Boomerang Rivs

[Bill Lindsay]

I received my second "boomerang Riv" yesterday.  My definition of a "boomerang Riv" is:

-I bought it from Rivendell

-I sold it to somebody for whatever reason

-I bought it back again

My first boomerang Riv was my Hillborne frame set.  Boomerang Riv #2 is my R05C0 8U883 road complete.  It's the same BLUE 58cm as is on ebay right now.  I'm very pleased to have a liftatube bike back in the stable.  The build kit of this Rosco will get re-absorbed into inventory and will partially find its way on to a very weird upcoming build.  I'm going to develop a new build concept for the Rosco, and now have a frame to handwring over if I decide I need to join the 26.8mm handwringers.  Maybe I'll get my hands on a seat tube reamer and WOW it out to 27.2mm.  

A very amusing shipping detail was that my boomerang seller had a shop box up the bike.  they put the bike into a "bike box" and then put the bike box into an "e-bike box".  It was double boxed!  It was by far the most bullet proof box jobs I have seen.  

Pics when there are pics worth showing.

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Mike Godwin]

Heck Bill, seems like the shipping features are worthy of a photo or two.

1 boomerang Riv in the stable (Roadeo).

Mike SLO CA

[Bill Lindsay]

for some reason I'm on a low-ebb on my tendency to photo document everything....and I was desperate to get a huge pile of cardboard out to the recycling center, so I sliced up that box setup rapidly and didn't take any photos.  :(

BL in EC

P.S. the Boomerang Rosco Bubbe road is now completely stripped down and its build kit is getting redeployed. 

[Jason Fuller]

I did this with the Charlie Gallop - I sold it to a friend, then a few months later after I noticed they were dragging their heels on building it up and me feeling a hole where my Charlie once was, offered to buy it back - which worked out. Then I rode it a few more months, realized it was entirely overlapping other bikes I have, so I sold it a second time but this time to someone far enough away I couldn't casually buy it back. 

When I bought the Charlie back I put my Crust Wombat up for sale because I only had room for one of them - thankfully it didn't sell because it's probably my favourite bike now (and gets more mileage than any other).  

[Eric Daume]

Jason, at the risk of going OT, I’d love to hear about your Wombat. It’s a bike I’ve been eyeing, even though I really can’t justify it. 

Thanks,

Eric

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[Jason Fuller]

Eric, 

At the risk of driving it further OT, I'm adding the most recent photo of my Bombadil, the closest comparable bike in my stable, with the Wombat. They're extremely different for sure, but at the same time, can be used for a lot of the same things. 

I rode the Wombat last weekend to a race about 90km away, raced, and rode home - I'm not particularly hardcore, just patient and stubborn and had a pretty easy SS gear ratio. The Wombat is surprisingly light and fast, and the dropper is something even most of us luddite Riv riders would adopt if given a proper try - it's a joy to be able to rop the saddle at stops as well as for rough or sketchy bits of trail.  Has dynamo routing and triple cage mounts so it's ready for big rides. 

But one of the most magical things about the Wombat, at least for me, was a total accident - the fork offset is advertised as 45mm I believe but the math is wrong. It has a very visible rake to the straight part, plus the offset of the dropouts. I measured it .. it's over 70mm offset. With the 69 deg HTA this puts the trail right around 60mm... which is Grant's magic trail number, more or less. Even though this is by error, it makes the bike so much better riding and versatile in my experience. 

The reason I almost sold it was because I couldn't figure out what to do with it - it doesn't really fit any pre-conceived 'box' that we subconsciously put our bikes into. It wasn't until I forced myself to stop worrying about that and just ride the bike that things really unfolded for me - I just really love riding it. Doesn't matter if it's the "right" bike for whatever the ride is. It's always fun. I think if I could only have one bike, I'd choose the Wombat despite it being so much less capable on paper. Because every ride is just fun. 

