LBC Ass-kicking!
Date: July1 Tues
Mileage: 27 (RB-1)
July mileage: 27
Year to date: 1011 (that's what Excel says, so that's what I'm going with)
I was brutalized on the club ride tonight- the proverbial "Tuesday Night Worlds". Los Sprawls gave the invite. Instead of doing their morning ride they were doing the evening one. This is probably the single largest ride of the week for the club. In fact, it got so big a year or 2 ago that the racy set split off into their own gig; they actually took the "Worlds" mantle with them, but the usual club ride is still quite fast, at least for me. D and R usually take things a bit slower in the mornings, but tonight they wanted to mix it up, so we charged along an aggressive pace until I popped off. I told D that when I was ready to 'pop', I was going to do just that, and did. I got 19m in before I just had to pull of and shorten the trip home. And during those 19m, I constantly rode wheels too. It was fun, though, and good to do every now and then. Although my avg when I pulled was only 16.4, that's deceptive b/c the route is from St. Matthews, through the parks, and downtown, so it's one of constantly start and stops. It seemed like every time I look at my computer I was doing 18-23mph, but the start/stop disrupts the rhythm. It certainly felt fast.
The gear observation of the evening is that I might just be ready to part with the RB-1. I never ride it, and tonight reaffirmed why. It's a racing bike, and I don't race. It's position is quite flung over and forward, quite low. The seat sucks balls. The rear cluster is tiny and the chainrings don't help with a 53/40. After seeing days of 1.75" contis, 30c Grand Bois, or 32 Paselas, the 23c contis on the Bridgestone look a little silly with my big ass teetering on them. I'm sure I could doctor it up and make something useful, but why mess up it's true nature, that of a classic steel racing bike? I'm curious what it might bring in and on the iBob market. I'm not really doing it for the $$; I just have enough bikes and this one needs a rider that it deserves, not some butterball of commuterdom.
Mileage: 27 (RB-1)
July mileage: 27
Year to date: 1011 (that's what Excel says, so that's what I'm going with)
I was brutalized on the club ride tonight- the proverbial "Tuesday Night Worlds". Los Sprawls gave the invite. Instead of doing their morning ride they were doing the evening one. This is probably the single largest ride of the week for the club. In fact, it got so big a year or 2 ago that the racy set split off into their own gig; they actually took the "Worlds" mantle with them, but the usual club ride is still quite fast, at least for me. D and R usually take things a bit slower in the mornings, but tonight they wanted to mix it up, so we charged along an aggressive pace until I popped off. I told D that when I was ready to 'pop', I was going to do just that, and did. I got 19m in before I just had to pull of and shorten the trip home. And during those 19m, I constantly rode wheels too. It was fun, though, and good to do every now and then. Although my avg when I pulled was only 16.4, that's deceptive b/c the route is from St. Matthews, through the parks, and downtown, so it's one of constantly start and stops. It seemed like every time I look at my computer I was doing 18-23mph, but the start/stop disrupts the rhythm. It certainly felt fast.
The gear observation of the evening is that I might just be ready to part with the RB-1. I never ride it, and tonight reaffirmed why. It's a racing bike, and I don't race. It's position is quite flung over and forward, quite low. The seat sucks balls. The rear cluster is tiny and the chainrings don't help with a 53/40. After seeing days of 1.75" contis, 30c Grand Bois, or 32 Paselas, the 23c contis on the Bridgestone look a little silly with my big ass teetering on them. I'm sure I could doctor it up and make something useful, but why mess up it's true nature, that of a classic steel racing bike? I'm curious what it might bring in and on the iBob market. I'm not really doing it for the $$; I just have enough bikes and this one needs a rider that it deserves, not some butterball of commuterdom.
Comments
I've seen them going for $400 and up for RB-1s in good shape with little to no rust. Original parts make it worth more, because people treat these bikes like collectibles.