New Sport Tour

[goosander]

My New RST arrived yesterday and I though I'd share my first impressions.

The bike generally looks very smart though the large quantity of spacers under the stem make it seem a little gawky at the front, but I'll probably lower the bars and/or get a stem with more rise.  I had a nightmare time deciding between stealth black and green but I love the green colour and since my old bike is matt black its nice to have a change.  

I've only done a few miles so far but first impressions are that the ride and handling are excellent - it feels nicely balanced with quick steering and feels comfortable over bumps, nicer than my Marin hybrid which has a pretty decent triple butted steel frame.

I went for 42x16 gearing with the aim of getting slightly higher gearing than my old bike but the gearing actually feels pretty similar, so I might change to 44x16 for the summer.  The hub seems quite quiet in the upper seven gears and isn't too bad in the lower range except for 7th gear, in practice I can't hear it over wind & traffic noise anyway and it will only get better with time, so no worries there.  As far as I can tell the hub doesn't add any noticeable drag in the upper seven gears but there is perhaps a little additional drag in the lower gears, particularly gear 7.  Essentially it is as good as deraillieurs and is much more efficient than the Nexus 8 hub geared bike I used to have which was quite unpleasant to cycle up hills.  Speedwise the computer indicates that there is no difference between the RST and my deraillieur bike.

So far I'm pleased with the specification I ordered, the LX brakes with XTR levers feel smooth and powerful with none of the squealing & grinding I usually expect from rim brakes (though how long that will last I don't know).  I like the Ergon grips though I'm not sure how often I'll use the integrated bar ends and the carbon seatpost and titanium railed B17 seem OK so far, though time will tell.  The last (standard) B17 I broke in was purgatory for about two months though I didn't have padded cycling shorts back then.

I took some photos of the bike in its pristine state, so I'll post a link this evening.

[Swislon]

Hi goosander, congrats on getting your new bike. It sounds like we are having pretty similar experiences with our RSTs. Not surprising as they are similar spec.
I agree with the front end looking a little gawky with all those spacers. I'd rather they weren't there but I'll probably not cut mine down even if I find lower bars more comfortable. I think I'll keep it as it arrived, you never know I might want to raise them someday.
7th is definitely the one that feels like it is dragging but I'm not sure it is, just feels like it. I went out in the wind & rain the other night and the bike felt great. Plus I wouldn't have gone out on my derailleur bike, too worried about the mess it would have got into & big cleaning job needed after only 10 miles.

This for me is the biggest advantage of the RST. Jack of all trades, Go for a ride whatever the weather and also off road if I want to.

I was worried my normal rear panniers might catch my heel (SJS recommend universal or front panniers on the rear) but I tried them this am and they were perfect. Pretty well sorted now.[]

Looking forward to your photos.

[goosander]

Its not the best of pictures but here she is:



(Edit - sorry can't get image to display) but more images can be found be clicking here and navigating to the Raven Sport Tour folder.

Although Thorn state that the RST is better suited to smaller panniers, the wheel stay length isn't particularly short so I reckon it will be OK with normal sized panniers provided your feet aren't huge.  Having said that I've decided to not fit a rack to the RST as I find panniers to be too much of a nuisance unless you need to carry heavy loads.  For occasional heavy loads I'll use my old bike, but if I ever go touring I'll fit the panniers to the RST or maybe even try out a trailer.

[Swislon]

Looking good goosander. How do you find those bar ends ?
I've the Cane Creek ones and so far so good.
Sunny today but quite cold so I wrapped up and rode 35 miles. Enjoyed myself, bike felt great and was really very quiet except in 7th. I think quieter than my derailleur which seems to rattle a little more on gear changes. None of that with the Rohloff.
The front brake seems to "modulate" especially coming down hill and braking hard. Is this what you call bedding in or is something else going on ? I'll do a search and see if its been mentioned before.

[geocycle]

Nice pics Goosander and a great bike-I've not seen a front brake behind the fork before, is there a particular reason for that position?  

[goosander]

Swislon - So far I quite like the bar ends, I don't think they give any advantage in climbing but they do give an alternative hand position which helps prevent aches & pains.  I've never been a fan of traditional bar ends in the past, but decided to get these as an experiment, OK so far.  I haven't had any issues with brake modulation, they seem just fine.

I also went for a 35+ mile ride today, though I hadn't planned on doing more than 20 miles, but unfortunately the train times didn't work out well so I decided to cycle all the way home.  One of the most noticeable aspects of the bike is its silence, sure you get some gear noise but there is none of the rattles & chain slap you usually get when going over bumps.

