Valerie, well you’re an undiscovered treasure. I haven’t had the privilege to know you but just reading this reveals that you are a RivSister with a wealth of bike information and we NEED you here. Wow! It was oddly like reading a Bill Lindsey post with all the talk of incorporating a new bike into your collection and using it for certain subsets of rides. If you two don’t know each other I think you should get acquainted!
Thanks for taking the time and offering your opinion about this bike. I really think it could be a good first road bike for me, and a good one to experiment with drops. I’m so late getting into serious riding (I found Riv at 31 and was raising little kids but now am 3 years from empty-nesting) and I feel so behind. Everyone else seems like they had their drop bar phase and club riding phase in their 20s and maybe 30s. I never rode a group ride until I was 41. It’s a lot, so I’m very appreciative when other people (especially women) will share what they know. It really, truly helps. One question: Why do you think the Roadini is more like your Roadeo than your Gallop? What makes the Roadini and the Gallop different, do you think? Thanks again for this thread! Leah On Monday, May 6, 2024 at 2:13:15 PM UTC-4 Valerie Yates wrote: > Following up on Leah's questions in a new thread (and in a new order). > > On Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 5:33:07 PM UTC-6 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > Valerie, I would love to hear every single thing you say about this bike. > Do you have sweepy bars? Drop bars? Have you ridden it on a club ride? Do > you find it to be quick and lively? What was the reason you bought your > Charlie? > > > *What was the reason you bought your Charlie? * > In general, I like to buy used/demo bikes to try them out and see how they > perform in the applicable subset of the variety of rides I like to do - > whether paved or dirt/gravel, steep hills or rolling flats, and whether > short rides, all day, or multi-day, loaded or supported, alone or with > people. Although many have overlapping capabilities, I tend to set them up > for specific types of rides, rather than being all-rounders. With a new > bike, I like to figure out if it fills an empty niche or if it excels > relative to an existing bike in a category, which would then likely be sold > or repurposed. It is a fun game. > > When the Gallop demo was for sale, I had just discovered what an > unbelievable blast the Gus is on bumpy dirt rides (so fun! so liberating!) > and was curious about the effect of the swoopy top tube and longer > wheel-base on a road-oriented bike. Also, it is purple. > > *Do you have sweepy bars? Drop bars? * > The bike came with albastache bars which I always try to like, but I never > do. Hard to explain, but the bars felt too skinny to my hands for such a > rounded, plush bike. I think drop bars would work well with the right stem > height and reach. I have 4 drop-bar bikes so I didn't want to move it in > that direction. I had on-hand a bosco-moose bar so I swapped over to that > one. I love it. I have such a great view while riding and supreme comfort > climbing and descending. > > *Do you find it to be quick and lively?* > It is lively! I don't know about quick. I haven't ridden it with > garmin/strava going so I can't compare my speeds to other bikes. It is very > fun to ride. It is the kind of bike that inspires me to pedal a bit faster > because I feel the energy go right into your motion. It puts a big smile on > my face. I have it set up with a triple so I have a huge range of gears, > which helps in my very hilly neighborhood. It likes to climb. I don't know > if I am going fast (likely not) but it is not hard. It is far more > responsive and nimble than my Clem H, which I sold. That was a tank. This > is like a rowing scull, easy to bring up to speed and to plane in rhythm > with the bike. It sails down hills. It feels like it disappears under me. > It is weird because it is not the lightest bike I have. > > I think having wide tires helps because they mitigate all the road > texture. I switched from the Soma Shikoro tires that came with it to > Schwalbe G-One Speed TLE in size 50. The Soma's were fine but the > Schwalbe's feel more plush. Like I'm riding a Rolls Royce. Well, what I > imagine a Rolls would be like. > > > *Have you ridden it on a club ride? * > I no longer do club rides. I don't know if this is the bike I would choose > for riding with my go-fast friends and family. I am more of an all-day pace > rider so when I am riding with faster people and trying not to hold them > up, I tend to choose my Roadeo. It fits in better with the roadie riders in > my area. The Roadeo is also the bike I choose when challenging myself on > steep, paved climbing, like Vail pass, because it is lighter. I think it > would be really fun to take the Gallop up Vail pass if I were going by > myself but I don't know that I'd be keeping up with anyone. I have to ride > the Gallop more to assess my speed on it. I get the impression that the > Roadini is more comparable to the Roadeo than my Gallop would be. It also > sounds like the production Gallop may have slightly different ride > characteristics from the version I have. And while I love my Roadeo > for what it enables me to do, I think I smile more on the Gallop. > > Hope that helps! Happy to answer any other questions. > -- 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/ed977db1-2deb-4126-9f09-c17da3d308d6n%40googlegroups.com.
