A not-so-riv-ish Riv

[Tim Wilson]

I'm new to the bunch, but a Rivendell owner since the beginning. Thought some of you might be interested in seeing my admittedly no-longer-very-riv-ish '94 All Rounder.

Here's the story: In 1993 I bought a Bridgestone XO-1 frame, the orange one, and spent the next year fiddling with configurations: various tire styles, bar shapes, shifter positions, gearing strategies, all generally in pursuit of the style of riding expressed in this famous image of Pineapple Bob from the catalog that year: nimble, athletic, rebellious; off the beaten path, old-school vibe.

By '94, I'd figured out what setup I liked, but also that the frame I had wasn't the right size for me. Too late, though, as Bridgestone was now out of business in the US. Thankfully, Grant was on to his next thing, and offering the All-Rounder, which seemed intended to keep the XO thing going, at the time. I ordered one, drove up from Chicago to collect it at the Waterford facility, and have had it ever since.

Here it is today. Not so Rivendell-like by current standards, but tons of fun to ride when I'm in the mustache-bar mood. Those are heretical brake-lever shifters on there. Chorus 11-spd Ergo driving a Shimano 9-spd mech. "Shimergo" I've heard it called. A perfect indexing match. Unusually, I do like 'stache bars (for rides shorter than a couple hours) but have never warmed to bar-end shifters. The Ergo levers work quite nicely on mustache bars.

I'm too old now to have as many bikes as I have, and this one may not make the cut. Don't know yet. What does the bunch think? I hope showing a bike with the stem lower than the seat doesn't get me in trouble here.

-Tim

[Ray]

Really cool. Love that it has the couplers on there too. Looks like a fun ride.

[maxcr]

Love the bike, you’ve made it yours through the unique setup :)

What size? If you decide to sell, I might be interested.

Max

[Bill Lindsay]

Tim

That's an entirely Rivish bike.  Anybody who thinks that is not a Rivish bike has way too narrow a view of what a Rivish bike is.  

I like the bike a lot and I particularly like the Ergo-on-stache bar setup.  That's really cool.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Joe Bernard]

All Rivs are riv-ish, yours even has Rivendell right there on the downtube! Love the color, love the bars and levers 👍

[Patrick Moore]

Tim: Welcome, and have no fear about a bar lower than saddle. All my bikes have bars lower than saddle, though the dirt road bike only by 6 or 12 mm (much longer stem, though). In the "just ride" world there is a very well defined and categorized place for lower bars.

The All Rounder looks a lot of fun. My move to Rivendell as similar, though more road-focused. I had bought a 1992 XO-1 after hearing about it and thinking it might be the solution to the handling inadequacies of the several 26" wheel mountain bikes I'd "road-ified" with road tires, gearing, and drop bars: the defect was that, although nice, they didn't handle like a nice road bike. The XO-1 was much closer. I built in in several forms, including gofast road bike, and when Grant announed Rivendell, I asked him to make me a road bike like the XO-1 but "better." He said, "Oh, it'll be better" -- and it was. He used the AR as the model, for 26" road wheels, but steeper head (73*) and road tubing, lugs, and crown. It was good. Then he built 2 more 26" wheel road bikes, even better. I still have 1, the other very recently replaced with a clone by another builder that includes certain modifications that I wanted, including -- getting back to the Ancestor -- room for 45 mm tires with fenders for light off road riding. 

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[Surlyprof]

This is one of the coolest Rivs I’ve seen in a while. I had thought to put ergo shifters on my albastache bars but wasn’t sure it would work out. Nice to see that you pulled it off. Love this bike!

John

[RichS]

Tim,

Welcome to the group and thanks for sharing your delightful story and the image of your very Rivish AR. The Albastache bars look perfect too. Nicely done.

