[MMcG]

LO,

What about one of these from Salsa?? The Casserol?

http://www.salsacycles.com/casserollComp08.html

or

What about a LaCruz??
http://www.salsacycles.com/laCruzComp08.html

 

[MMcG]

Or what about one of these from Salsa's QBP counterpart:

http://www.surlybikes.com/lht_comp.html

Long Haul Trucker

 

[MMcG]

Or how about this new 650b bike from Rawland Cycles??
http://www.rawlandcycles.com/store/index.php?strWebAction=item_detail&intItemID=3421

 

[LordOpie]

I definitely feel the love from y'all! Thanks!

The Salsa and Surly are awesome bikes, but none of the three are quite right with the geometry.

The Rawland is new to me and looks awesome. I DL'ed their PDF, but the specs aren't listed yet. And it looks like the 650B is making a huge push into the market place. Cool.

I'm adding the Rawland as a nice possibility. Need to see the specs once they're available and a January 2008 shipping works fine. Tho I always expect delays all the way through the process, so more like March?

 

[gonefirefightin]

I bought a pugsly from surly when i was at interbike. I cant wait to get it together for snow

 

[LordOpie]

What's the advantage of those drop bars that curve outward? It seems like that would spread your arms too wide and twist your wrists in an uncomfortable way - is it a touring thing?

Good question.

I'll guess that it's more comfortable, more natural hand position. If the bend out starts sooner than the bend down on most bars, then the effective position is not too wide.

 

[MMcG]

Those are On One Midge Bars on that Rawland and they are designed primarily to be dirt drop bars - I want to try some.

You can try some for less money if you choose Origin 8 Gary bars I think they are called, although I don't know if the quality will be the same as the Midges.

 

[LordOpie]

...Surly are awesome bikes, but none of the three are quite right with the geometry.

For the record, I was wrong about the 54cm Surly LHT, so my thanks to MMcG for pointing it out.

 

[LordOpie]

I got an email back from Rawland. It's nice that they responded within 24 hours.

They said they're hoping to release more info in the next week.

 

[DRB]

Have you decided on the replacement yet?

 

[Wumpus]

Have you decided on the replacement yet?

Yeah, you better get cracking before you get conned into baby shopping.

 

[LordOpie]

Have you decided on the replacement yet?

Nope. Serious contenders are all multi-purpose roadies:
Kogswell
Surly LHT
Rawland

I'll use my back-up roadie for road rides in the winter, so no real rush. Plus, my preference is to transfer all the parts so I'm less interested in a complete bike.

Just curious or are you thinking of building a similar type of pavement bike?

Yeah, you better get cracking before you get conned into baby shopping.

Not a chance! I've got $2500 from the insurance company and I'm going to spend it all!

 

[LordOpie]

click... BANG!

Pulled the trigger.

Much appreciation to EVERYONE who answered all the little, big, and dumb questions.

But a big thank you to MMcG who -- through threads and PMs -- helped me narrow down options and bounced ideas around. If you're ever in Denver, beers on me.

I ordered a red* Surly LHT today along with new brakes and wheels. Gonna use the parts from my original roadie.

* didn't like the blue at all and while I liked the 2008 green, I didn't want to wait months for it to be available.


I really wanted to get something a little more unique like a Kogswell or Rawland, but Kogs were probably a 4-6 month wait, ugh. And Rawland never posted any geometry info on their website, so frankly, I have to wonder about them.

 

[MMcG]

Congratulations.