Shimano Cantilever question (BR-R550)

Hi Neil,
Mine was vintage 1992 T1000. I liked the bike, but it was a bit
beyond my needs in terms of strength, weight, and general spec's. I
never plan on loaded, self-supported touring again and wanted something
a little more suited to my purpose (winter commuter, aka "fender bike",
with light load capacity, off-roading ....). It may eventually
supercede my normal road bike (Waterford RS-22). I can run this bike
with 28mm tires and fenders, or 32mm tires without. The only downside
is the need for long-reach brake calipers. I was lucky enough to score
some Suntour Superbe calipers - I prefer single pivot. I had mine
built with OS2 tubing, and spaced to 135mm for off-road (XT) hubs. The
Sport is several pounds lighter than the T1000. It's also a little
more "sporty" in the handling department. Plus, I finally got
completely away from threaded headsets. Heck, there's even a carbon
fork available (IRD Mosaic 57) that'll handle these spec's with fender
eyelets to boot! I opted for the Gunnar steel fork.
FWIW, I never had a problem with braking (no breaking!) on the
Cannondale. I learned early about cantilever setup (thanks to Avid and
Sheldon Brown), and ran Avid Trialign brakes and standard black and red
Koolstop pads with the original Diacompe aero levers. I could lift the
back wheel with two fingers on the front brake lever.
For an all-around road bike, I recommend the Sport. It is far more
practical. Or get the Roadie custom with longer stays and/or more tire
clearance. The Roadie comes stock with OS2 tubing now. Great value,
IMHO.
BTW, I'm using Google Groups Beta page to reply, and I hope this
isn't top-posting. It won't let me intersperse my replies. My current
news server won't allow posting! Can someone recommend one that will,
as well as a reader (OE doesn't get it).


Robin Hubert

On 19 Dec 2004 15:05:46 -0800, "Robin Hubert"
wrote:

[snip]

BTW, I'm using Google Groups Beta page to reply, and I hope this
isn't top-posting. It won't let me intersperse my replies. My current
news server won't allow posting! Can someone recommend one that will,
as well as a reader (OE doesn't get it).


Robin Hubert

Dear Robin,

You can still get the original Google Groups by
country-specific links, like England and India:

http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl....bicycles.tech

http://groups.google.co.in/groups?hl....bicycles.tech

Forte Free Agent works reasonably well:

http://www.forteinc.com/agent/download.php

It allows interspersing remarks.

Carl Fogel

Robin Hubert wrote:
Hi Neil,
Mine was vintage 1992 T1000. I liked the bike, but it was a bit
beyond my needs in terms of strength, weight, and general spec's. I
never plan on loaded, self-supported touring again and wanted
something a little more suited to my purpose (winter commuter, aka
"fender bike", with light load capacity, off-roading ....). It may

Gotcha.

I thought the T series would be the ultimate compromise bike--and it does
facilitate /most/ of my riding with aplomb--but, alas, logging serious
unladen miles, or trying to ride with the big kids on their real road bikes,
is clearly not its strong suit.

eventually supercede my normal road bike (Waterford RS-22). I can

Nice choice, and yet another brand on my proverbial short list, along with
Steelman, Seven, Hampsten, Griffen, Sycip, and a few even more obscure names
(Thanks, Sheldon, for all of your links!).

run this bike with 28mm tires and fenders, or 32mm tires without. The
only downside is the need for long-reach brake calipers. I was lucky
enough to score some Suntour Superbe calipers - I prefer single
pivot. I had mine built with OS2 tubing, and spaced to 135mm for
off-road (XT) hubs. The Sport is several pounds lighter than the
T1000. It's also a little more "sporty" in the handling department.
Plus, I finally got completely away from threaded headsets. Heck,
there's even a carbon fork available (IRD Mosaic 57) that'll handle
these spec's with fender eyelets to boot! I opted for the Gunnar
steel fork.
FWIW, I never had a problem with braking (no breaking!) on the
Cannondale. I learned early about cantilever setup (thanks to Avid
and Sheldon Brown), and ran Avid Trialign brakes and standard black
and red Koolstop pads with the original Diacompe aero levers. I
could lift the back wheel with two fingers on the front brake lever.

Is that these?? http://snipurl.com/bhbj I've never heard of them. Look
ferociously powerful. Could stop a Peterbilt, no doubt.

That reminds me of an early-on problem I had w/the T2000--a flexy front fork
that shuddered uncontrollably under hard braking. Rather disconcerting on
loaded descents. C'Dale graciously replaced the frame. Now it works like a
charm.

For an all-around road bike, I recommend the Sport. It is far more
practical. Or get the Roadie custom with longer stays and/or more
tire clearance. The Roadie comes stock with OS2 tubing now. Great
value, IMHO.

When it's time for the new road bike, I want a no-compromise pure road
machine. The T2000 will stay with me. I just can't kill the thing . . .
and . . . with 37's on it, it's pretty capable as a cyclocross bike. What
I'm looking for is something a little botique-ish (support the little guy),
light, but not ridiculously so (I'm doing okay with the conifer green T2k
behemoth), but that fits and feels just perfect. I /do/ like that
Roadie....

BTW, I'm using Google Groups Beta page to reply, and I hope this
isn't top-posting. It won't let me intersperse my replies. My
current news server won't allow posting! Can someone recommend one
that will, as well as a reader (OE doesn't get it).

I think Carl Fogel has you hooked up on the Newsreader stuff. Thanks for
the response, Robin.

Best,

Neil

"Robin Hubert" writes:

BTW, I'm using Google Groups Beta page to reply, and I hope this
isn't top-posting. It won't let me intersperse my replies. My
current news server won't allow posting! Can someone recommend one
that will, as well as a reader (OE doesn't get it).

Have you checked with your ISP about being unable to post? Many ISP
news servers now require authentification to post.

As for newsreader, what platform are you using? A great place to
start looking at newsreaders is www.newsreaders.com

wrote:

Dear Robin,

You can still get the original Google Groups by
country-specific links, like England and India:

http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?hl....bicycles.tech

http://groups.google.co.in/groups?hl....bicycles.tech

Thanks for pointing that out, the new Google Groups really sucks for
posting. I was trying to figure out how to get back to the original format.

"Robin Hubert" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi Neil,
Mine was vintage 1992 T1000. I liked the bike, but it was a bit
beyond my needs in terms of strength, weight, and general spec's.

For an all-around road bike, I recommend the Sport. It is far more
practical. Or get the Roadie custom with longer stays and/or more tire
clearance. The Roadie comes stock with OS2 tubing now. Great value,
IMHO.

What's the weight difference between the T1000 frame and the Gunnar frame?

(Neil Brooks) wrote:
I thought the T series would be the ultimate compromise bike--and it does
facilitate /most/ of my riding with aplomb--but, alas, logging serious
unladen miles, or trying to ride with the big kids on their real road
bikes, is clearly not its strong suit.

I like my XR series (aka "Cyclocross") but I don't have even a rack on it
yet; it gets used mostly for the "serious unladen miles" or trying to ride
with the "real road bikes" and (unladen) off-road stuff. Decent compromise
for my purposes (though the original 700x35 tires gave way to 700x30's).

--
Dan Birchall, Hilo HI - http://hilom.multiply.com/ - images, words, technology