I would see what the biggest 650b tire is you can fit in the Riv. Most likely a 38mm Lierre or a 42mm Hetre. You will not be able to fit the smallest knobbie 650b, nor will you really need that kind of tire for now. For the terrain and load you are describing, the Lierre or Hetre will be great, just remember to run either size around 40psi for better traction and comfort. Remove the fenders. If you can fit the bigger tires just convert the Riv from city/rando to "rough stuff".
As for bars, go back to the midge bars. You know they work for you, and if you can get them high enough they should work well off pavement by allowing you to easily access the flared hooks for leverage when climbing or riding over rough terrain. This should be able to give you a pretty adequate "rough stuff" bike. If you find yourself wanting something to handle the rough terrain differently or at a greater scale, then look for an old mtn bike or something along the lines of the Bomba or Hunq. Gabe On Wednesday, February 19, 2014 1:54:54 PM UTC-8, Lesli Larson wrote: > > A few weeks ago I wrote in seeking info on ideas for a classic, riv style > MTB bikes for trail riding. I still have my eye on a Bomdadil but now I'm > eyeballing my Riv custom rando bike as a possible makeshift trail rig. I > use a different bike now for brevets so the Riv is currently set up as more > of a commuter with porteur bars, inverse levers, Pauls centerpulls, and > basic 650x1" tires. > > If I remove the fenders I'm wondering what more I would need to do to > retrofit the bike for rails to trails riding - typically rough pavement and > some hard packed dirt? > > I'll be on a three day tour and might require a few more hand positions. > I anticipate riding on roads for a fair portion of the ride. > > I already have pretty low, 1x1 gearing from rando riding. Shifting is via > downtube shifters and a vintage, long cage Campy derailleur. > > Wondering what I might want to do about tires (go wider?) and the bars (go > back to drops or midge bars)? > > Front wheel has a generator hub but that seems like a good thing for trail > riding. > > As much as I love to buy new bicycles, I'm trying to "shop from myself" > more for project bikes or seasonal adventuring. > > The question here is whether I'm forcing the Riv into a bike it is not > instead of sourcing a low budget MTB via craigslist for this kind of > specific use case. > > Here's what the bike looks like in its rando state: > > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/61672163@N00/3588549190/in/photolist-6t7fDL-awbwTw-6178Wa-3ohQqg-zAM2h-6XcaCG-6cP5CM-6rgUtY-53fvrM-51J8Pp-35XvEa-4Pn81k-4Rh75s-4SW9xS-9WosMi-5pRHuP-4Y5aoJ-6gq2Gi-4Pn9tk-4Y5aqw > > LL > > > -- 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-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
