Fifty Plus (50+) - The warren report (rabbit warren)

I had promised a ride report for the White Rabbit II. This weekend I got to ride it a bit and I am a very happy cyclist. It's taken me far too long to figure this out, but I finally got a bike fit problem right. A good part of the solution is a notebook of fit stats and measurements from my previous bikes. The rabbit has been on the road for about 30 miles of check rides without a single adjustment, not a seatpost height change, not a saddle tilt....nada.

Several of the design assumptions work. The Avid SD7 brake levers work perfectly with road brakes when adjusted to their minimum throw settings. The twist grip shifters feel perfectly natural.........they should, I ride 75% of the time on my MTB. The flat bar shortens up the bike so that I ride a bit more vertically, even though there is a significant drop from the saddle to the bar.

Blues Dawg is partially right about the aluminium TT fork. It is a smooth rider right up untill the road surface turns bad, then it gets a little harsh. I may someday change the racy 23mm tires to 25's for a slightly more compliant ride.

I need a bit more gear on the big hills, but the 12/26 will be changed out for an 11/34 later this week. That lets me keep the compact double in the front and have the gearing of a triple.

One last part to be tried on the bike, a set of curved MTB bar ends to provide a couple of extra hand positions and an optional mild aero position for headwinds.

This bike is a keeper. White Rabbit II and I are going to be friends for quite a while.

Couple of things I would agree with- BD had it right with regard to aluminium forks. I had them on a GT Pantera back in 91 and they just had to go. I went to a pair of Kona Project ll's and over the years they have proved a fantastic set of forks on various bikes. Double Butted Chromoly and it is surprising how much give they have in rough conditions.

And gearing- I run 34/27 on Boreas and had that on the TCR till I put a triple on it. So similar to your 34?/26. The FCR came with 9 spd compact with 34/26 as the lowest gear and this is fine for all our local hills- but a Mountain trip is planned so an 11/34 will be going on it.


One thing I will never agree with though are the grip shifters. I have never got on with them and always had trouble with sudden unexpected gear changes when I moved the hands on the bars.

And on the tyres- 23-25's- whats the difference? Not much- but how about the wheels? Radially spoked will give a harsher ride- but I do know you have a preference for handbuilt Laced by 3 wheels so it might be worth going a bit larger on tyre size if you think it may be necessary.

Many do not like the SRAM gripshifters but I have been running them for almost 10 years. Perhaps I have just become an old codger but I like them more than anything else. I will admit though that to make them work, you need to use only high end SRAM....X.7, X.9 or X.0. Since I am probably closer in size to your son in law than to you I should probably be using a slightly larger tyre anyway..............:p

I hope SRAM will let some of the features of their new XX MTB group (http://cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/tech/2009/features/SRAM_xx_launch09) flow down to X.9 (read "affordable") level soon. Think of the possibilities of a 10 speed 11/36 cassette and/or the mtn double cranks with a choice of 26/39, 28/42 or 30/45 rings.

I dont see a twist shifter in that group??? Maybe later.

I dont see a twist shifter in that group??? Maybe later.

True, but the applications I'm thinking of would involve drop bars and SRAM road levers.