George asked: "Did you select this particular model specially for your
commute, to carry it on board the BART trains? "
Short answer: Yes
The longer answer is more nuanced. I really dig the whole Rosco Bubbe
project and the way it allows us to kind of crowd-fund Rivendell's
continuing to explore bike concepts that flat out do not exist anywhere
else in the world. I particularly dig the headbadge and the rocket. My
ultimate custom Rivendell would possibly be a cantilever equipped Roadeo.
The 58cm Rosco Road is exactly that, for about $2700 less, albeit
tig-welded with heavier tubing. The deal killer for me was the horizontal
dropouts. Horizontal dropouts are completely useless unless you want to
convert your geared bike to a single speed. Three of my bikes (including
this Rosco) have horizontal dropouts and I'd change them all to vertical if
I could wave my magic wand.
But then I rode it. It rides like a great road bike. I tested out the
Liftatube and it's perfect for me. I kind of hated the look of the top
tube and head tube extension. The top tube looks "dropped" for no really
good reason. Lifting the bike by the handle gave me a good reason. It
fits! The top tube is right in my arm pit and I've got a great grip on the
liftatube. It's like a tailor measured my sleeve-length and custom built
that liftatube for me.
Still, the combination of the price, the horizontal dropouts and the look
of a cheaper tigged bike still had me on the fence. I had almost the
entire build on-hand. I had sold my low-trail, flexy ('planing') road
frameset, and had a great dynamo road wheelset ready. I almost backed into
a used Ebisu All-Purpose that would have become this build. I lost out on
that one, and decided to build this purpose built every day bike instead.
That made the price more palatable because I was going to buy a used frame
for $1450, but I got this one for $925. It's like I SAVED $500, right? :-)
Anyway, it's going to be an optimal bike for my every day BART + bike
routine. I will experiment with a couple bike camping load configurations
on it, and if I spend as much time riding this summer as I expect to, I
will not rule out putting a pair of Compass Stellacoom 700x38 knobbies on
it and doing some cyclocross races this next fall on it. A Legolas at a
$2000 discount? Maybe
Bill Lindsay
El Cerrito, CA
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