Hi Jim,

I earlier sent you my Romulus built up in a very traditional Riv style (Silver shifters, Brooks, fenders, fat Paselas, flat pedals, etc). (Note - Current Classics #388) I wasn't quite happy with how slow I was when riding it that way. Blame it on me or blame it on the bike, I found I could only dawdle riding like that. So, in an attempt to make the bike feel faster, I decided to pare it down to the minimum:

- gears to fixed gear (with an ENO hubbed wheel I had lying around)
- fenders and banana bag removed
- 32mm Paselas to 28mm Ruffy Tuffys
- Brooks to my favorite saddles, a plastic Bontrager
- flat pedals to clipless
- dropped the stem about two inches.

I haven't ridden a quill stem in a long time, and after screwing with spacer, stems, and headset ajdustments to move my bars, this sure was nice.

Notice how low the Q factor is with the old Ritchey cranks, the slender arms barely passt he chainstays on both sides. We'll see how these changes play out. So far, so good.

About the location: another of Dublin's public art works, "Field of Corn" was unveiled in 1994 to general mockery. This is where our taxes are going? But, now I've really started to appreciate it as a comment on suburban sprawl and office complexes taking over what used to be open farmland.

Thanks,

Eric Daume

Dublin, OH

e_daume2@yahoo.com