Recommendations for a Rain/Commuting/Camping Bike

My current rain bike is nearing the end of its useful life and I am
looking to this group for recommendations on a replacement. I admit to
being somewhat of a retro roadie so I'd prefer a traditional cro-moly
diamond frame with turned-down handlebars (e.g. not a hybrid with flat
handlebars).

Some the basic needs a

* eyelets on seat stay and on the fork for both front and rear
fenders and racks,

* 700 x 25c tires,

* triple chainring with 9-spd cassette,

* traditional brake levers on the drops plus the mini-levers on the
top of the handlebars also (I've seen these on a Lemond at Palo Alto
Bicycles and on a Trek at Spin Cycle [Cary, NC] -- very cool).

I'll probably alternate between clipless pedals (for commuting and road
riding) and clipped pedals (for cycle camping).
Any recommendations?

Wayne Clark
Cary, NC

"Wayne Clark" wrote in message
oups.com...
My current rain bike is nearing the end of its useful life and I am
looking to this group for recommendations on a replacement. I admit to
being somewhat of a retro roadie so I'd prefer a traditional cro-moly
diamond frame with turned-down handlebars (e.g. not a hybrid with flat
handlebars).

Some the basic needs a

* eyelets on seat stay and on the fork for both front and rear
fenders and racks,

* 700 x 25c tires,

* triple chainring with 9-spd cassette,

* traditional brake levers on the drops plus the mini-levers on the
top of the handlebars also (I've seen these on a Lemond at Palo Alto
Bicycles and on a Trek at Spin Cycle [Cary, NC] -- very cool).

I'll probably alternate between clipless pedals (for commuting and road
riding) and clipped pedals (for cycle camping).
Any recommendations?

You don't say how much you want to spend, but a couple of bikes to check
out:

Rivendell Rambo:
http://www.rivbike.com/html/bikes_ra...letframes.html

ANT club racer bike:
http://www.antbikemike.com/clubracing.html

Kogwell:
http://kogswell.com/

Sorry ... I left out the important detail of price. I expect to go up
to around $2000.

Thanks,
Wayne

"Wayne Clark" wrote in message
oups.com...
Sorry ... I left out the important detail of price. I expect to go up
to around $2000.

Thanks,
Wayne

Wayne: you should be able to put together such a bike for less than $500.
Easily. My perfect commuter was less than $200. I think Ryan Cousineau's
all-in was less than $30.

Basically, top-end second-hand steel frames go for next to nothing. Start
with a decent 70's to 80's asian road bike. Best deal going. Unlike a
current road frame, it will have good tire clearance and mounts for
fenders/racks. It will also not have trendy nonsense such as compact
geometry, integrated 1/ 1/8" headsets, etc.

Put some flat bars on it for more heads-up riding and better braking from
MTB brake levers. Add thumbshifters. Dual-pivot long-reach brakes.
Fenders. Done.

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 06:27:29 GMT, "Dave Mayer"
wrote:

"Wayne Clark" wrote in message
roups.com...
Sorry ... I left out the important detail of price. I expect to go up
to around $2000.

Thanks,
Wayne

Wayne: you should be able to put together such a bike for less than $500.
Easily. My perfect commuter was less than $200. I think Ryan Cousineau's
all-in was less than $30.

Basically, top-end second-hand steel frames go for next to nothing. Start
with a decent 70's to 80's asian road bike. Best deal going. Unlike a
current road frame, it will have good tire clearance and mounts for
fenders/racks. It will also not have trendy nonsense such as compact
geometry, integrated 1/ 1/8" headsets, etc.

Put some flat bars on it for more heads-up riding and better braking from
MTB brake levers. Add thumbshifters. Dual-pivot long-reach brakes.
Fenders. Done.


It won't be the bike he wants, but it would be "done".


Life is Good!
Jeff

"Wayne Clark" writes:

looking for a "rain" bike

You want to spend $2000 on a rain bike???

Check out the Rivendell Atlantis and the Gunnar Crosshairs. You'd
need to build them up with your own choice of parts, which IMHO is the
best way.

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 21:11:13 -0800, Wayne Clark wrote:

My current rain bike is nearing the end of its useful life and I am
looking to this group for recommendations on a replacement.

snip

Wayne Clark
Cary, NC

Wayne,

If it were me, I'd start by trying to finagle this
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/r...llet/index.htm
into my budget. It sounds perfect for what you want.

Alternatively, for a little less bread, I'd start with this frame:
http://www.somafab.com/extrasmoothie.html
and build from there.

Good luck!

Sounds like you want a loaded touring bike. You can swap tire size
depending on whether you are riding around town or around the country.
The usual turn key loaded touring bikes are Trek 520, Cannondale T800
and T2000, Bruce Gordon BLT, and a half dozen or so others I cannot
recall. Go over to the Adventure Cycling website and look at their
annual Touring Bike article. They list all of the current touring
bikes on the market. It will show the ones I missed.

wrote:

Sounds like you want a loaded touring bike. You can swap tire size
depending on whether you are riding around town or around the country.
The usual turn key loaded touring bikes are Trek 520, Cannondale T800
and T2000, Bruce Gordon BLT, and a half dozen or so others I cannot
recall. Go over to the Adventure Cycling website and look at their
annual Touring Bike article. They list all of the current touring
bikes on the market. It will show the ones I missed.

Good call. Here's a link to their 2004 touring bike list:
http://snipurl.com/b8sb

Matthew C Roberts wrote:

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 21:11:13 -0800, Wayne Clark wrote:

My current rain bike is nearing the end of its useful life and I am
looking to this group for recommendations on a replacement.

snip

Wayne Clark
Cary, NC

Wayne,

If it were me, I'd start by trying to finagle this
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/r...llet/index.htm
into my budget. It sounds perfect for what you want.

A guy in our club has a bike like that, with real chrome fenders on it. It's an
impressive machine. He still whips most of us.

Alternatively, for a little less bread, I'd start with this frame:
http://www.somafab.com/extrasmoothie.html
and build from there.

Good call.

Momovelo sells roll-your-own Soma bikes, plus some other unusual ones. In an
attempt to be arty, their website is a pain to use, but well worth a look.

www.momovelo.com

Matt O.