what was that? is that all there is? who is this? this is it.

Sold the RB-1 today via PayPal unsolicited sort of sight unseen. I haven’t seen the bike for two years but its new owner Matt rode it across Iowa last RAGBRAI and came back for more. I wasn’t really trying to sell it but I’m also not expecting to ride RAGBRAI again for a few years, if you know what I mean. The RB-1 has already completed 5 RAGBRAIs and hopefully will do many more with its new owner.

2007   yes
2008   hell yes
2009   darn right
2010    furlough year    no ride at all
2011     don’t call it a comeback     one more year
2012    one more RAGBRAI with a pinch rider
2013    yes   under new ownership  

The bike I rode in 2006 ( an IRO Rob Roy ) arrived back in Seattle after RAGBRAI shipped via DHL in a shredded cardboard box that Willy at WA Legal signed for only after making sure the driver made a note of how completely trashed it was. It had a crushed rear wheel and tweaked cantilever bosses and was slashed here and there with a box cutter. It took months to squeeze some money out of them for a new wheel.  

In 2007 I bought the trusty RB-1 from 19 Todd (you might know him as 20 Todd but I knew him back in 1997 when he was 19 before he quit Elliott Bay and came back and those assholes wouldn’t give him his old number back and made him take one digit higher) I shipped it to Iowa and rode it for RAGBRAI and then left it in Jimbo’s basement. One year later I scraped the mold off the bartape, pumped up the tires and rode it across Iowa again. Literally doing nothing to the bike but adding some air to the tires. During its entire tenure with me all I ever did was blowout a few inner tubes, replace the tires once and dust it off a little. The photo above is from June 2007 and I bet the bike still has the same bar tape, brake pads and everything except the tires.  When Jimbo started storing the bike in his attic instead of his basement, the mold didn‘t take hold during those 51 weeks of down time each year. Leaving the bike in Iowa for 4+ RAGBRAIs saved me at least $1000 in shipping and or airfare from Seattle and avoided much of the damage that occurs in transit with trained monkeys in UPS DHL or FedEx uniforms slamming boxes around.  Today I recouped my original investment. Thank you 19 Todd. Thank you Jimbo. Thank you Matt. Thank you RB-1.

4 Comments

Sort of sad to see it go. If it helps get you back to Iowa, I will volunteer to bring a bike from my stable next year or any year for you to ride. They might not be steel but they roll. Cheers to Matt. Cheers to Mark.

I just might take you up on that one day exactly a year or two or three from today as you make your way to the 50112 to set up your tent in Jimbo's front yard and kick off another amazing RAGBRAI adventure with pilderwasser collective. CHEERS to you and the whole gang

Thanks Mark, we will have a total of 44 souls in the collective this year. So many that we have chartered a Limo Bus from Urge Bus rentals in Des Moines to get the crew to Counsil Bluffs. We will toast to the originals and the Pilder name will ring throughout Iowa again and again for the next 10 days. Cheers

I just want that Salsa stem back. if any of all y'all have a one-inch quill Salsa with a removable face...I'll buy it or trade you a little something for it. Dig deep in your milk crates of bike shit

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