I am going to "second" what Jim says. Michael, I saw your post on Friday and thought about moving some wheels from one bike to another to see how much of an effect on handling there was, I still may at some point. I do know this, bikes are going to feel a little different. During the last couple weeks, I have had the opportunity to ride all 3 of my Rivendell bikes and make some adjustments.
I had been riding my 60cm custom All-Rounder with 700x35 Pasela TG tires. Since more permanently mounting a Schmidt dynamo hub and light, something caused the front end handling to be a bit off. At 10-15 mph I'd get a "shimmy" or wobble, no handed was not an option. I mounted some Jack Brown 700x33.3 tires and the handling issue was dramatically reduced. (Not entirely gone.) If I use a standard wheel the bike handles wonderfully. (Yes, the Schmidt wheel is true, dished, and tension balanced.) This is by far my favorite bicycle, the handling is well balanced in the true sense of what I think of as an "All-Rounder!" I put together a 61cm Atlantis and used the 700x35mm Pasela TG tires removed from my other bike. I've ridden a couple of hundred miles on this bike now. I would describe its handling as very stable. This is a bike that handles a load wonderfully. I made a grocery run to work with supplies on Monday. I was carrying a solid 35 pounds of supplies with me and the bike seemed to be asking for more. Cornering is a bit lazy compared to my custom. It's certainly NOT a sport bike. On Friday, I rode my 59cm custom road. It has 700x28mm Pasela TG tires. This is my "fastest" bike and one of the least versatile bikes that I own. After periods of not riding it, it's one that I would consider selling... Until I ride it. It seems to beg to go around corners, feels like an extension of me. It loves to go fast and floats around corners. It IS the sport bike compared to the All- Rounder and certainly WAY more-so compared to the Atlantis. Each of the bicycles are different. My position is VERY similar on them all, but it takes a couple of miles from the house and a few corners to re-familiarize with how they ride. Those minor differences are what makes the ownership so special. Celebrate the differences, I think "throwing money around" at trying to make the bikes ride the same will be futile and though your bike shop might be pleased, YOU would be disappointed. Good luck in your decision-making. On Apr 24, 10:55 pm, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > I'd suggest that the bikes are just different. If you ride either of > them for awhile, then hop on the other, it's gonna seem strange at > first. > > I rode my old Stumpjumper all winter, and thought it was great. Then I > spent some time on my Atlantis on a trip out to California. When I got > back on the Stump a few days later, I could barely ride the damned > thing. After a mile or so, it was fine, but it certainly took some > mild retraining of my cycling instincts to adapt to it. > > On Apr 24, 2:49 pm, whiskeyding <whiskeyd...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > Hey gang, > > > I've found myself becoming increasingly irritated with my 61cm > > Atlantis' handling in the turns. At higher speeds (greater than about > > 15 mph), it feels fine, but at lower speeds I find it near impossible > > to hold a line in a turn. It feels like the bike is pushing me to the > > outside of the turn, and I have to wrestle with it to keep the turn > > tight. On my Ramboulliet, the turns are seemingly effortless, and the > > bike simply goes where I want it to go with a very light touch on the > > handlebars. I don't know if it's possible to duplicate this effect > > on the Atlantis; the geometries are different in many ways, but I'd > > like to try. > > > I'm running 33mm Jack Brown tires, and I have a Hoss saddlebag on the > > back with between 5 and 10 pounds in it most days. I use drop bars > > roughly level with the saddle. I don't know if dropping the weight > > lower into panniers would help, or if I need more weight in the front > > end, or if I should try different (narrower?) tires. It could very > > well be my riding technique! Lot of things to try, but I thought I'd > > pick the collective brain before I start throwing money around. > > > Any suggestions? > > > Regards, > > > Michael Kennedy > > Parker, CO --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
