Recommendations for a new bike owner

[LSM]

I'm new to owning a Rivendell bike.  Mine will arrive soon and I thinking about what I need to do in preparation to ride it.  It is a complete Platypus with a couple of swaps.  I've seen many Rivendell's with the chain stay wrapped.  Is this recommended and what is material commonly used?  Are there other tips or recommendations for getting a new bike road ready?

Thanks,

Leo

[Kim H.]

@Leo,

Congratulations on owning your first Rivendell bicycle ! 

Welcome to the RBWOB group !

To answer your question about what is a common material is used to cover your Platypus chain stays, I personally use my favorite colored handlebar tape. 

As a suggestion for further protection of your frameset, look into purchasing a roll of clear IRD helicopter tape (30ft x 2 inches wide) to wrap over all the areas that are subject to wear and possible future abrasions or rock dings and chips into the paint. I did this shortly after, I received my new blue Clem. This helicopter tape will not pull the decals off of your frameset, if you decide to remove and reapply the tape. I covered my Clem 95% with this tape. There is enough leftover to have on hand to redo or apply more. It weathers very well in the climate in live in here in the PNW. 

https://www.amazon.com/ISC-Racers-Tape-HT2314-Helicopter-OG-HD/dp/B000QC6H90?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ABrbAIt2mf5tleRMZ4OSfhmxYkwJC2bpNTg43mARAMg1IcYSS2X7d2iFQ9UrilDGSmoZoP_XFWNci8INVKREwOZ-pCKmvFlSH9rt8XNMG9BVunnctmdPA5vVCThYhb8sBB9mfwU18Y5yFs2ECpdASg.E3GAb6g4kyT-kr_N0NGJeJ-Ta0prACoBZ_lszqv_Mq0&dib_tag=se&keywords=IRD+helicopter+tape+%2830ft+x+2+inches+wide%29&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1773141461&sr=8-3

Kim Hetzel.

[Ryan Fleming]

Hi Leo

Congratulations! If you bought it from Rivendell they may send you a booklet with instructions to get your bike road-ready because you do have to do some assembly...they used to do this but not sure if they still do.It might be available on their site as a PDF. I suspect you could also phone and ask for the booklet. I used to have one but can't lay my hands on it, and I seem to remember it had torque specs , useful for major maintenance when you disassemble and have to re-assemble.Otherwise...there are tutorials galore on YouTube....and the list here....of course

[Gordon Stam]

Hello Leo,

Congrats on your new Riv. It's going to be a good companion on your cycling adventures. You may be lucky and it will feel like a perfect fit right off the bat, and size wise it most likely will be, but plan on spending some time (and maybe a few hundred dollars more) on fiddling with the bars and stem and seat position to get things dialed in. On my Clem I went through two stems and three handlebars; on the Charlie Gallop, two bars and two seat posts.  Both feel like old shoes now.  

Concerning frame protection it's' probably not a bad idea but may not be absolutely necessary. On my 20+ year old Romulus I never put any protector on the chain stay and looking at the accumulation of black grease on it I kinda wish I had. But then when I stripped the bike down (to move all the parts over to the Charlie) I hit that grease with some olive oil and underneath was a perfectly good finish. That grease may have acted as a protectant on its own. You may wrap 95% of the bike with protective tape and you can be sure that it's going to be the 5% you didn't wrap that's going to get the ding. "Beausage" is a thing with these bikes and somewhat inevitable. Far be it from me, however, to discourage any efforts at keeping your frame fresh; I just am relatively lazy in this regard, and my frames tend to reflect that.

Anyway, congrats again and let us know how the relationship progresses!