FS: HERON Touring 55cm complete build

[MartyG]

Designed and offered by Rivendell in the late 90s. A really gorgeous bike that is too small for me, and too tall for my wife. I purchased this recently from the family of the original owner. Reynolds 531 frameset. No dents or damage, very few scuffs. No rust of any kind. Paint and graphics are impressively well preserved - beautiful in the full sun today! Eclectic high-end parts mix includes TA Zephyr triple fitted to a Campagnolo BB, Phil/XTR hubs laced to CR-18 36 hole rims. American Classic seatpost in 27.2. Avocet touring saddle. Tange roller bearing headset, Nitto rando bars and stem. Shimano brakes. Sachs rear derailer, Suntour up front. All new cables and housing. Silver downtube shifters are funtional, but may need work. You may prefer bar-ends anyway. Tires (Panaracer Pasella) hold air but should be replaced. WIll fit 38s and fenders. Really wish it was my size. Asking $1,250.00. 

See the pics in the Flickr set below, and feel free to ask questions. Can arrange free pick-up or delivery in the Baltimore/Washington area, otherwise I will split shipping 50/50 to the US lower 48 only. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/32306142@N07/albums/72157661387558919

Thanks for looking!

Marty

[Pondero]

Wow...that's pretty! Since it fits 38s plus fenders, would this be comparable to a canti Hilsen in the least? Would it be stouter since it is designed as a touring bike?

Although this bike would fit me, I could not get away with bringing another one into the house anytime soon. I'm just hoping a little banter will help someone realize the potential here.

Chris Johnson
Sanger, Texas

[Lungimsam]

What's the stand over height?
I'm in Howard County, fellow east coaster!
But I'm not in the market right now.
What a nice looking bike.

[MartyG]

Will have to confirm the SOH later in the week as I'm remote from the bike shed at the moment, but the following spec sheet listed 31-3/4" along with all the other relevant dimensions. Now that I re-read this myself, 38s plus fenders may be tight, but 35s + are no issue. I tested SKSs with the current tires (35s) and there was plenty of wiggle room. Don't be shy making a reasonable offer - these don't come along very often. 

 http://www.adventurecycling.org/default/assets/resources/rivendell.pdf

[Dave Johnston]

I had a later version Todd Kuzma Heron and true 38mm tires wouldn't really fit comfortably.  Part of the confusion on those early Riv's were that most all the tire manufactures and in particular the Panaracer Pasela were over rating their tire width, so a Pasela 35mm was more like 31mm and a 38mm was more like 35mm. The early Riv's were based on the size Pasela that would fit, not actual tire widths. Later Riv started posting pictures of digital calipers with real tire widths and Panaracer relabeled their tires.

-Dave

[Lungimsam]

Was there just one design of Heron , or two? I think I read something in BQ like Jan Heine helped develop the first one with Rando geo and the there was a later, different geo produced. Not clear on this.

[William deRosset]

Dear Lungimsam,

This has been discussed on this list, and over at the BOB list in some detail, and a review of the archives may be instructive. 

The original Heron designs were done with Grant Petersen and Ted Durant (who financed/owned Heron), and launched in 1997. There were two: the Road and the Touring. They were both versatile and (in my opinion) lovely machines. If you like the ride of the Rambouillet or other medium-wall O/S bikes, you'll like the early Road and Touring bikes.

They reflected Grant's preferences of the time for stock parts and horizontal dropouts.

The Road was built for short-reach brakes, with maximized brake clearance, medium-gauge O/S tubing, slightly slacker-than-typical seat angle and slightly longer-than-typical top tube to yield neutral road-going geometry. It is an extra-stiff road-racing bike, and included enough room to stuff fenders and 27's under the arches. They rode well, and rewarded big-power riders.

The Touring was built with slacker angles, medium-gauge O/S tubing, longer chainstays, and was designed around cantilever brakes. It fit a 35+fenders. It is a traditional loaded-touring bike, and I really enjoyed mine.

