NBD: showing off, and questions

[Bob]

In fact Tuesday was NBD, but I didn't receive the saddle until last night.

I bought this bike through the FB Rivendell Bicycles BUY/SELL/TRADE group. Shipped from San Francisco to Colorado by Bike Flights, with the thoughtful and friendly help of Jay at Scenic Routes Community Bicycle Center on Balboa.

The seller, who is a group member here, too, described the bike as an All-Rounder, and for the most part that's what it seems to be, though it may be more accurate to say it is a custom in the style of an All-Rounder—cantilever brakes, clearance for 2" tires, 26" wheels—but without the bosses or eyelets for a front rack present on the ARs I've seen.

Here is the headtube. I've only seen these understated lug points on a photo, ca. 2007, of a custom Riv touring bike. Can anyone here tell me more?

Clearance is a little tight for the Gravel King SK+, which pop out to 56 mm on the Cliffhanger rim. Can anyone suggest a tire that looks this good but will only be, say, 53 mm on the Cliffhanger? (I'm going to try some RH Humptulips Endurance, which are 52 mm, but on a rim 4 mm narrower, so I expect some expansion.)

Nice to have a Riv again. I sold my Homer in 2017 and I wish I hadn't.

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Bob

[Josh C]

I don't have any answers for you but congrats on the new bike, it's a looker. 

[Ian]

Nice looking bike, that should open lots of riding opportunities!

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[Ryan]

It is an AR and I think you nailed it when you said it's a custom in the style of an AR. What's stamped on the bottom bracket?

If you search the list you can find tips for decoding year and month it was built, but it should have builders initials (Match or JS-Joe Starck or CG Curt Goodrich or others)

Lovely bike!

[Johnny Alien]

Congrats!! I love red Rivendells.

[Bob]

Johnny: I, too, love red Rivendells, but this one is orange. The light did not cooperate today, I guess.

Ryan: what I take to be a serial number is partially obscured by the cable guide and by some touch-up paint. The visible portion appears to read "9600," though the 9 and the terminal 0 may be different characters.

[Johnny Alien]

Well I love orange Riv's too.

[Steven Sweedler]

Beautiful bike, my favorite model in their best color. Enjoy. Steve

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Steven Sweedler
Plymouth, New Hampshire

[Matthew Williams]

Be still, my heart.

On Aug 4, 2023, at 2:39 PM, Bob <rcook...@gmail.com> wrote:

In fact Tuesday was NBD, but I didn't receive the saddle until last night.

<IMG_9354.jpg>

I bought this bike through the FB Rivendell Bicycles BUY/SELL/TRADE group. Shipped from San Francisco to Colorado by Bike Flights, with the thoughtful and friendly help of Jay at Scenic Routes Community Bicycle Center on Balboa.

The seller, who is a group member here, too, described the bike as an All-Rounder, and for the most part that's what it seems to be, though it may be more accurate to say it is a custom in the style of an All-Rounder—cantilever brakes, clearance for 2" tires, 26" wheels—but without the bosses or eyelets for a front rack present on the ARs I've seen.

Here is the headtube. I've only seen these understated lug points on a photo, ca. 2007, of a custom Riv touring bike. Can anyone here tell me more?

<IMG_9355.jpg>

Clearance is a little tight for the Gravel King SK+, which pop out to 56 mm on the Cliffhanger rim. Can anyone suggest a tire that looks this good but will only be, say, 53 mm on the Cliffhanger? (I'm going to try some RH Humptulips Endurance, which are 52 mm, but on a rim 4 mm narrower, so I expect some expansion.)

Nice to have a Riv again. I sold my Homer in 2017 and I wish I hadn't.

--

Bob

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<IMG_9354.jpg><IMG_9355.jpg>

[Ted Durant]

On Friday, August 4, 2023 at 4:39:24 PM UTC-5 rcook...@gmail.com wrote:

The seller, who is a group member here, too, described the bike as an All-Rounder, and for the most part that's what it seems to be, though it may be more accurate to say it is a custom in the style of an All-Rounder—cantilever brakes, clearance for 2" tires, 26" wheels—but without the bosses or eyelets for a front rack present on the ARs I've seen.

Super short fork rake suggests Riv ATB, and it looks like the BB drop is pretty shallow, too. But not as much top tube angle as I'd expect for an ATB.  Head lugs match what were on my Riv ATB, built at Waterford around '96 or so. Also, my ATB had vertical dropouts, where this one has short horizontals.

Ted Durant

Milwaukee, WI USA 

[Bob]

Ted,

Yes, I measure the angles at 73° for both seat and head tubes. Mind you, this is with my phone, but the feel of the riding position is akin to another bike that I know to be 73°/73°.

This bike is closer to the AR specified in the RBW 1996 catalog (pp. 11–12) than to the AR in the first-generation geometry chart given in catalog no. 5 (summer 1999). But all photos of ARs I've seen have have double eyelets on the fork dropouts; mine has only fender eyelets on the back of the fork dropouts.

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Bob

[Ted W]

So, I’m just going to say it. This is the reason I ditched 26” for mixed surface riding. I was having trouble finding tires that I liked (but he SK+ wasn’t available in 26” at the time). They were all really geared towards knobby MTB applications and not hard pack / pavement mixed riding.

That said, Vittoria Mezcals are available in 26x2.1, ETRTO 52-559 (52mm). They might work for you. I ran them for a while on my Gus Boots when I first built it and they were quite nice. I was running 29x2.6” which was overkill for my use case, but they were very comfortable. They make a bit more road noise than the SKs you have now but they still roll well on pavement.

The Humptulips are a solid choice as well. A friend of mine runs a similar RH tire in their 27.5 variety (the name escapes me) and he loves them.

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Ted Wood < ted.l...@gmail.com >

[Bob]

Ted (Wood, rather than Durant, but he can read this too!),

I have—well, had, after today—the RH Humptulips, with the endurance casing, on another bike. Swapped tires today, and I can report that Humptulips with endurance casing measure 54 mm on Cliffhanger rims. RH says that their tires with extra-light casings are a millimeter or two wider than those with standard casing on the same rim. My guess is that what one gains in protection from the stiffer casing one loses in width, but not much.

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Bob