Best,

Rich in ATL

[Mark Roland]

Sweet-looking machine. To my eye much more elegant than most of today's all road offerings-something about skinny knobbies and cantilever brakes on a roadish steel frame that's hard to beat. You're right in that it's not in line with the Rivs of recent years, and you would never see a rider in Pineapple Bob's position in any current t literature from Rivendell. But that against the grain, fun & practical spirit that is Rivendell shines through. (How you work those levers is beyond me, though! Give me bar ends any day. Diff'rent strokes.)

[Rob Kristoff]

Beautiful. Love it all, including the Campagnolo.

[Greg J]

There was an article in the mid- to late-90s in a mainstream bike magazine (Mountainbikes?) comparing, tongue-in-cheek, a Riv All-Rounder and the latest Cannondale DH bike.  It had the standard Riv parts (Nitto, Brooks, and Suntour bar-ends), but generally similar to your bike, with the m-bars and saddle-bar level.  So in my mind, your AR is stylistically the Rivendell that I think of as representative.  And my mid 90s AR is set up similarly, except I have a normal drop bar.  I haven't ridden a m-bar in years, but I recall liking it quite a bit.  

Greg

[jinxed]

THAT is what a Rivendell should look like in my eyes. Perfect perfect. The higher the bars have gone, and longer the chainstays get, the less I'm interested in what they're doing.

I too was pretty devoted to the mustache bar,  but after some wrist issues from the past crept up again I had to switch them out. Little did I know, the Albatross I tried on a whim became a huge favorite. It allowed me the semi "aero?" position of the M, but with the relief of the grips.

Bravo on the ergo/M combo! And extra points for the Shimergo! 

[Andrew Stevens]

Absolutely stunning

What size is it?

Cheers

[Sam Perez]

thats an awesome build, interesting green color.

On Tuesday, August 11, 2020 at 7:49:07 AM UTC-7, Tim Wilson wrote:

[Tim Wilson]

Thanks. It's not an Albastache bar, though, just a regular Nitto mustache bar from the old days.

The whole Campy Ergo 11 to Shimano 9 index-matching thing, once I learned about it, solved a number of problems and created some interesting opportunities: 

• Road levers natively matched to cantilever brakes (Campy CX) for proper leverage and modulation (tricky to do with Shimano stuff back then).

• Cassettes with more than 9 cogs weren't clearing the end of the chainstay cleanly.

• Ergo brake levers don't pivot in like STI, essential on a mustache bar where IN becomes DOWN (with STI you'd risk shifting every time you hit the brakes).

• Placement of the Ergo thumb lever is just right on the bottom side of the mustache bar.

• Reasonably clean cable routing.

Tim Wilson

On Aug 12, 2020, at 5:56 AM, Surlyprof <jmcc...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is one of the coolest Rivs I’ve seen in a while.  I had thought to put ergo shifters on my albastache bars but wasn’t sure it would work out.  Nice to see that you pulled it off.  Love this bike!

John

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[Tim Wilson]

Ray, Max, Bill, Joe, Patrick, John, Rich, Mark, Greg, 'Jinxed',

Thanks so much for all the encouraging words. You're making it harder for me to think about selling this bike.

Tim Wilson

On Aug 12, 2020, at 11:28 AM, 'jinxed' via RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

THAT is what a Rivendell should look like in my eyes...

[Tim Wilson]

ST: 55cm c-t, TT: 57cm c-c. HT has a 2cm extension. I spec'ed the seat tube angle a little steeper than Grant wanted me to, but it all worked out perfectly for what this bike is.

Tim Wilson

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[Addison Quarles]

One might argue that this bike represents a forgotten cube of Rivendell Bullion, tucked away on a dusty shelf, waiting to be added to some crazy-ass long-chainstayed stew a couple decades down the road. 

I've longed for an All Rounder. Missed one for a criminally low price years back and haven't slept well since. 

Beautiful bike, Tim. 

[Dave Johnston]

Yes, that bike looks way too non-Rivendell, and it also looks just my size so you should unload it to me now for cheap! I will switch the ergo for barcons though. :p

Seriously though that is about as classic rivendell as can you can get. Any indexing that may be happening is made up for by mix and matching  manufacturers to get what you need.

-Dave J