[CR]ride quality

(Example: Production Builders:LeJeune)

From: "C. Andrews" <chasds@mindspring.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]ride quality
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 11:54:43 -0800

In the various threads about frame building and great-riding frames, I have seen no reference to all the other controlling variables of ride-quality.

This problem is similar to the one encountered by subjective reviewers of exotic audio equipment. It becomes very difficult to separate numerous non-relevant--but highly influential--controlling variables, from the actual sound of a given piece of gear (one typical thought problem: if you put the guts of a Jeff Rowland Model 2 in the chassis of a big Onkyo receiver, or vice-versa, would a reviewer who didn't know which was which hear both units as sounding the same? To judge from my long experience in these matters, probably not).

To a lesser degree, the same probably goes for bicycle frames. The name on the frame, the appeal of the paint and graphics, and construction details, probably have an effect on the subjective experience of ride quality.

And let's not forget all the extremely *relevant* controlling variables, like wheels and tires for starters. It would be helpful if people claiming this or that frame is a great ride would say what tires they're using. I've found, unsurprisingly, that I can make nearly any frame in my stable into a "great ride" simply by popping into it, my Campagnolo LF, 36-hole, three-cross wheels with Super Champion Record du monde rims and Clement Campionato del Mondo cottons at 120 lbs. It's really amazing what that wheel/tire combo can do for any bike. Almost makes me want to get rid of all my wheels and just use those, moving them from bike to bike. But that would be altogether too efficient.

And then there are things like relative saddle-and-bar heights, bar-width, saddle set-back, and stem-length, all of which vary significantly, and sometimes wildly, from rider to rider.

Until one specifies all these things, then specifies one's general preferences, it's hard to distill much useful knowledge from the statement "frames made by X are a great ride." Audio reviewers have some relatively primitive ways of accounting for this problem by stating associated gear, *and* their subjective preferences, in the course of a review.

Charles "they all ride great with my CdMs!" Andrews SoCal