I bought an Appaloosa when I was looking for a loaded touring bike for pavement and it has been stellar for that. Mine is a 51 with 650B wheels. I’ve climbed a bunch of passes on it with front and rear panniers, enjoying the awesome views. As it happens, my very first long ride on it was a steep rutted dirt/gravel mountain climb and it was glorious. So memorably fun and capable. More recently, I’ve been doing more supported tours so I’ve been thinking I should take off the big front rack and give it another life as a dirt/gravel climbing bike. I am not sure what size tire it can fit.
On Monday, June 19, 2023 at 7:30:41 AM UTC-6 Hugh Flynn wrote: > I'm doing exactly that. > > While I originally purchased my 2018 Appaloosa as a rough-stuff touring > bike, it's really become my primary road bike (without racks) as well as my > touring bike (with racks). I have it set up as a standard road bike with > Noodle drops (and a relatively short stem given the length of the top > tube). It's definitely heavier than my dedicated road bike (1999 Heron > Road), but I can't honestly say that it rides like a heavier bike. My time > over the same routes isn't at all different whether I take the Appaloosa or > the road bike. If I had to give up my road bike, I think I could do so > pretty easily now. > > On Sun, Jun 18, 2023 at 10:36 AM reynoldslugs <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi all, can’t remember the last time I posted. Long-time Rivendell >> rider, since 1998 or so; my current stable includes Atlantis, Legolas, >> Custom, Rambouillet, Heron Road, maybe one or two others (I gave my >> Quickbeam to a friend when my knees got to creaky for fixed gear riding). >> >> My current curiosity/notion/interest is whether I should add an Appaloosa >> to the flock. If any of you ride one as a mostly-road, perhaps drop-bar >> bike, I would be grateful for your impressions, feedback. >> >> I do a fair amount of road + steep gravel rides - - if you are familiar >> with Sonoma County, that means Coleman Valley + Willow Creek, and Sonoma >> Mountain Road + Bald Mountain. I’m interested in a bike that does well on >> pavement and rides well on steep, rutted, dirt and gravel roads. >> >> Grateful for any opinions and feedback, thanks. >> >> Max Beach >> Santa Rosa 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 [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/2c331ea1-b902-4064-8d7a-efc8c9bca8fcn%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/2c331ea1-b902-4064-8d7a-efc8c9bca8fcn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > Hugh Flynn > Newburyport, MA > -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/d978b361-c353-4ef8-8c14-3fe2c43e79adn%40googlegroups.com.
