Hi Leah - I would generally agree with what Ted said. Riding position and fit are very important. But I don't think that's the only criteria I would use. I have ten bikes. Five are Rivs. I have a Custom, Quickbeam, Roadeo, Ram and Hubbuhubbuh. I find that geometry is important in my riding. Some bikes can be more "twitchy" and/or less stable because of their geometry. Things like trail, head and seat tube angles and bottom bracket drop can affect the handling and stability of a bike. I don't get hung up on numbers, and judge the handling and stability based on how a bike rides.
All of my Rivs are rock-solid stable and handle exceptionally well. I know that the low center of gravity, trail and angles contribute to this. Stability and handling are very important to me because I ride lots of hills. Going uphill depends on gears, fitness and leg strength. The stability and handling come into play going downhill. Rivs provide a level of confidence I don't get on other bikes. You can be sure the bike will go where you point it. About Albastache and Mustache bars - I have five bikes (some of them Rivs) with Mustache and Albastache bars. I find I can get every bit as low on Mustache and Albastache bars as on drop bars. The rest of my bikes have drop bars. The main thing I like about drop bars is riding the hoods. On drops, I find there are primarily three hand positions: 1) on the hoods, 2) on the ramps (slightly farther back than on the hoods) and 3) on the flats on either side of the stem. I rarely get into the drops. With the Albastache and Mustache, I find I have more riding positions. Have fun on your road bike, whatever you get. Regards, Corwin On Sunday, April 21, 2024 at 2:07:47 PM UTC-7 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > I promise not to be offended by a great wave of advice coming my way here > - I have asked for it and you all have kindly delivered. > > Ok, ok….I really will consider drop bars. But I do wonder…everyone says > they offer so many hand positions; but I only see people with their hands > on the hoods. Are riders really utilizing different hand positions? > > Also, I saw a pic of an albastache with brake levers in the middle of the > bar. Would this mimic the freedom of hand position changes a drop bar > offers? > > I practiced tonight on my ride by grabbing the front of my Billie bars. It > felt nice to be stretched out like that, but with no access to brakes or > shifters from there I didn’t like to stay long. Unnerving. > > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Apr 21, 2024, at 4:54 PM, Patrick Moore <bert...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > This is going to be a fun thread. Please don't take a great volume of > advice as condescending; I think that this thread will elicit a very large > amount of love for road bikes as a distinct genus of bicycle. > > I think you very particularly will benefit a great deal from the right > road bike and that once you get things basically sorted you will find that > you enjoy it immensely for the kind of riding you describe. There is a > perfection of fit and feel and a real pleasure in riding a well set up > traditional road bike -- I don't mean racing bike -- that you don't find > with other combinations of frame, saddle, bar, and their relative > positions. Really, this sort of setup on the right sort of frame is *more* > comfortable, > *more* natural, *more* pleasant for energetic riding than other setups; > at least, I've always found it so, and there's a reason why the traditional > road bike was developed so quickly after the chain-driven safety was > invented and why it has remained largely the same for going on for 150 > years. > > Note: I don't say that *everyone* who rides energetically should have a > road bike, but everyone who does so and can try ought at least to give one > a try. Again, there is an efficiency and comfort -- really, a "fit" like > that of a custom suit or perfect tool -- offered by an intelligently spec'd > and set up road bike that, you don't -- or at least, *I don't,* -- get > with any other sort of bike. > > Me, based on my experience, I'd certainly start by keeping my eye out for > a used Roadeo or Riv Road or LongLow or Ram or Heron. But for the final and > perfect version, I'd not close my mind a priori to other makes. I am > guessing, but I would not be surprised if, after your usual rapid learning > cycle, this time with a road bike, you end up with a custom. My favorite > bike of all time out of several scores is a custom Riv Road, but I've owned > 2 other Riv Road customs plus a Ram (and the Sam) not to mention many other > road bikes, and I've sold them all on to finally get what for me is belated > perfection in the 2 Matthews customs -- tho' these used the Rivs as > general design templates. > > I rode the gofast Riv fixie road bike to and from church today with the > usual annoying NE winds while inbound N and E and the usual SW winds on > return N and W. For the umpteen millionth time I remarked to myself at how > pleasant it was to be able to drop "intuitively" into the hooks when > turning into a wind, or to grab the long (Maes Parallel) ramps when > pushing, butt-back and elbows bent, up an incline, or sitting up and > holding the flats or the flat/ramp transition and spinning when the wind > became a tailwind. > > I've certainly passed my speed demon days, but there remains a very > distinct pleasure in riding energetically -- for me, particularly on hills > and against winds -- on the perfectly set up road bike, and I have enough > experience to know that I would not enjoy this nearly as much on anything > else. > > *Bon chance!* > > > On Sat, Apr 20, 2024 at 1:33 PM Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! < > jonasa...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I’m starting to wonder about a roadbike. But it has to be a Rivendell >> roadbike because I’m loyal and all that. Anyway, I don’t know that the >> Roadini really offers enough of a change for me. I have no idea what is >> going on with the Gallup. Then there’s the Roadeo - that one looks great >> but there’s a 2 year wait, unless I can find one used. Which would be >> ideal. >> >> Who rides their Rivbike in club rides and what do you ride? Who has a >> Roadeo that never gets ridden and wants to sell it? I don’t even know what >> size I’d be but I’m an 81 PBH. Must I ride drop bars? I never have before. >> I know nothing about any of this. Clearly. >> >> Note: I still like my raspberry Platypus for club riding but it does take >> a toll on me in wind. I recently got a shorter-height, longer-reach stem >> which marginally helped, but our high spring winds are taking it out of me. >> I did a club ride yesterday with my women’s group and my heart rate was in >> the 170s the whole 26.3 miles. It was brutal. Everyone else agreed it was a >> hard ride, but I felt like it was harder on me than them, and I’m the >> youngest and probably the most fit. >> >> Leah >> >> -- >> 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-bun...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/fab5132f-e8ca-4a76-842d-9b994853e099n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/fab5132f-e8ca-4a76-842d-9b994853e099n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing > services > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > *When thou didst not, savage, k**now thine own meaning,* > > *But wouldst gabble like a** thing most brutish,* > > *I endowed thy purposes w**ith words that made them known.* > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/uXZ6OSH6T-s/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgt2zr1c-C1mVdfZT7Pmw8beof8ym%2BaKo2ECu1HyNFVFtg%40mail.gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgt2zr1c-C1mVdfZT7Pmw8beof8ym%2BaKo2ECu1HyNFVFtg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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