I reckon I spend about 90% of the time in the upper seven gears, about 5% of the time in gear 7 and the other 5% in the lower gears.  On the one hand its a shame that when I need to use the lower gears, it tends to e gear 7 that is most used but on the other hand the use will hopefully encourage it to bed in quickly.  Gear 6 is very quiet and gears 1 - 5 seem OK but I don't seem to need to use them much.

geocycle - I'm not sure if there are any performance benefits from having the brakes mounted on the rear of the fork, but you certainly get neater cable routing with V brakes.  Until recently, I hadn't realised that in many other countries, the front brake is operated by the left hand brake lever, so most front V brakes are designed for cable routing to the left hand lever, hence the awkward routing you get when the brakes are mounted on the front of the forks on UK bikes.

[john28july]

I reckon I spend about 90% of the time in the upper seven gears, about 5% of the time in gear 7 and the other 5% in the lower gears.
Hello Goosander,
Regarding the time spent in certain gears.
I did say that the 38 chairing was best, did I not?
John.
www.pbase.com/john28july

[Swislon]

I agree with the quietness and the lack of rattles when going over bumps I guess it is like riding fixed but with the benefit of having 14 gears to chose from. I really like this as I hate rattles of any sort as it always worries me that something has worked itself loose even though I've checked things over. This for me adds to the quality of the ride.

I've also not used gears 1 to 4 yet. Gear 5 & 6 were useful yesterday with some sharp little hills.

I didn't know about the V Brake cable routing before, its a neat solution. I wonder if fitting them to the rear of the fork could be the cause of my "modulation" ? It feels like a kind of pulsating as if the brake had ABS fitted !

[goosander]

quote:Originally posted by john28july

I did say that the 38 chairing was best, did I not?

Thats very much down to personal preference and fitness.  You also have the Raven Tour, so I presume that you sometimes ride with it heavily loaded in which case I'd agree that the 38T is probably a sound choice.

For me I have no intention of lowering the gearing as the 42x16 is mostly OK though I sometimes wouldn't mind an extra gear at the top.  If anything I might increase the gearing to 44x16 as this would give me the extra gear I occasionally want and would hopefully mean that I would end up using gear 6 more than gear 7.  If I do make this change I'll probably wait until summer as I really only want the higher gear for decent downhills and on my normal commuting route the downhills are nearly always accompanied by a stiff headwind especially in winter.

Given that most people probably don't use the lower gears much unless heavily loaded or off road, this makes me think that there would be a market for a second model of Rohloff hub.  If Rohloff could come up with a 10 speed hub with the gearing arranged as a single range of 10 gears rather than 2 ranges of 5, they would be on to a winner especially if they could make it £100 cheaper.

[Swislon]

I'm also happy with my 42*16 set up and wouldn't want to go lower even if I use 6th or 7th more often. More use will make them quieter anyway.

[Swislon]

Modulating brakes sorted. Loose headset !
I didn't check headset when I turned bars when I took bike out of box.
Plonker springs to mind.[)]

[goosander]

Glad its sorted.

[Fred A-M]

Agree with Goosander ref gearing.  I'm running 44X16 and that has seen me through every demand I've managed to impose on the RST including mountain trails.  If anything, thinking of upgrading to 46 simply because I can't believe that I'll ever quite do anything quite as challenging again as this summer's tour of Andalucia.

Of course optimum gearing ratios are down to fitness and personal preference but I'm smoker of 20+ years, not to mention a liking for beer so I'm far from being super-fit.  Even laden to the max (as opposed to the usual 10-12kg on rear panniers), I imagine that 44X16 would be fine for most regular riders for anything other than the most demanding touring circumstances.

[paulhipwood]

Hi All
I have a 44 X 16 setup.
My 13 miles to work is downhill, I could do with a 46 X 16
The 13 miles back is uphill, I could do with a 38 X 16.
If only someone could come up with a front chainwheel arragement that you could change to a different gear at will!!!!!!

Seriously I find 44 X 16 OK, except when its windy and I have been down up to 3 gears recently.
Where I live (Halesowen, West Midlands) I have to admit I have used the 1st gear occasionally. Especially after a hard day at work and I have to go up Hagley when its dark and windy.

regards
paul

[geocycle]

Mine's a 40 x 16.  I've only used the bottom 2 gears on a couple of occasions (once offroad loaded touring in Scotland and once loaded on a 20% hill in the Yorkshire Dales come to mind) but they give an insurance against having to push.  I've never missed not having a bigger gear than my current 14th as I am happy to freewheel down the hills and pootle along at 14mph on the flat in 11th.  For me getting the direct drive 11th right was as important as the extremes, and that depends on individual circumstances.  Note my bike's a raven tour not a sport tour, so will not be as sprightly on the hills anyway.