Later, after Todd Kuzma bought the rights to the designs and the name, the model names were redone, I believe he went to vertical dropouts and different CrMo tubes, and an additional model added--it was essentially a Heron Touring with vertical dropouts, but it came as a kit for a semi-integrated bike. Jan Heine reviewed it early on in his Vintage Bicycle Quarterly, and the medium-wall O/S tubing didn't agree with him. If it had the Touring geometry, then it probably didn't behave that well with a light front-only load, either.

Best Regards,

Will

William M. deRosset

Fort Collins, CO

[mikel...@juno.com]

my Heron Road can fit a 30mm tire thats about it-I run a roly poly with a little room to spare


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[Joe Bernard]

Hi Marty,

How long are the cranks, and what is the rear spacing?

Thanks,

Joe Bernard

Vallejo, CA.

[MartyG]

Joe - the cranks are 170, rear spacing is 130ish and the dropouts are horizontal.

[Chad]

I sent you a private message. Beautiful bike!

[MartyG]

Given the conversation and emails on this, I wanted to confirm how big a tire would fit this frame, and turns out 700X40s will fit quite easily. Plenty of head room at the fork and rear brake bridge. The tightest spot is at the chainstays, but still there is room. These tires are Schwalbe Marathon XR 40. The look of this bike with these tires is just about unbeatable IMHO. Oh, and it's still for sale...albeit with the 35s in the first group of photos. 

More pics of the clearances in the Flickr album here:

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/32306142@N07/albums/72157661387558919

 

[Lungimsam]

 

[mikel...@juno.com]

http://web.archive.org/web/20090510044006/http://www.heronbicycles.com/geometry.html
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[William deRosset]

Hi, all,

A side note, and unfortunately a fair amount of thread drift, but after a decade of tinkering around with my bike fit and a pile of different bikes, I had my René Herse built back in 2008/9. Mike Kone started with a blank sheet of paper, and he and I worked from various directions (historical; personal history and experience; uses for the bike; aesthetics) to find the very best solution for me (and this work eventually influenced some of his commercial machines, though those are very much his bikes). Its fit parameters turned out identical to... the 56 Heron Road (the front end is a little different to accommodate a dedicated front loading geometry) or the 55 Heron Touring...  I have a 55 Heron Touring (on permanent loan to my brother), and it fit beautifully with a long-ish stem. These really are undersung, special machines, and they get a lot just right. 

If I hadn't gotten bit fairly hard by the rando-bug and found integrated bikes particularly convivial for that purpose, I'd probably have hunted down a Heron Road (in Silver, so that I could differentiate between my machines), and called off the search for marginal improvements. I ended up with a few machines that fit my use-cases better than the Herons did (and I turn out to really love a lighter tube spec than they offer), but that doesn't take away their versatility, durability, and excellent low-key road manners. They're great bikes, and only one of my machines wins out over these "blue collar" machines aesthetically.

Best Regards,

Will

William M. deRosset

Fort Collins, CO

On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 11:26:30 AM UTC-7, Lungimsam wrote:

 

[Joe Bernard]

Somebody really needs to buy this bike..it's a great frame with cool late-'90s Riv Catalogue parts. I had a Heron Road which turned out to be a smidge too big for me (54cm), but it had a magical ride, almost like there was a little electric motor hidden somewhere in those 531 tubes. And the blue-ish green color is amazing in the sun. Buy it now, operators are standing by!

[Lungimsam]

Oops... Just realized it's a 55 and I would need a 54.

56.5 TT is too long for me. Not even a 6cm stem would fix it for me.

[MartyG]

After a few nibbles, this bike is still with me, and I'd like to see it go to a good home. I'll knock off $100 this week, and another $100 next week if it's still around. After that it might go into hiding until Spring. So, that means $1,150 today, and $1,050 a week from today. Either way I'll still split shipping to the lower 48, but if you are local I'll knock off another $50. 

