I have owned two Romulus' and now have an Ebisu All Purpose, and my wife just got a road model. I think for me the main difference is tubing--where the Romulus had oversized down tube and top tube, and Ebisu can be had with standard (25.4 or 28.6) tubes. The ebisu road is certainly sportier than the romulus, and takes basically the same size tires (uses standard reach brakes). it doesn't come stock with rack braze-ons, but is definitely fitted for fenders.
The Ebisus are mostly built by a NJG small builder in Japan, who is really a custom builder doing a batch of semi-production work. You can actually get your Ebisu built by Toei for a $400 up charge. I have been really happy with my Romulus, and am curious about the roadeo, but for $1600, i got to have custom geometry, and pick my own color for my eibsu, it's really a great deal! franklyn On Sep 2, 3:23 pm, Greg Jung <gregkj...@gmail.com> wrote: > I don't have an Ebisu, but I did buy an early Waterford Riv Road from > Hiroshi at Jitensha Studios back in the late 90s. I believe Hiroshi > had bought at least 2 (there was a tall rose pink one and a light blue > one) early Rivs when Riv was starting out. Also, I first saw a Riv > catalog at Jitensha Studios back then. > > Many of you know this, but lore has it that Grant used to hang out at > Jitensha in the pre-Riv days, and Hiroshi influenced Grant's design > philosophy. Obviously, Grant's thoughts have evolved since then (and > probably diverged from Hiroshi's in some respects). But I would say > the two are close relatives, and differences would be very subtle. > > On Sep 2, 2:39 pm, MichaelH <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > I own 4 bikes. My favorite is my Rambouillet, but the one I end up > > putting the most miles on is the Ebisu All Purpose. It's better for > > bad roads and hauling stuff which is what I do most days. > > > BTW, my cycling season, which began quite late after foot surgery > > seems to be ending early with crippling back pain. As WC Fields said, > > "Oh my sacroiliac, quick run to the golf course and get me a doctor!" > > Got a referral for PT today but I'm afraid it may be awhile before I'm > > able to ride again. We were supposed to spend last weekend cycling in > > the Eastern Townships of southern Quebeck but ended up touring in our > > new 2010 Prius instead. Too bad, because it looked like great riding > > roads and paths. > > > Michael > > > On Sep 2, 5:16 pm, Esteban <proto...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > I covet an Ebisu. I'd love to dive into Hiroshi's idiosyncrasies. > > > That being said, Grant's designs are dependable and rather wonderful > > > in terms of ride quality. It will be fun to jump onto a Roadeo one > > > day to see how it feels. > > > > On Sep 2, 2:01 pm, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > > > > > On Wed, 2009-09-02 at 13:33 -0700, Steve Park wrote: > > > > > The question I have is why isn't the Ebisu Road more popular? > > > > > Maybe because you can only get it from Jitensha Studios. > > > > > A year or two ago a woman from Berkeley CA wrote on the BOB list asking > > > > about a good bike shop in her area. I told her about Jitensha. She'd > > > > never heard of it. Next day, she wrote to say she walked to work and > > > > went right past the shop on her way to work every day, and never once > > > > noticed it. > > > > > You know about it and I know about it and even it if weren't one of the > > > > coolest shops in the USA because of what it carries, it'd still be one > > > > of the coolest places to know about because it sits in a wrinkle in the > > > > space-time continuum that allows it to be located in the suburbs of > > > > Tokyo Japan while manifesting itself in Berkeley CA. But that doesn't > > > > mean enough people Out There know about it to make it "popular". That's > > > > my theory, anyway. ;-) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
