New bike day! Apppaloosa!

[Michael Morrissey]

I finally got my Appaloosa together!  I'm really enjoying this bike!  The main thing I love about it is the lower bottom bracket height.  It's so stable and comfy.  I built it up with a mish-mash of parts: some new, some from my cyclocross bike, some from the ebay, some from the shelves at the LBS!  I'm running 35mm tires now because that's what I have, but I'm going to go fatter soon!  After wanting a Rivendell for 10 years, I am thrilled to have one!

Parts list:
Paul neo-retro brakes and paul levers
Sugino x White Industries cranks
VP Vice pedals
Wolf Tooth 94bcd x 32 tooth narrow wide chainring (really low gearing!)
Sunrace 9 speed thumbshifter
Nitto dirt drop stem with albatross bars

m

[dougP]

Congratulations on getting the bike together.  Look forward to many happy years with your Rivendell. 

dougP

[René Sterental]

Congrats!!! 

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[Bill Lindsay]

New bike day is always a good day.  New bike day should be celebrated N+1 times.  

APPROVE

On Monday, June 13, 2016 at 1:37:04 PM UTC-7, Michael Morrissey wrote:

[Pondero]

Fantastic!...and congrats!  I like the concept and the looks of this frameset.  I can't wait for some of you owners to tell us how it performs in touring and camping applications.

Chris Johnson

Sanger, Texas

[Joe Bernard]

Very nice. I always liked those Sugino/WI cranks.

[RoadieRyan]

Congrats -new bike day is the best.  And as someone who went from 700x38c to 700x47c tires I saw go as fat as you can, its a blast.

On Monday, June 13, 2016 at 1:37:04 PM UTC-7, Michael Morrissey wrote:

[Reed Kennedy]

Gorgeous bike! And yeah, give the fatties a try. I didn't have much fun in traffic with the heavy 700 x 2.15" Marathons that Riv likes so much, but when I put a set of Schwalbe Big Ones on, wow! They still spin up nice and quick, and I feel like a human hovercraft. 

Just converted them to tubeless last night, thanks everyone here on the list for advice. We'll see how that works today!

Reed

[Patrick Moore]

I'll be very interested to hear your impressions of the improvement in ride between tubed and tubeless. In my very limited experience with 1.35 mm Kojaks, going from tubed to tubeless (light but otherwise standard butyl tubes) is almost like swapping said Kojaks with tubes for Compass Elk Pass extra lights with tubes.

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[RichS]

Michael, congratulations on your first Riv! Well done! You're gonna love it:)

Richard

[Reed Kennedy]

Sure thing Patrick. At the moment I've finally managed to patch a hole in one of the tires and have just gotten the air to stay inside. Current plan is to test them over the next week and a half and then ride them on the West Point Inn Riv Ramble if they hold up. Once I get home from that I should have enough miles on them to form at least an initial opinion. I'll try to remember to write up some impressions.

Best,

Reed

[Michael Morrissey]

I wrote a bit more about my new Rivendell on my blog:
http://thedayweneverwenthome.blogspot.com/2016/06/riding-first-fifty-miles-fast-and-free.html

It also includes my $0.02 on test riding other Rivendells in Walnut Creek!

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement with the bike!

- michael

On Monday, June 13, 2016 at 4:37:04 PM UTC-4, Michael Morrissey wrote:

[Tim Butterfield]

Thanks for the write up.  That was interesting.

Tim

[Patrick Moore]

Michael -- thanks for this writeup. I was particularly struck by this:

 I rode around their parking lot, doing laps around their building. I really liked the bike. It felt nimble, like my LeMond cyclocross bike, but more stable. I expected to dislike the handlebars, but in a snap judgment decided I liked them.

All the positive reviews about the Appaloosa are making my defenses start to crumble. I would very much like to try one out. I am more skeptical of sweep back bars, but those too get much praise.

Question: can you elaborate about the difference in handling and feel between the Appaloosa and the Clem and the Chevs? I realize that this is first impressions, but those sometimes reveal real qualities.

(Aside: I wonder, if I went all weight weenie, if I could get an Appaloosa down to UCI minimum ...)

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[Ryan Fleming]

The JAs sound like fabulous bikes, but why am I not surprised by this? Sound like superb touring bikes

[Michael Morrissey]

Hey! Thanks for reading it!

The Appaloosa and the Clem were pretty similar, but there were two big differences: the handlebars and the sizing. 

The Appaloosa comes in more sizes.  The Clem is basically the first Rivendell to be built to a price point.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they said they wanted to stop recommending people buy Surlys if they wanted a cheaper bike than a Rivendell.  They succeeded by doing this incredibly scrappy move: manufacturing only three sizes.  I'm 6 feet tall with a PBH of 86cm (if I remember correctly) and I felt like the Appaloosa fit me better.  The 59 Clem was wayyy toooo big, and I liked the 52 Clem, but it had 650B wheels and I sort of had my mind set on 700 x 2.0 tires for my bike.