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[Bill Lindsay]

I said I was on a low-ebb photo documenting...and then went and took a FLURRY of photos.  I spent a solid day in the stand, re-imagining four bikes:

Phase 1: The Rosco Bubble road got a total strip down.  Frame+fork+headset went into a bike box for future re-imagination.  The entire build kit was reabsorbed into the bike-borg inventory.  Some parts received immediate reassignment from the Borg.  Others went into their respective holding tanks

Phase 2: My Bridgestone RB1 got slightly less stripped down.  Its crankset, wheel set and 2x7 friction drivetrain went to the Borg

Phase 3: My Hetchins Magnum Opus was half way through a wooden tubular wheel set conversion.  It got a wood tubular rear wheel and associated cork brake pad conversion.  The friction drivetrain and crankset from the RB1 rounded it out.  The Hetchins relinquished its 2x(8of10) indexed drivetrain back to the RB1

Phase 4: The RB1 received its retro-modern 126mm OLD wheel set and 2x(8of10) indexed drivetrain from the Hetchins.  It is in the midst of being re-configured as a late 90s time trial bike.  The aero cockpit is forthcoming.  

Phase 5:  A Vitus 979 is becoming the new city bike that the Rosco Bubbe had been in my stable.  It received the crankset, BB, pedals, chain, and both derailleurs from the Rosco Bubbe.  Today it receives the saddle and brake levers from the 8U883 also.  It will get its wheel set from the RB1 above.  

One new build concept is complete on the Hetchins.  The RB1 is rideable but only in a way station for its final (final?) destination.  The Vitus is on its way and may be rideable as soon as tonight.  Who knows when the boomerang Bubbe will get a re-do, but there's a lot here.  I'm watching an eBay auction for the identical frame.  The bidding is at $510 + $160 shipping at the moment.  That'll help set the value.  There are a number of ways I could go...

A chaotic but reasonably well documented photo album captures some of the crimes committed in my stand on the morning of Oct 21, 2023:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/albums/72177720312110882

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Jay Lonner]

Wooden tubulars with cork brakes? I tip my straw boater to you — that’s taking retro to a whole new level. Makes my vintage SunTour drivetrain seem straight out of The Jetsons.

Jay Lonner

Bellingham, WA

Sent from my Atari 400

On Oct 22, 2023, at 10:14 AM, Bill Lindsay <tape...@gmail.com> wrote:

I said I was on a low-ebb photo documenting...and then went and took a FLURRY of photos.  I spent a solid day in the stand, re-imagining four bikes:

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[Bill Lindsay]

Wooden tubulars were part of the Hetchins show bike build, executed by my late friend Shawn.  I first determined their resale value (low) and instead decided to glue on tires, and make that part of the rolling tribute.  Shawn was a coffee-bike fop, and so this is my my 'event bike' for coffee foppery.  

That Blue Rosco Bubbe Road went for $660 plus $160 shipping (!).  Not bad resale value when MSRP new was $950.  

BL in EC

[Peter Adler]

I neglected to mention this in earlier discussions of the wooden rims wheelset, but: A good resource for wood rim matters is Bob Freeman over on CR, the former owner of now-closed Elliot Bay Cycles in Seattle. He has several bikes with wooden rims (modern-made Cerchio Ghisallo, mostly), and his advice was to make the brake shoe pads out of composite cork, rather than natural cork. Natural cork is the underbark of the cork tree, and typically has air pockets. Composite cork, OTOH, is a material glued together out of cork dust and particles, so there are few air gaps, if any. For a brake pad, it gives a more consistent amount of material on the rim as it wears down, and a more consistent wear rate. Cheaper, too.

You should be able to get composite corks at Oak Barrel Winecraft on San Pablo, a couple blocks south of REI. It might even be possible to get composite cork in flat form, rather than shaped into bottle corks; Oak Barrel might have it, or a craft store (Berkeley Hardware on Milvia at University, maybe? They still have a big hobby section), or perhaps Truitt & White Lumber at 4th Street or MacBeath Hardwood on Ashby at 7th. The hardware/wood suppliers seem plausible because composite cork is a standard material for notice boards.

Peter Adler

who refers to Berkeley, CA suppliers because those are the ones he passes regularly

On Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 3:38:50 PM UTC-7 Bill Lindsay wrote:

Wooden tubulars were part of the Hetchins show bike build, executed by my late friend Shawn.  I first determined their resale value (low) and instead decided to glue on tires, and make that part of the rolling tribute.  Shawn was a coffee-bike fop, and so this is my my 'event bike' for coffee foppery.  

 

On Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 11:22:34 AM UTC-7 Jay Lonner wrote:

[George Schick]

Are those wild bends on the stays of that Hetchins original?  Almost makes it look like it was in some kind of an accident.

[Bill Lindsay]

That's the trademark rear end on the Hetchins.  You pay extra for that!  :)

BL in EC