Re: [BOB] Re: The Art of Taking It Slow | The New Yorker On Grant Petersen and Rob

[Patrick Moore]

One big kudos to Grant: he has not made Rivendell into a "lifestyle" brand. I certainly don't like all Rivendell products -- tweed mudflaps, anyone? -- but I do believe that he is sincere in his declaration that "we are product driven, not market driven" and that Riv sells things that staff use and believe in, not merely what is marketable in one way or another.

"Thriving:" for such a small and niche company to stay solvent and even make small profits over 30 years while paying employees and US and foreign suppliers fairly, not to mention dropping $$ on ultra-niche components, is to thrive hugely, IMO!

On Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 12:40 PM P W <philip....@gmail.com> wrote:

I would imagine, rightly, because he makes no money from the older bikes exchanging hands.

He operates a niche business in a struggling economy, one that I imagine needs every dollar it can to remain not only afloat but ideally thriving.

One more secondhand Bridgestone purchase does nothing for him or the many employees that rely on the company for income. I think it’s smart the article focuses and thus promotes bikes you could go online today, from anywhere in America, and buy. Hopefully at least a handful of people do that as a result. 

[P W]

I fully agree Patrick.

But as also stated, they’ve been through tough times before and every dollar now counts.

As to the previous reply from Josh: Yeah, in theory. But have you ever talked to a frame builder about an old bike of theirs? They’re usually happy to help but as has been mentioned to me previously by one notable one: “Giving out information on something that left the old workshop 20 years ago, doesn’t keep the lights on at the new one.”

I suppose I’m suggesting the same applies here.

I’m sure part of the consideration for doing this article was not only the excitement in Grant getting some long-owed mainstream dues, but also as a means to aid selling more current model bikes and bike components to people who might need and love them. 

So, to me at least, it makes sense Bridgestone and his history in the bike world would feature minimally. There’s word count restrictions to think about for the writer, too! Plus it a general interest piece. It’s not a bike media piece. There’s plenty on all of that stuff already out there online for anyone who gets a spark of interest from this article who might want to delve a little deeper.

P. W.

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On Sep 18, 2024, at 1:17 PM, Patrick Moore <bert...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Addison Wilhite]

To that end, I'll note that the Outside Magazine article mentioned in the piece that Grant was not thrilled with is located here on my website if anyone wants to read, or revisit.  I loved the New Yorker piece personally and it reminded me that my now 26 year old AllRounder is due for some new wheels which I'm thinking I'll order from Riv.

https://www.addisonwilhite.com/bicycle-article-scans-and-database.html

Cheers,

Addison Wilhite, M.A. 

Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology 

“Blazing the Trail to College and Career Success”

Portfolio and Blog

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/E9E523E5-6ADB-4628-BCFD-5A857D610AC1%40gmail.com.

[Joe Bernard]

There's also the small matter of Bridgestone ceasing to exist as a bicycle brand in NA 30 years ago. Readers interested in learning why the article exists have a bike they can look up and buy from Rivendell, Bridgestone makes automobile tires.