Re: [RBW] Re: The Charlie Gallop Thread

[Leah Peterson]

Oh gosh, I hope you find a way to love those bars, Jay because upright bars have been so good to me. I always see my friends lifting hands off drop bars and shaking the numbness out of them. My bars cost me in headwinds, but otherwise I find myself unlimited by them.  The Varia. Let me tell you a story. We’ll depart from the Charlie content for a moment. I was at the MNR (Monday Night Ride) one fine September night. The participation has dropped way off now that we’re losing the light. That left only Linda and me in our group. We had only gotten to the stop sign out of the park and a woman in a minivan was screaming at us. We were confused - had we done something? Was she really screaming at us? I watched her through her rear window (she had passed us and we were now stopped at the stop sign behind her) and she definitely was directing it at us.  We rode on, got honked at. Rode another mile, got honked at again. I turned to Linda and said, “Geez, what’s with the aggression tonight?” Usually the Michiganders are the nicest people. But soon after, we had our first vehicle pass us closely. It’s a rare but terrifying tactic drivers use to make you feel like they might hit you as they pass by. And shortly after, a 2nd vehicle pulled the same stunt. We were only the two of us. We are far right in our lane and easy to pass. We are obeying the law.  But the grand finale came on a quiet, 2-lane, paved, rural road. I heard the threat before I saw it. An aggressive-sounding engine belonging to the biggest black pickup with hugest mirrors turned onto our road. It revved its engine. “Linda, I have a bad feeling about this guy,” I said. “I’m going to single up.” There is no one on that road but us. We are single file. We are on the shoulder of the road. We are not impeding this driver in any way. He can easily pass us because we’ve left him room and there are no other vehicles around.  He guns it. Rushes up in the passing lane, cuts in in front of us and absolutely coal rolls us. Thick, black smoke. What a big, tough guy, harassing two women on bicycles who had done him no wrong. I was shook. Not once did we yell, gesture or retaliate against anyone. Since our manners mattered not, we cut our ride short and went back to the park. It just felt like a bad night to be out after 22 miles with that many encounters. I wrote on the club social media about it. Asked if anyone else had aggression and one group had. A small tan pickup had cut in front of them, came to a complete stop and they only barely managed to avoid a collision by hitting their brakes. That guy got reported to the police.  The next morning at work I was recounting the tale to an anesthesiologist who also rides, and he said one of the CRNAs had just told him the same - he’d been harassed last night, too. That doc said, “Do you have a Varia?” I said no, I have a Garmin but no radar, and he said, “Leah, you really should get one. It is the best thing I’ve ever bought for my bike.” And then he pulled it up online and showed it to me. “I really think you need this,” he said. I was skeptical. That day my bike shop sent their e-newsletter and guess what was on sale? I rode my Platypus to the shop the next day and got a Varia for $50 off. So now Charlie is sporting a radar/tail light and I really like it so far. Did you know you can let your friends hook up to it, too? So now some of the other girls who don’t have them have connected to Charlie’s Varia and we are all better off for it. On Oct 8, 2025, at 10:15 PM, Jay <jason.bike...@gmail.com> wrote: You're great with the flowery language, Leah! The Varia is the single best accessory I ever bought for cycling.  I ride on the road a lot, and I'm so relaxed having this companion behind me, letting me know with an audio and visual cue that a car is coming, I stick out my hand to wave, easing over to my right without slowing down or looking behind me.  Close to half of the drivers wave, most getting way over to the left. Charlie looks to be a great bike, if you like swept bars.  I have them on another bike and I'm still trying to figure them out (6 months later).  I think there is a huge potential for more road bikes with good tire clearance, tall head tubes, and short top tubes to allow for drop bars.  My Roadini is my baby, but there is potential there for more! On Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 5:42:59 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: Aw, thanks, friends. I have had a ball on these bikes and I wish everyone else got to experience the same. And lots of other RivSisters will echo what I wrote. And it’s not hard to romanticize about bikes. The flowery language comes easy! I have little bits of conversion I didn’t mean to make. I got dyno swearing that I’d never be a slave to charging my lights. But now I have a Garmin and a Varia that get charged anyway, because suddenly, I can’t live without either of those. So Charlie is looking a little odd, running around here with his Garmin up front and his Varia on his rear.  But he’s still pure Rivendell.  Leah On Oct 8, 2025, at 10:03 AM, zem...@gmail.com <zem...@gmail.com> wrote: Leah, you should really be getting paid by Riv. No post on this forum has ever made me want a bicycle more than you're description of Charlie here! On Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 8:52:16 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: Well they’re all missing out, Piaw! Charlie and I are in LOVE. We’ve been running off together allll summer and we have thousands of miles together now. Charlie is What Women Want. Long wheelbases…we are into them. Pullback bars? Say less; we’re sold. Oh, the racers in the group say Charlie isn’t a Real Road Bike? Hold my earrings. I came home tonight from yet another club ride and my husband met me at the door. We did the schtick where he pretends to be suspicious of me and Charlie’s activities and confess Charlie and I were out in the night together again but it didn’t mean anything.  Charlie is a looker and a scoundrel. And those racers don’t know any of this joy. On Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 1:06:17 PM UTC-4 pi...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Oct 6, 2025 at 10:26 PM Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote: I think it's a very cool frame (your build is AMAZING) but definitely a niche within the Riv niche. The road bike world is still quite conservative and getting them to accept pullback bars to match the long toptube is never going to be an easy sell. The dropped toptube is also a quirk some will balk at. It's certainly true that the Charlie Gallop isn't a conventional road bike. To be honest, though, there are plenty of reasons non racers won't pick the Charlie Gallop as well. For instance, the ultra long chainstays mean that the Charlie Gallop would be difficult to fit into a bike box to get onto a plane to do a bike tour far from home. (That's also what turned me off the Homer as well) That long wheelbase also can make it hard to fit into trains or vans or cars. (I've done it with a tandem which is even longer, but let's just say that I've had evil stares from fellow passengers, and obviously some bus drivers are more helpful than others) The pullback bars also are much much wider than narrow drop bars. So for instance, while I can easily fit 2-3 drop bar bikes into the back of a Honda Odyssey with the rear seats down), my wife's Cheviot would take up so much room that I'd have to move it onto the roof rack instead even when I'm planning to only move 2 bikes. In fact, a pull back bar at a crowded school bike rack would necessitate that you'd park the bike backwards with the rear wheel first, and in many cases a standard cable lock would have a hard time reaching the rack in those situations, and don't even start talking about a U-lock! Don't get me wrong, I like my Roadini (my wife shot this video on Saturday's ride: https://youtu.be/6hBpmSL6lRc?si=v7gIUKY-4WelAjk3), but the additional weight is definitely felt when I lift it, and even with its relatively short chainstays (still 2cm longer than my touring bike!), I find that when I have to stand up and sprint it just doesn't accelerate the way more touring bike does. -- 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/0NEP_PxVtP8/unsubscribe. 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