Part of the reason for starting this blog now is that I recently purchased a new bike, so I had to kit out my every-day ride from scratch. My trusty Bridgestone RB-1 that I rode almost exclusively since I've moved to New York was recently stolen from in front of my office, when I ran in for "just a couple of hours" on the weekend. It was built up from a frame in 1994, first as my go-fast bike, and most recently it was stripped down to the frame again in May 2005 and rebuilt from scratch with a full Shimano Ultegra Triple group and a beefy set of 36-hole Mavic rims. The Bridgestone, one of the last Grant Petersen-designed bikes sold under that brand, rode wonderfully, with a real tendency to go straight real fast. Handling was awesome, not too quick or too slow; it was stable as hell, but was also nimble enough to keep me out of trouble in NYC traffic. It was also a machine that was dialed-in to my tendencies, and when I found it missing about a month ago, I felt like I had lost a close buddy. Not to mention the fact that it started a lot of bike geek conversations... I was constantly being approached by bikers who appreciated what a great bike RB-1 was, and felt lucky to have gotten mine. I have a couple of the catalogs from that era, and they capture Bridgestone's quirky, anti-corporate philosophy of just making great bikes that are pratical, rideable, not too flashy, and built to last. Of course, they soon went out of business (in the US, at least).
However, the RB-1 was not perfect. First of all, the largest frame at 61cm was about 1.5cm too small for me (I'm 6'4"). In recent years, I rode with "bullhorn" handlebars (actually, 3ttt drop bars flipped over and cut off at the drops) to get the handlebars a bit higher. This eliminated some extra hand positions, and even with a 140mm stem, the top tube never felt long enough. This also put my STI brake levers in a downward-sloping position that put their center of gravity too far forward and made them rattle badly when hitting a bump of any magnitude.
Second, as I've become a car-free commuter, I've started bolting a lot of accessories on my bike: rack, fenders, pump, lights, BOB trailer hitch, the works. The RB-1 had one set of rack eyelets in the back, elegantly placed mid-dropout. but this could only be used for rack, fenders, and BOB with some creative washering and grinding. More crucially, the relatively short rear chainstays left only enough space between the rear wheel and seat tube for the thinnest plastic fenders, and I was constantly battling (with an ugly combo of zip ties and stiff wire) to keep the fenders in place. They ultimately cracked and flaked off.
Third, it was designed as a racing frame (granted, a versatile, thoughtfully-designed Grant Petersen racing frame, but racing nonetheless). This left it a teeny bit too flexy at the bottom bracket (especially when pulling the trailer or loaded with groceries). I was definitely pushing the operating envelope of the RB-1, and feared that it would just someday fold up on me like the Bluesmobile.
Finally, that wheel clearance thing limited tires to a practical limit of 700x28 smooth tires with the fenders. Deb and I do a lot of touring, frequently on dirt, and the ability to have a bike shod with 700x38 cyclocross mini-knobbies for a weekend would be a definite plus.
Bike nerd that I am, I gave all of these things a lot of thought even when I had the Bridgestone, and after it got lifted, I got serious about finding the right bike.
Full custom was (and still is) an option. I know that for the amount I ride, and how well I take care of my bikes (the RB-1 was 14 years old, and my other bike is going on 21), I could justify a custom ride. However, the waiting lists at my two favorite builders (Vanilla and Richard Sachs) are, as of this writing, 4 1/2 and 6 years respectively. Uh, dudes, I need a bike NOW. So plan B was to find the best stock bike, tweak the crap out of it, and secure my place on the custom waiting list so I can upgrade in, say, 2013.
What was I looking for? Well, I was 90% happy with the Bridgestone, so starting there was a good first step. A road bike, with drop bars. Similar frame geometry. Steel: there's outside chance that I might do some loaded trekking in the future, and I want something I can bend back or have welded in a Mexican village in a pinch. Aluminum (usually feels dead to me, and fatigues when crashed) or carbon (sorry, no) were not considered. Titanium woulda been acceptable, but there aren't a lot of good touring/city-ish road bikes out there stock in titanium, so again, we're looking at custom, and with a ~$1000 material penalty as well.
WIth that as the starting spot, I wanted to address the RB-1's shortcomings. First of all, the bike needed to be bigger. I'm right at the top of the size scale for off the rack, both in suits and bicycles, so just buying the next size larger isn't always an option. If a bike maxes out at 62cm, I need to make sure that 62cm fits me. And the ideal geometry would still maintain RB-1-like numbers but be slightly stretched around the top tube (for my ape arms) and around the chainstay (for fenders and fatty tires).
Clearances for all accessories are a must, and lots of braze-ons would be a necessity. A stiff, heavier-duty frame would also be required, as would big tire clearance. So I wound up looking in the touring/cyclocross category, to see what's out there. In the next post, the decision is made.
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