I am in the process of building one up. Shorter chainstays should make the frame more responsive, which is a plus for randonneuring. And since this frame is designed for front-loading, there's no reason to have long chainstays for pannier clearance. There is certainly plenty of room in the rear triangle for fenders and 650Bx42 Hetre's. Don't know about your top tube issue, mine is a 58cm. Agree that the fork isn't as pretty as on a Riv, but it isn't a truly-ugly dogleg bend, or even worse one of these new-fangled forks that has no bend at all. Like you, I'm culling another bike and moving the parts over -- the two things I've had to buy new for this bike are cantilever brakes and a cantilever-based front rack.
As to the comment about the crown race having been milled to the wrong standard, if you buy your frame and fork from Mike Kone, he is milling the crown race to the correct setting before he ships the frame. I had a 26.4, 1" threaded Ritchey headset sitting around that I had bought but never used, and it installed with no problem. I just need to put the front brakes on and connect up the cables and I should be able to go on a short test ride, probably tonight. Nick On Tuesday, November 12, 2013 1:15:31 AM UTC-5, Jim Bronson wrote: > > Why, as a discerning Rivendell owner, should I not like this bike? It > comes in a 65cm and it costs $489 for a frame and fork. > > Obviously, it's not lugged, but I have other bikes that aren't lugged. > The chain stays are non-ideal at 42cm. (my Riv has 46cm chainstays!) > The bend on the front fork is not so pretty like on a Riv. > I'm a bit concerned about the top tube being only 61cm in the 65cm size. > But could probably be compensated for partially with a stem that has more > horizontal run to it, or an offset seatpost, or both. > > Other than that, I'm finding it hard not to want to get this frame. I'm > thinking of culling the herd and buying one. I have a few bikes that I > don't really use enough to keep that could probably add up to $489 or more. > I have a lot - a lot! of parts on hand in various areas of a bicycle so > wouldnt need to acquire much. > > The plan has been to convert my Riv to 650b but I could just leave it > alone at 700c and buy the Soma to put the 650b stuff on to. > > Hmm. > > > -- > Keep the metal side up and the rubber side down! > -- 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 post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
