Rocky Moutain Sherpa Touring Bike

[leonardnelson]

Recently Rocky Moutain has come out with the Sherpa Touring Bicycle.
I would like to ask if anyone knows what this touring bike is like, as comparison to the Trek 520 Touring bike? Also I observed that the cross bar is slanted towards the seat, what would be the reasoning for this?
Thank you
len

 

[philso]

i 've never even heard of it before. i found the company's homepage and looked at the spec's. without going in-depth, i'd say that it's an average quality touring bike, there's nothing particulary great about it, there are a few thing you could nit-pick about, but there's nothing obviously horribly wrong with it either. whether or not i'd recommend it would depend on the price, which i couldn't find even after looking at a couple of the dealers listed.
how much does it cost?

the slant bar is pretty much just a marketing trend. i'd prefer a horizontal bar, but that's because i'm a gettin-up-there-in-years kind of a guy.

 

[leonardnelson]

i 've never even heard of it before. i found the company's homepage and looked at the spec's. without going in-depth, i'd say that it's an average quality touring bike, there's nothing particulary great about it, there are a few thing you could nit-pick about, but there's nothing obviously horribly wrong with it either. whether or not i'd recommend it would depend on the price, which i couldn't find even after looking at a couple of the dealers listed.
how much does it cost?

the slant bar is pretty much just a marketing trend. i'd prefer a horizontal bar, but that's because i'm a gettin-up-there-in-years kind of a guy.

Thank you for your response>
Yes it just recently came out and apparently selling well>
I believe it is the same quality as the 520 2006 Trek from what I've heard from other people whom have a 520 Trek.
The price is the same as the 2006 520 Trek Canadian 1600.00
Steel frame as you probably already know. Nevertheless I have made the purchase and this will be my first touring bike, I've always had a road bike but reaaly just getting into the touring. The slant bar from what I have so far research is a preference for a cyclist when they stride the bike is a standing position/ it also gives more structure support for the rear area of the bike and especially for steel frames that using panniers and attachments for the rear structure of the bike. Although to what degree of strength you get with the slant bar in comparison with the straight I do not really know??
After I do some tours on this bike I will post the pros and cons of it>>
Len

 

[philso]

good for you. i'm sure you'll get many years of good touring out of it.

re: the slant tube. the general scuttle butt is that the original reason to reduce the size of the triangles was to save "x" number of grams of weight. however, this is pretty much offset by needing a longer seat tube, so most people suspect that the main reason is that reducing the standover height, bike manufacturers can produce fewer sizes of bike.

as for which type frame is stronger, that begs the question: "stronger in which direction?" i'd suspect that a traditional frame is stronger overall, but i'm not a structural engineer.

have fun with your bike

 

[leonardnelson]

good for you. i'm sure you'll get many years of good touring out of it.

re: the slant tube. the general scuttle butt is that the original reason to reduce the size of the triangles was to save "x" number of grams of weight. however, this is pretty much offset by needing a longer seat tube, so most people suspect that the main reason is that reducing the standover height, bike manufacturers can produce fewer sizes of bike.

as for which type frame is stronger, that begs the question: "stronger in which direction?" i'd suspect that a traditional frame is stronger overall, but i'm not a structural engineer.

have fun with your bike

Actually I believe what you have mention is more logical as far as th strength for the frame. And yes I can see the difference from compact too traditional.
My old road bike is traditional, and when i purchased this touring bike it is the 2006.
Thank you very much for your info I learn more and more on these forums.
LL

 

[geoffs]

Actually I believe what you have mention is more logical as far as th strength for the frame. And yes I can see the difference from compact too traditional.
My old road bike is traditional, and when i purchased this touring bike it is the 2006.
Thank you very much for your info I learn more and more on these forums.
LL

Looks good to me. So long as it is the right size you should be fine. An 853 frame and seems like a good mix of parts.
For myself I'd be changing the bottom bracket for something better but only if you were going on a long tour where parts would be hard to get. Same for the headset. I like Chris King, buy once only. The first tour I did was about 11,000kms and I wore out all of the 105 parts, but that was 16yrs ago and parts seem to be much better today.
So where is the next tour to?
Have you bought panniers and racks yet?

Happy Touring

Geoff

 

[petesig]

good for you. i'm sure you'll get many years of good touring out of it.

re: the slant tube. the general scuttle butt is that the original reason to reduce the size of the triangles was to save "x" number of grams of weight...

My understanding is that slant top tubes were brought in first for MTBs. They began around 1993, when I fist bought my Giant Sedona. It has a straight top-tube, but my wife's smaller frame has a slant tube. The reason was to reduce the standover height while maintaining frame size at the head tube.

A MTB rider on a conventional frame who has to stop all of a sudden on a steep (>10%) descent can suddenly find his feet swinging in the breeze and his family jewels under some tension, so it's better to ensure a lower top-tube height. Of course if it's really steep (20-30%) you end up standing over the head end of the top-tube any how so the slant doesn't help too much

Cheers
Peter

 

[leonardnelson]

My understanding is that slant top tubes were brought in first for MTBs. They began around 1993, when I fist bought my Giant Sedona. It has a straight top-tube, but my wife's smaller frame has a slant tube. The reason was to reduce the standover height while maintaining frame size at the head tube.

A MTB rider on a conventional frame who has to stop all of a sudden on a steep (>10%) descent can suddenly find his feet swinging in the breeze and his family jewels under some tension, so it's better to ensure a lower top-tube height. Of course if it's really steep (20-30%) you end up standing over the head end of the top-tube any how so the slant doesn't help too much

Cheers
Peter

Yes thank you Peter,, your info on the swing off the bike at a steep slope is a definite for a slant on the bar, I can foresee the agony of not haven't this remedy.>>
Thank you >>
Leon