Buy my Bombadil! On Sep 22, 2014 1:57 PM, "Daniel M" <dpmay...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I will submit my opinion to add to the variety. > > I owned a Sam Hillborne for two years. I bought it brand new, rode it in a > double-century, later added front and rear racks and rode it from Berkeley > to the Oregon-Washington border and back. It was/is a near-perfect all > rounder. > > So why did I sell it? I wanted something with smaller wheels and bigger > tires. The Hillborne in my size (no longer made 56cm, single top tube, > cantilever brakes) happened to come with 700c wheels and I was running the > biggest tires that I could fit with fenders: Schwalbe Marathon Supreme > 700x40. What happened is that I finally built the touring bike of my dreams > with a Rohloff hub and 26" wheels (and currently running 60mm tires with > fenders) and I was kind of blown away by the stability of the touring > geometry coupled with the agility of the smaller wheels. The Hillborne was > incredibly stable on descents but REALLY reluctant to change direction > quickly around town - kind of the complaint about 29ers (AKA 700c) that has > sent people to 27.5" (AKA 650b) in the mountain bike world. If I hadn't > built up the touring bike, I would probably still own the Hillborne, but I > didn't need two touring bikes, so when I stumbled across a > reasonably-priced used 650b randonneuring bike I bought it and sold the > Hillborne for the same amount of money. > > When it came time to choose an all-around bike for my wife, who is 5'10", > we chose a Long Haul Trucker in the 58cm frame size with 26" wheels. We > also swapped out the drop handlebars for upright, swept bars, and replaced > the canti brakes with V-brakes. I really think it is the ideal all-round > bike. So comfortable, capable of hauling whatever you can put on it, and > 2.0" (50mm) Big Apples are wonderfully smooth on pavement and stable and > capable off of it. If my main uses were as you describe, rides under 40 > miles, getting groceries, and occasional touring, I would get it over the > Hillborne in a heartbeat. If I intended to ride mostly lightly loaded and > for longer distances (60+ miles), then I would seriously consider the > Hillborne, which is less of a tank and more of a road bike, although the > lack of canti posts on the current offerings I find really disappointing. > > My two cents in a nutshell. > > Daniel M > Berkeley, CA > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