My first impression of the Bosco bars on the Clem was that they were too much of a beach cruiser bar.  I commute year round in NYC in heavy traffic, so beach cruiser isn't exactly ideal for me.  I liked the Choco-moose ones because they had the classic "sit up and beg" position, but also the reach forward was like riding the tops of drop bars.  I suppose you can lean forward and grab the middles of the Bosco bars, but again this was just a brief ride.  I actually still want to try the Bosco bars on my vintage mountain bike and see how they would change that bike. 

Also, I bought the Appaloosa because they were sold out of Clems and I got excited and really wanted a bike!  If they had a Clem in the 55cm size, I would have bought that.

I test rode the Cheviot primarily to try the Albatross bars.  The Cheviot has centerpulls, and I knew I wanted fatter tires, so I think that's a big difference between bikes.  I didn't want a step-through bike.  The Cheviot had the best paint though - the swampy green looks AMAZING in person.  It is so much nicer in person than in photos.  The Cheviot doesn't have the long chainstays like the Clem and Appaloosa.  The Cheviot was nice, but it felt like a normal bike; whereas the Appaloosa is definitely funky, is definitely something different, and has a very unusual alchemy of measurements that combines to a really special bike.

m

[Chris Lampe 2]

Between the 54 Hunqapillar and the 55 Appaloosa, which ride did you like better?  I have a 22" 1984 Trek 830 like yours and I'm debating between these two Rivs for a future purchase.  I expected the Appaloosa to be more like the 830 but you reference the Hunqapillar being more similar. 

[Jay Connolly]

Looks great. Regarding your comment about the bike being nimble: I keep tinkering with my Joe and now have a Jones Loop 710 bar on it. After riding it for a couple of months with a drop bar, the upright bar is a revelation. I ordered the bike with an Albatross bar, but was too accustomed to drop bars to warm to it. Now I think I understand that this bike was designed for an upright bar. The handling is noticeably better upright, at all speeds.

Jay

[Carla Waugh]

Congrats on your new Riv!! I know you will love it! Many happy miles!

[Davey Two Shoes]

great bike! Just a guess here, thats prospect park and the LBS is 718c?

[Michael Morrissey]

Good guesses but wrong!

It's Astoria Park and the local bike shop is Nomad Cycles. I like 718c a lot but actively try to avoid it because I always fall in love with whatever bikes they have and come dangerously close to buying myself another bike when I go there. I already have 3 bikes in my tiny apartment. I had a wheel built for my bike there and the service was top notch.

Michael

[Michael Morrissey]

Chris:

Thanks for watching my YouTube video. Get the Appaloosa. The Hunq and the Appaloosa are very similar.

My Appaloosa and Trek 830 are pretty similar too. The biggest difference is fork. My Trek has an ordinary fork - the OG fork was bent. The Appaloosa's slender fork makes for a better ride. Also the bottom bracket drop (78mm on Appaloosa) makes for a better handling ride. The Riv is way lighter than the Trek.

The best analogy I can think of is that the old Trek 830 is like finding a stylish suit at the thrift store, one that looks really cool and feels good, but the Appaloosa is like getting a new suit tailored to fit you, and it looks cool, feels good, and fits amazing.

I just changed the bars on the Appaloosa to the Riv Bullmoose. Third set of bars and still tinkering.

M

[Chris Lampe 2]

Thanks for the information!  

Would you mind posting a pic of your Appaloosa with the bullmoose bar, if you get a chance?  I bought my 830 as a frameset so it doesn't have it's original bar and Riv's version wouldn't give me enough rise.  The Bullmoose would be my first choice for the Appaloosa.   

[Ann L]

Cool bike.  I am somewhat biased because I just got a butternut Appaloosa myself.  I like your multi-color handlebar wrap.

[Chris Lampe 2]

I saw your comment on your Youtube video, so here's my 830.  

[Carla Waugh]

Congrat!! Many happy miles!!!

[Tony DeFilippo]

Congrats Michael and great write up here and in your blog. I can sense the enthusiasm and it makes me happy for you! Keep us posted as you get used to the JA and get some commuting miles in.

Tony

[Jay Connolly]

Mike, I'm on my 4th set of bars. First was the albatross, then a mustache, then a VO Rando bar, and now a Jones Loop H bar. I liked them all, but I think I'll stick with the Jones, which is wider, has as many positions as a drop bar, and sweeps back at 45°. Limited stem choice with a Jones, but I found an 80mm x 31.8 that I like.

Jay

[mlpessar]

Sweet bike Michael! Congratulations. I've been riding mine (also butternut) for six months now and loving it. Smooth, stable, nimble with a turn of speed when that's what you feel like doing. GP regards this as Riv's most versatile bike. I find it is more than capable of handling anything I might ask of it, general transport, commuting, errand-running, touring. Just a really fine bike. I am confident you'll enjoy it mightily. Thanks for the post and pics. Wishing you many happy rides.