Ravn All Road Plus

haven

Expedition Leader
https://rawlandcycles.com/collections/bikes/products/ravn-frameset

Cycling has a very long history of innovation. What is old is new again. The Ravn uses 650B or 26 inch rims, just like my old Paramount tandem bike. The wider tires allow good float over gravel and dirt, and still don't weigh so much they hurt your spin on the road. Looks like a great setup for cycle touring where you'll ride some dirt as well as pavement.
 

p nut

butter
Surly Troll also uses 26 Plus tires. Good platform, I think, for certain trails. Not for me, though. 27.5 or 29 plus meshes well with the terrain around me.
-
Ravn itself is a cool bike. But the company is questionable. If you look at the roll out of this model, and all the drama behind it, it made me go from being super excited at the announcement 2 years ago (?) to having zero interest.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
These bikes were announced I think in Feb 2016. I dig what Rawland is doing, like Grant @ Rivendell, a rediscovery of what has always worked. I'd like to someday convert my Gunnar Rockhound 29 into a ULV-like creature, since it's overmatched as a MTB around here (thus why I ride a REEB daily). For mixed surface touring drop bars and kinda fat tires is awesome.
 

p nut

butter
...
Sean's bikes are always well thought out and beautiful. I don't think there is anything questionable about Sean that I have heard. He's a pretty nice and has always been a straight shooter. I haven't seen him since he moved from MN to CA though.

I've had a Rawland bike. Nice bikes, for sure. Sean on the other hand....I had a few questions about the bike few years ago, which he emailed back a few days later. He did apologize for the delay, saying he has been sick (which was true) and he'd answer back in a few more days. Follow up email a month later....nothing. I thought, Ok, he's sick, I'm sure he's laid up or just unable to reply to emails. Meanwhile, he's answering posts on 650b and Rawland google groups. I was bugged, but just moved on. Then the announcement of the Ravn. Design looks promising. I like the thin 7/4/7 tubing. 26 road plus platform. I didn't submit a deposit, but others did, for a frameset. I wanted to see at least a prototype before a deposit Then.....silence. For quite a while. Then an announcement that it'll be offered as complete only, but delayed for a bit more. Lots of mad people that made a frame-only deposit. Then more delays. That's when I got tired of it and just lost interest. I understand there are supply issues. He over-promised for sure. But the way it was handled, some of the things said/promised, didn't sit well with me. Like he unnecessarily wasn't truthful when he didn't have to be.
-
Best wishes to him. But I'll most likely never buy a Rawland. There are plenty of other companies that I like to support.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,544
Messages
2,875,705
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top