We here are all fans of Surly and regularly (if not constantly) refer people to them, when ours are clearly out of range. I've often said, at least to myself, that a high compliment to any bike, even tho it doesn't sound like a compliment, is that it's Not Dumb. Surlys are not dumb. That is huge in an age of manydumbikes. So many bikes, even and especially super costly ones (not just the cheap ones trying to look like the super costly ones) are dumb (of course by my standards, I'm not saying they're objectively stupid)--and Surlys are smart. They're still (good). They fit decent tires and racks and fenders. But buying a bike isn't like buying a pen or a wallet. It has to fit, has to have the right parts on it for the riding and the weather and the weight. Surly copy Riv? You know, early on I heard it from a reliable but not ironclad source that one of the early Surlys copied exactly the geometry of a Bstone RB-1...but that's not a RIV, and if I cared about that I wouldn't publish our geometries. If somebody thinks they're worth copying, please do! More smarter bikes will be out there in traffic then. Years ago, the Gios Torino catalog was a crackup in that way. Every frame from 46 to 64 (those were the size) was listed as having parallel 75-deg seat and head tube angles. Why publish THAT? In the '80s or '90s---what's a decade here or there?--the Eddy Merckx bikes geometries were almost complete, and I think even EVEN had the front-center measurement. But the head tube angle was listed as "proprietary." That was funny.
We had an interview with Dave Gray (Surlyguy) in an old RR. I've never had a bad experience there and have never heard any Riv employee denigrate Surly, ever---and it's not because they have orders not to, it's because they like the bikes, as do I ! Surly has done a lot of good out there, continues to, and I can't speak for Surly people, but I can speak for me, and I'm sure all Rivpeople agree...and we are fans. The brands diverge at some point, but neither is dumb. G -- Grant Rivendell Bicycle Works www.rivbike.com 925 933 7304 -- 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.
