I have an rSogn, large, and like it a lot. I believe you are responsible for a lot of the decisions that were made on this bike (thanks!) –

I have a few questions for you regarding this frame and the upcoming Rawland Stag:

1)the fork on the Stag is currently specked to be lighter. Do you know what the blades are on the RSogn now? Are they considered “normal” or heavy duty? Are the same forks used for the Nordavinden as the rSogn? In your opinion, do the current rSogn forks flex adequately for road use? I am 200lbs, but it is hard for me to tell how much of the nice ride I have is due to the fork vs the Grand Bois Hetres. (ie: would a person notice the difference given the plush 650B tires?)

I do not do a lot of dirt riding – mostly street.

2) I know the tubes for the rSogn size are 9/6/9, and the Stag is coming in at 8/5/8 and 7/4/7 top tube in the 58 size. I assume the ride may be a bit “livelier”, but I am unclear as to “shimmy” risk for a 200 lb rider. Is shimmy based on rider size as well as tube weight and frame size (all factors), or do you expect this to be fine for most riders – just a little less suitable for off road stuff? I know the Box Dog Pelican uses 9/6/9 in all frame sizes, but that there is additional focus on the super light tubing/planing ability (which I assume is driving the specs for the new Rawlands) – any thoughts?

Thanks Alex -

Absolutely nothing on his website about the rsogn or the snekka, or the norvadiven or anything else he has in the pipe now – just his same crappy website. There IS a pre-order link on their site that when you click it says look at the blog for details about the rSogn and others. Not helpful at all when there’’s no content to the blog anymore.

What’’s with this guy?

My dilemma is that I love my gen2 P/R (set up in flat bar P mode) so much that that my skinny tire fast bike and MTB have languished. I”d like to pare my list of bikes by at least one, and I”ve considered getting a second cockpit/rack/fork for the P/R to be able to quickly switch between P and R modes, thereby eliminating the need for the skinny tire bike. But the rSogn presents a compelling alternative which would cover the RS and R modes with a lot less hassle overall. Maybe I can do subtraction by addition.

The rSogn also has a greater slope in the sloping top tube, which gets the bars higher without the long unsupported head tube of the P/R.

The P/R frames were generally overbuilt, except for the gen2 models which shimmied for some users. The cause of that shimmy was never determined. I had suggested frame tubing options to Rawlands which were in line with bikes that had worked well for myself and other friends. Sean appears to be interested in planing, so the tubing spec is pretty light in hopes that it will plane for more users.

If your goal is to fit wide tires and do some “rough stuff” type riding then I”d go with the rSogn. Portland is a great location to be in for that kind of riding, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest is practically next door and offers miles of great riding.

If you want to use it just as a commuter/porteur and think you might be carrying heavier loads then the P/R begins to make more sense. That is doubly true if you want a more traditional look with a close to level top tube.

However you mentioned wanting something spry, and that leans back towards the rSogn. None of the P/Rs, even the ones made with the lightest tubing, would be considered spry.

The P/R is a great bike, and the rSogn looks like it”ll be a great bike too.

I figure you more than anyone might be able to answer this question: for one trying to choose between a NOS Kogswell P/R and a rSogn how would you choose? By how, I”m thinking what criteria to consider to be able to select one of these over the other?

I”m guessing *which* would you choose is kind of loaded, but if you feel you can answer that, by all means please do.

Thanks very much. (I”ve been wrestling with this ever since I saw you mention the rSogn. I have two days left to decide, and figured I should just ask for a little help. If it helps, I can offer I”m about 130lbs and not particularly powerful, though feel I make up for it with exceptional aerobic capacity. I”ll use this mostly for commuting here in Portland, but hope to get in the occasional “rough stuff” ride. I have an ”87 Miyata sport-tourer I”m reasonably happy with wrt planing but would like something a bit more… spry.)

Again I really appreciate the effort if you have the time to consider this. If not, no problem; I understand you”re always busy with something.

Tubing specifications:
• TT: 31.8 mm (0.8 x 0.5 x 0.8 mm)
• DT: 31.8 mm (0.9 x 0.6 x 0.9 mm)
• ST: 29.8 tapering to 28.6 mm at BB (1.2 x 0.6 x 0.9 mm)
• Stays: Straight gauge (0.9 mm)
• Fork blades: 1.1 tapering to 1.4 mm