Designed and offered by Rivendell in the late 90s. A really gorgeous bike that is too small for me, and too tall for my wife. I purchased this recently from the family of the original owner. Reynolds 531 frameset. No dents or damage, very few scuffs. No rust of any kind. Paint and graphics are impressively well preserved - beautiful in the full sun today! Eclectic high-end parts mix includes TA Zephyr triple fitted to a Campagnolo BB, Phil/XTR hubs laced to CR-18 36 hole rims. American Classic seatpost in 27.2. Avocet touring saddle. Tange roller bearing headset, Nitto rando bars and stem. Shimano brakes. Sachs rear derailer, Suntour up front. All new cables and housing. Silver downtube shifters are functional, but may need work. You may prefer bar-ends anyway. Tires (Panaracer Pasella) hold air but should be replaced. WIll fit 38s and fenders. Really wish it was my size. Asking $1,250.00. 

[Chad]

Marty, I'm going to shoot and email to Grant to see if he thinks this bike would be a good fit. I'm a 80.5 PBH and a 69-70 saddle height depending on the pedals and shoes. Looks like the standover on the Heron is about 80.6 with 35 width tires. What do you guys think, could I fit this bike? The top tube is pretty long for a 55cm bike, but the new Choco bars might work great. Mark at Riv thought I could fit a 55 Hillborne. Regardless, It's gorgeous and someone needs to buy it!

[Ryan Fleming]

Hi Chad

I'm a woman, but my measurements are similar to yours...my Riv road is 56cm.I probably have a shorter torso, but maybe this could work for you? The Heron looks like a heck of a terrific bike at a very nice price

Good luck!

[David Johnston]

My Heron touring is a 57cm and I have a 83cm inseam and a 72cm saddle
height and its a great fit. The top tube isn't that long, it has a
72deg seat angle so that makes the reach to the bars effectively a cm
shorter than most bikes with the very common 73cm seat angle.

The Sam Hillborne is not designed to fit to the same seat tube
measurement as a traditional level top tube square frame like the
Heron . I would order a 52cm if I wanted drops on the Hillborne, and a
55cm if I wanted sweep back bars.

-Dave J

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[Joe Bernard]

I'm 78 PBH and my Heron Road 54 fit well with a fist-full of seat post showing. I sold it because I'm at the point where I prefer a lot more standover clearance, but the fit on the bike was great. Buy it!

[Chad]

On my previous post I said Mark recommended a 55 Hillborne, when I should have said 55 Hilsen. I have a 51 Hillborne and it fits great. A 55 Hillborne would be too big.

[RonaTD]

Somebody needs to buy this bike!  For those who are wondering about fit, here's what we published on the original Heron web site.

Sizing By Saddle Height

Saddle Height	Heron Road	Heron Touring
66	52	won't fit
67	52	53
68	52/54	53
69	54	53/55
70	54	54
71	54/56	55
72	56	55/57
73	56	57
74	56/58	57
75	58	57/59
76	58	59
77	58/60	59
78	60	59/61
79	60	61
80	60/62	61
81	62	61/63
82	62	63
83	62	63
84	won't fit	63

[Wayne Naha]

Such a beautiful bike!  Very cool!

On Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 10:08:41 AM UTC-5, MartyG wrote:

As promised, price is now $1,050! 

On Saturday, January 16, 2016 at 7:01:47 AM UTC-5, MartyG wrote:

After a few nibbles, this bike is still with me, and I'd like to see it go to a good home. I'll knock off $100 this week, and another $100 next week if it's still around. After that it might go into hiding until Spring. So, that means $1,150 today, and $1,050 a week from today. Either way I'll still split shipping to the lower 48, but if you are local I'll knock off another $50. 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/32306142@N07/albums/72157661387558919

[MartyG]

Happy to say the bike is sold and was picked up today. Thanks to everyone who expressed interest, and to the new owner who made the drive down from Philly to meet. This beautiful Heron will see many more miles. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/32306142@N07/albums/72157661387558919

Marty