or rides the way it used to). It's a 55cm square, custom-built by Joe Starck. I wonder if there's anyone out there willing to trade an Atlantis frame in a 52 to 54cm (for 26" wheels). My frame has beausage -- paint wear and a few chipsall over -- so I don't care about paint issues. If not, then I'll punt; but I thought I'd toss this out to the list first. Beth in pdx http://www.reverbnation.com/bethhamon http://beth-hamon.blogspot.com/

[PATRICK MOORE]

Beth: I thought you loved the LongLow. What changed?

And, second, what about 700c wheels now disappoints you?

(An aside: after riding the massively fat and heavy 700c SnoCat wheels on the Fargo, at very low pressures, too, I yesterday rode the 650C Gofast with new Michelin Pro 3s or somesuch: quite a difference! The Michelins are too narrow even for my preferences -- 21 mm actual for claimed 23 -- but they seem to roll well without feeling like iron even on the roughish pavement I traversed, this at ~75/85 or so -- heckofalot better than 1.25 Fatboys at 110, which in my salad days was my habit! I hope they'll expand with use. I bought them because Nashbar had them on sale for $35 but hope eventually -- = when I get some $$ -- to replace them with 25s in the same or similar model.)

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"Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you."
                                                                    Flannery O'Connor

-------------------------
Patrick Moore, Albuquerque, NM, USA
For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html
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[PATRICK MOORE]

Forgot to add re Beth's LL that if Joe's work on hers is up to his work on my Gofast, it is very good work and I daresay better than most of Riv's production bikes.

[Beth H]

On Friday, June 22, 2012 9:39:56 AM UTC-7, Patrick Moore wrote:

Beth: I thought you loved the LongLow. What changed?

And, second, what about 700c wheels now disappoints you?

Two things that have developed over the last five years:

1. I find that bikes spec'd around 700c wheels in my appropriate height-size are now uncomfortably long for my shortening reach -- and I was already pretty darned short-wasted to begin with. Aging has slowly decreased my reach further, to the point where drops are uncomfortable and uprights on a short-top tube model are not working (combination of handlebar, stem length and frame geometry make for a bike that does not handle optimally).

2. My LongLow was made in 1999, befre any of us knew just how alrge a tire we'd eventually like to run. This frame can handle 32mm tires with fenders only BARELY, and then only with the right tire and fender combo.

3. The older I get, the happier I find I am on bigger tires. Older-school mountain bike geometry is giving me a new lease on bicycling with a better upright position (stem/bar/frame geometry combo) and plenty of room for big tires and full fenders.  Plus, I LIKE the feel of the ride on 26" (559) wheels and I love the feeling that I can ride anywhere on them.

So, as my bicycling life evolves and my atorage options aren't increasing, it makes sense for me to transition to bikes I will actually ride, and will enjoy riding as I age. I am ready to look at a frame swap if someone out there has an Atlantis they'd like to trade for my LongLow frame. 

Thanks to everyone who has emailed back and forth with me trying to convince me to keep the LongLow. I live in a tiny place with very limited storage space, so it doesn't make sense to keep and store bikes I ride less and less over time. Periodic culling and adjusting of the bike herd isn't a bad thing. Cheers and happy riding --Beth

[Kenneth Stagg]

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:58 PM, Beth H <periwi...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> So, as my bicycling life evolves and my atorage options aren't increasing,
> it makes sense for me to transition to bikes I will actually ride, and will
> enjoy riding as I age.

Beth,

Good for you. Circumstances change and none of us are getting any
younger. Being able to accept that and move on is great (not sure if
I'll be up to it if I ever start to not enjoy the Mariposa but I can
hope.)

-Ken

[PATRICK MOORE]

Let us know what you find to replace it. Me, I'd probably move from
559 to 622 if I could find bikes that had all the other qualities of
my small-wheel Riv roads. But then I can ride up to a 60 (depending on
the top tube) so this is a different situation.

