In the last couple of weeks I’ve had a bunch of stuff arrive from Rivendell Bicycle Works not, sadly, including a new bike. That is, of course, not their fault; I haven’t ordered one…yet.
No, mostly these have been bits and pieces I ordered either during their first ever sale or shortly thereafter. Much of the stuff is destined for my soon to be orange Fujiyama, other bits seem to have found their way to my Quickbeam.
Some things my end up pulling double duty however. I’d ordered one of Riv’s big shopping sacks which was really designed to go with a large Wald basket. That, of course, required ordering the basket.
When it came in it seemed a shame to wait till my Fujiyama was back together to see how I liked it all. And thus it was that my Quickbeam ended up with a basket.
Mine is 18x13x6 which is pretty darn big. In fact, it may be too big for the Fujiyama which has a much smaller frame than my QB. I may end up getting the smaller basket for that or another large one…hmmm…
In any case I was worried that it might detract from the look of my QB (which needs a good cleaning), but in fact it looks pretty good. You can see the whole bike with it mounted right here…
It hasn’t affected the ride much at all as I’ve already got a large rack up front and am used to carrying a pretty good load there. It’s really just easier now.
I’ve been giving some thought to taking the QB back down to basics and having lean and fun city bike…but ya know, it’s not like I’m going anywhere fast in town and town is exactly when I need to be able to carry stuff so…
I guess I’m back to thinking about n+1 bikes again…I need a lean bike to ride out of town…one that mean and lean…and, oh yeah, carry a bunch of stuff for camping…him…n+1+1 methinks.
Sometime this Spring I’ll be rolling down the coast of Oregon with my RAGBRAI buddy Erich. It’s going to be a leisurely ride of about 400 miles. We aren’t going to push it and we may even take a day off somewhere along the way…or not. In any case the point isn’t that I’m going, I wrote about that before. The point is that I actually purchased the tickets.
And, because it seemed like a good idea for only $100 or so more, I’m headed to the Bay Area for a few days after the ride. A few days in the Bay Area for only $100…well not exactly. The addition fare for the plane turned out to be about $100. Clearly it’ll cost more to stay there.
Based on a recommendation from in post on the RBW Owners Bunch Google Group I’ll be staying at The Mosser in a tiny little room with a shared bathroom. Intrigued? At the price it’s hard to turn down. The place generally gets rave reviews and the location, as well as the fact that BART station is just down the block sold me. Since I don’t want to get a car while I’m there (really don’t need one with a bike and the BART), it’s perfect.
I’ll know more soon, but it’s done…I’m going and it’s moved beyond the ‘thinking about it’ and the ‘making a decision’ stage. I’m set. Now all I have to do is put in hundreds of miles in prep rides so I don’t die on the hills that are sure to always be in front of me.
Okay, I’m officially impressed with the ride of my Bridgestone. Indeed it’s a shame I’m back in Honolulu and it’s still in Hilo. I want to go back now so I can ride it again tomorrow. I’m going to have to content myself with my RB-1′s spiritual grandchild, my Rivendell Quickbeam.
I put in almost 29 miles today riding from my folks home into town, then out to the Panaewa Zoo (one of my favorite places), back down to sea level and out Keaukaha way, and finally back home.
Here’s how nice the ride was..I figured I’d put in just over 20 miles when in fact I was bit short of 30. The ride felt really fast to me overall, but I wasn’t timing it so I could be pretty far off.
Actually the ride didn’t start that well. I must have banged my rear derailleur bar-end shifter or something because it the gear kept slipping back onto the smallest cog. This wasn’t great but as the initial bit of the ride is downhill I was able to cope with it. Once I was in town I did a wee bit of tightening and the bike shifted fine for the rest of the day. I didn’t stop to do this on the way into town as I had an appointment and didn’t want to take the time out to make a fix for something that wasn’t really hurting me at that point.
Once I was fixed up and my obligation finished I was off to the zoo. It’s an easy climb of about 400 feet over a few miles so while you do notice you are going up it’s not really a lot like climbing hill after hill in Iowa. It’s just up.
After a cold drink at the zoo and quick walk around it was time to head back down. Down is fun. In fact I felt so good at the end of down I did flat for a few extra miles. Then it was time to go home, shower, have lunch with my mom (and answer a few of her Facebook questions – yes, she’s on FB), and get to the airport.
I can’t wait to go back so I can do this all over again…
I’d love to say I managed to spend the entire weekend riding my new (old) Bridgestone, but I’ve been very busy with some of the obligations that brought me to the Big Island. Still I did manage about 45 minutes last this afternoon and have to admit that this bike is one sweet ride.
