Rivendell Atlantis special disc edition

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Miles Payton

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Jan 21, 2024, 1:33:50 PMJan 21
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I picked up this frameset and extras from Bingo a couple months here and wanted to share with y'all the final (ha!) build. Some parts I had laying around or poached from other bikes (the Hunt wheelset, the Woodchipper bars and Gevenalle shifters), though the drivetrain was a pretty specific vision of a '90's friction-friendly wide-range 3x10. And it's a disc-modified frame and aftermarket fork so I had to make it a disc brake build with the TRP Spyres.

Yeah it's an odd one. The owner of my LBS said I had one foot in hell building it up. It's smooth as hell at least. I told myself I wouldn't hesitate if the right Atlantis popped up on this group, and lo and behold one did.

The dog isn't mine, it and its friend live near Mission San Juan in south San Antonio and they were happy to follow me and my wife for a bit on the mission trail.
IMG_2874.jpeg

Patrick Moore

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Jan 21, 2024, 2:55:24 PMJan 21
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I love it! A perennial Rivendell classic perfected with disc brakes! Neck and neck with the other Atlantis I just recently praised!

Pray, what are those tires?

Patrick "disc brakes offroad all the time" Moore, who is happy with rim brakes for road riding.

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Patrick Moore
Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum
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Jacob Tobey

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Jan 21, 2024, 2:59:53 PMJan 21
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The one that got away! I'm so glad to see this built up, it looks great! Hope you enjoy it.

George Schick

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Jan 21, 2024, 3:10:35 PMJan 21
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I'm curious why you didn't just replace the fork with a disc mount option and leave the rear a canti/linear pull brake?

Brenton Eastman

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Jan 21, 2024, 3:46:45 PMJan 21
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[I'm curious why you didn't just replace the fork with a disc mount option and leave the rear a canti/linear pull brake?]

While an exploratory project like this might not be the quickest or most logical route, it results in a very unique ride! 

There are probably lugged frame+forks out there with Atlantis geometry available to buy+build, but where's the fun in that?

Patrick Moore

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Jan 21, 2024, 3:51:37 PMJan 21
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I think that the custom adaptation is just right; after all, it is an Atlantis. Also, practically, one reason for disc brakes is that they eliminate rim scouring -- recall a 20 mile ride on my Joe Starck custom Riv Road gofast where I got caught in the rain on the return; even ~10 miles was enough for at least light scouring on the front (single front caliper brake) rim as grit in water splashed onto the rims. (Discs also allow very light rims to be used if that's of interest.)

But if I were to customize an Atlantis with discs, I'd want it done symmetrically and right.



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George Schick

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Jan 21, 2024, 4:05:48 PMJan 21
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Patrick - I don't think Grant would approve.  But everyone has their own preference.  I have a Surly 1x1 with a disc on the front fork and a linear pull on the rear.  The reason for that is because when I first bought it and had it set up like that it had a fixed/SS flip-flop hub on the rear which would have made a disc option impossible.  My experience with fixed was short lived, however, and now I just run a single speed sprocket.  I'm not sorry that it worked out that way, though, and I like it the way it is.

Miles Payton

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Jan 21, 2024, 4:13:33 PMJan 21
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You’d have to ask the previous owner who commissioned this custom fork. But I would have done it the same way. I appreciate the versatility in having the option to go full canti or v brake somewhere down the line. And this way it’s symmetrical. 


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Patrick Moore

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Jan 21, 2024, 4:14:10 PMJan 21
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George: I daresay Grant would balk at this conversion. And I can understand his allegiance to rim brakes; of all the kinds of brakes, as far as I can tell, rim brakes give the biggest return in effectiveness (strength, modulation, time between fettling) with the greatest simplicity and ease of setup. And I can understand someone choosing a hybrid front disc/rear rim brake system.

But I have to say, that disc's Atlantis is really nice!

Patrick Moore

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Jan 21, 2024, 4:15:28 PMJan 21
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Or, "baulk."

Miles Payton

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Jan 21, 2024, 4:50:28 PMJan 21
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Patrick, tires are Soma Cazadero 700x50mm. They’re an underrated gravel tire I think. Fast, very light, supple, perform pretty well in a variety of conditions and terrains, dry and wet. 

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Patrick Moore

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Jan 21, 2024, 5:15:54 PMJan 21
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Thanks; yes, I've heard of these; my brother who has ridden them extensively thinks very highly of them.

I will add them to my short list of tires for a 2nd dirt-surface wheelset to complement the Soma Supple Vitesse SLs that ride and handle so nicely on pavement.