My one complaint, really, about 559 and 571 -- and it is this alone
that would make me switch, in ideal circumstances, to 622 -- is the
small choice of tires. The Kojak 1.35s (31 mm actual on my narrow
rims) are very nice even if slightly wider than I'd choose for the
gofast -- 559 X 28 would be ideal. The Compass 559s are way too wide
for my needs at 1.75. Still, I'd at least consolidate with the
559X1.35s if Schwalbe was not the sole player in the market AFAIK for
such good tires in this size. I don't like the 1.25 559 Paselas.

Moving on: I've built some very nice all rounders out of early '90s
mountain bikes; the downside to this approach is that, to preserve the
good handling, you really need to keep the tire close to 2" wide -- at
least, IME: below 1.5 or so the handling goes off. Of course, a nice
old MTB shod with those Compass 1.75s might be very nice. And of
course there is the issue of the long top tubes on mountain bikes, at
least if you want to use drop bars.

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[Bruce Herbitter]

What about converting it to 650B?

Sent from my Kindle Fire

---

From: lungimsam <john1...@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri Jun 22 09:57:15 CDT 2012
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [RBW] Re: frame swap? (My LongLow custom for your Atlantis)

In what way does it not ride the same anymore?

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[SISDDWG]

"it doesn't make sense to keep and store bikes I ride less and less over time. Periodic culling and adjusting of the bike herd isn't a bad thing. " Ditto. I just sold my 1998 Joe/Joe Longlow for much the same reasons as you. That bike took me across the U.S.A. Occasionally I give it a thought but I really don't miss it. 

[dougP]

"...bicycling life evolves..." is a theme I can relate to. The bike
that preceded my Atlantis prgressed thru an angled stem to raise the
bars, triple crank, added eyelets for racks, etc., etc. But at some
point I had to give it up for real brakes, wide tires and longer
chainstays for panniers.

The Atlantis is the bike I can see riding as long as I can push the
pedals. While it still sports drops & bar ends, I could see some
flavor of upright bar in the future. Fortunately the bike is so
versatile and adaptable that I can't see any future where it wouldn't
work for me.

dougP

[RonLau]

Beth, still riding that green machine?

[Beth H]

Ron -- almost daily (except when I have to haul my guitar and amp -- that I do on the Big Dummy).

[rcnute]

Hi, Beth: Jon on the Serotta forum is selling a 53 Atlantis; looks like a beaut!

Ryan

[Beth H]

Thanks. Not on the Serotta forum but maybe I'll check it out.

[Beth H]

So here's the blog post that describes everything:

http://bikelovejones1.blogspot.com/2012/06/want-to-trade-my-55cm-riv-longlow-for.html

From this post you can link to a set of photos of the bike in various stages of setup. Current setup has drops and stem shifters.

I would really prefer to swap this bike for an Atlantis in my correct size.

If that's not possible then I will consider selling it as a whole bike. Share this with your friends as I do not belong to every cool bike forum in the universe.

Cheers --Beth

[Lynne Fitz]

Beth doesn't do 650B :-)  That aside, her problem is REACH, which no tire change will ever resolve.

On Friday, June 22, 2012 3:32:15 PM UTC-7, Fullylugged wrote:

What about converting it to 650B?

Sent from my Kindle Fire

---

From: lungimsam <john1...@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri Jun 22 09:57:15 CDT 2012

To: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com

Subject: [RBW] Re: frame swap? (My LongLow custom for your Atlantis)

In what way does it not ride the same anymore?

 

On Friday, June 22, 2012 10:38:47 AM UTC-4, Beth H wrote:

I have tried to ride and enjoy my '99 LongLow. Each time I come home less happy than before. The truth is that I am totally burned out on 700c wheels, and on the feel of this frame (which, due to multiple factors including the aging process, no longer fits or rides the way it used to). It's a 55cm square, custom-built by Joe Starck. I wonder if there's anyone out there willing to trade an Atlantis frame in a 52 to 54cm (for 26" wheels). My frame has beausage -- paint wear and a few chipsall over -- so I don't care about paint issues. If not, then I'll punt; but I thought I'd toss this out to the list first. Beth in pdx http://www.reverbnation.com/bethhamon http://beth-hamon.blogspot.com/

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[RonLau]

Very nice, ride it till it needs a new paint job, than ride some more.