It’s a comfortable and stable frame. I can hold a line with ease and on descents it feels very steady and not at all “twitchy.”
Even though I’m friction shifting with bar-ends I’m not having any trouble find gears on the 8 speed cluster and the front derailleur is accurate as well. Basically this bike is solid.
Still I’m not completely happy with the handlebars, which came from the Raleigh, and I’m pretty much convinced I want to put some moustache bars on this bike. I’m used to those from my Quickbeam. I can stretch out to get out of the wind just fine with them, but seem to have more comfortable postions available when I’m more upright than I can find with these drops.
It’ll mean I have to swap out the brake levers as well to something more modern -not a big problem in my book. And all that will probably mean I’ve got to recable the bike though there might be enough slack available. No time this trip, but I’ll be back soon enough.
I’ve also spent a fair bit of time looking at the differences between the RB-1 and the RB-2 in images I can find and I’m fairly certain this is an RB-1. Again it’s not a big deal, the bike is good and I’m happy.
I’m visiting my folks in Hilo this weekend and back in July of 2010 I purchased an old Raleigh. I rode it every time I was out here during 2010 and 2011. I had some great rides on it, including a few up to the Panaewa Zoo.
Last time I was here I had a bit of trouble with the rear wheel which was, um, quite used. I actually bought another used wheel (too bad about that) which was in somewhat better condition but blew out my last tube when I put it on the bike. Sigh.
Well yesterday I was back at All Kine Bicycles to visit Bill and pick up a new tube when I saw a Bridgestone RB-? sitting there for sale. It was more or less my size (my size really being larger than most production frames – I ride a 66cm Quickbeam). Well Bill says they sell recycled bikes and often he sells bikes he’s sold before (Hilo have a lot of students who buy bikes from him and then sell them back when they graduate or otherwise move on). So…
I ran home, got the Raleigh which, to be honest, really needs a new paint job and new (could be new used) components and made a deal with Bill.
Basically I traded in the Raleigh, parted with a few bucks (ouch, but not too bad, Bill is fair), and picked up a new used Bridgestone RB-? today, after which I went riding.
The reason I say RB-? is because I’m not sure it’s an RB-1. It could be an RB-2 I supposed. The original owner strategically placed a sticker over the part of the frame that would let me know. I’m not that concerned, though of course I’d rather have an RB-1 than a 2. Here’s an image…can you tell what it is? Let me know.
For that it’s worth it would appear my bike is a 1994, late 1994, the last year Bridgestone sold bikes in the US I believe. I get this from Cyclofiend’s B-Stone FAQ. My serial number begins with H4, the H indicating it wasn’t made from January to July (letters A-H) and the 4 being the year.
The component group is Shimano 600 (later becoming the Ultegra group I believe). It’s an 8-speed cluster on the back with two chainrings. I haven’t counted the teeth. The seatpost is Campy – the only Campy part I think I’ve ever owned, though my dad was fixated on Campagnolo back in the 70′s and early 80′s.
The bike had brifters but I wanted to swap the Nitto Dirtdrop stem I used on the Raleigh. Since I was working a trade I needed to leave them with a working bike so instead of taking everything apart they simply switched everything from the Raleigh over to the Bridgestone. So know I don’t have the original handlebars or shifters, but I’m going to end up with moustache bars on it anyway so…no big deal. It’s bike to ride, not one for the museum. Besides I really didn’t want brifters and this way I get to keep the ancient Suntour bar-ends which work great with the Shimano 600′s.
I also dumped the saddle which was nice for a go-fast type for the Brook B-17 I had on the Raleigh. And finally I had them switch tires from really hard road tires to my squishier Pasella 28′s. I think I might be able to get 32′s on the bike, but the 28′s, even at my weight, are really pretty comfortable (I ride 35′s on my Quickbeam which is more comfortable).
So it’s sort of a Frankenbike now and I don’t regret parting with some of the original bits.
And yes, I’ve forgotten one more thing. Clearly the previous owner likes his pedals because the bike came without ‘em. No problem. I simply put the Grip Kings on from the Raleigh. Actually I did that before I made the deal because I needed something to try the bike with.
Today picked it all up and did a sweet 10+ mile ride. This bike rides very well and the components are much smoother than what I had on the older Raleigh.
I’m a happy camper.
Here’s the set of images I made with my phone on the ride today. I didn’t bring a decent camera with me on this trip (I also forgot deodorant but I was willing to buy that) so it’ll have to wait till I come back in a month or two.