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frank_a

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Jan 21, 2024, 5:19:56 PMJan 21
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I used to own this bike. It was a demo that I bought complete from Rivendell. I sold it to a  forum member and he’s the one who added   the disc mounts. He listed it for sale not long after that as I remember. I still have the original unadulterated fork.
  - Frank 

Todd G

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Jan 21, 2024, 11:05:24 PMJan 21
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Disc brakes on this era of Atlantis make me very happy! So good!

Piaw Na

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Jan 22, 2024, 12:20:26 PMJan 22
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On Sunday, January 21, 2024 at 1:14:10 PM UTC-8 Patrick Moore wrote:
George: I daresay Grant would balk at this conversion. And I can understand his allegiance to rim brakes; of all the kinds of brakes, as far as I can tell, rim brakes give the biggest return in effectiveness (strength, modulation, time between fettling) with the greatest simplicity and ease of setup. And I can understand someone choosing a hybrid front disc/rear rim brake system.


Grant's approval shouldn't matter. What I'm curious about is how the bike performs under hard braking. My understanding is that disc brakes demand much beefier dropouts and forks, and whether the disc brake won't cause problems with super skinny fork blades that Rivendell uses because the assumption is that you'll be using rim brakes. Any approval or "street creds" should always be secondary to safety concerns.

I use rim brakes because I never found disc brakes that didn't squeal like a stuck pig under hard braking conditions. Despite all my attempts I've only managed to wear out rims from braking in muddy conditions exactly once, and that was on a 1993 Bridgestone MB-3 that was treated like a submersible (the bike shop used that as an excuse not to warranty the BB after just 3 months of use) and ridden through knee deep rivers --- even then it took me a good 10 years to do so! Granted I live in California, but I also deliberately make it a point to ride my Roadini off road whenever I can in the winter season --- when it's cold and rainy the slowness of a gravel bike no longer bothers me. 

George Schick

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Jan 22, 2024, 12:39:32 PMJan 22
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Piaw, what part of the country are you from?  The expression, "...squeal like a stuck pig..." is something I rarely hear outside of the Midwest where I live (well, maybe the South or even the Plain states, not sure).  Seems to me like most folk out there on the West Coast wouldn't know what you meant by that and would just give you a funny look.

Piaw Na(藍俊彪)

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Jan 22, 2024, 1:01:03 PMJan 22
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On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 9:39 AM George Schick <bhi...@gmail.com> wrote:
Piaw, what part of the country are you from?  The expression, "...squeal like a stuck pig..." is something I rarely hear outside of the Midwest where I live (well, maybe the South or even the Plain states, not sure).  Seems to me like most folk out there on the West Coast wouldn't know what you meant by that and would just give you a funny look.

I grew up in Singapore, nowhere near the USA. I think it was an expression I either picked up from reading or from co-workers. Certainly the sounds of disc brakes squealing are common here in the mountain bike parks. I will say that not just disc brakes are guilty of said squealing. Cantilvers and V-brakes are also known to squeal. Sidepulls by contrast do not.

George Schick

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Jan 22, 2024, 1:08:38 PMJan 22
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Ah, well do you know what that expression actually means?

Patrick Moore

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Jan 22, 2024, 2:43:45 PMJan 22
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Calipers can squeal too. I had a pair of to quality -- forged -- single pivots of which the front squealed only in cold weather -- this with good condition salmon pads. The same brake and pads had not squealed on an earlier bike.

On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 11:01 AM Piaw Na(藍俊彪) <pi...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 9:39 AM George Schick <bhi...@gmail.com> wrote:
... I will say that not just disc brakes are guilty of said squealing. Cantilvers and V-brakes are also known to squeal. Sidepulls by contrast do not.

Patrick Moore

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Jan 22, 2024, 2:47:07 PMJan 22
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Answer that and you'll understand "bleed like a stuck pig" and "high on the hog." Also apparently "kick the bucket."

"Hog butcher for the world ..."

Patrick "Yes I looked it up but I had a suspicion" Moore, who has read Carl Sandburg.

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Patrick Moore

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Jan 22, 2024, 2:49:45 PMJan 22
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Can't resist. Sandburg's literary style is an analogue of the painting style of Grant Wood. 

Chicago
BY CARL SANDBURG
Hog Butcher for the World,
   Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
   Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
   Stormy, husky, brawling,
   City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
   Bareheaded,
   Shoveling,
   Wrecking,
   Planning,
   Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
                   Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.


George Schick

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Jan 22, 2024, 2:54:43 PMJan 22
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Thanks, Patrick.  But you went a wee bit further than I had intended for the definition.  All's OK though!

Patrick Moore

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Jan 22, 2024, 2:55:28 PMJan 22
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I went as far as needed.

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