Terrific Writeup on the origins of Rivendell by Jan Heine

[Austin B]

As seen on the Facebook Riv group:

1995 Rivendell: Turning the Tide

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2017/07/22/1995-rivendell-turning-the-tide/

[Mojo]

I bought a 1995 AllRounder (delivered Jan 1996) and have kept it all these years. Waterford built, Reynolds 753 tubing, Richard Sachs lugs, chameleon paint, room for 2.0 inch tires, what's not too love? Well, my racing-mentality sizing is not to love. I chose a 58cm frame for my 89cm PBH. Today I would choose a 61 or 62cm. I keep thinking I will sell it, but never seem to do so.

AllRounder 2017

Head Tube

Pinon Mesa ride

Colorado National Monument

Joe in GJT

[William R.]

Mojo: beautiful AllRounder. Re: the chameleon paint: was that a production color, custom or custom repaint?

Great write up in the summer issue of BQ. First thing I read when I got my copy in the mail.

Bill in Westchester, NY

[Mojo]

Bill,

Chameleon paint was a production paint choice for an upcharge, $90 if memory serves. It's purple-green that doesn't show well in photography, especially crappy cell-phone photography.

[Ryan Fleming]

actually when you enlarge it, it shows up pretty well. A classic!

[Michael Hechmer]

Thank you Jan, for distilling history and offering this heart filled tribute to what has been so rewarding to so many of us

Michel

[Patrick Moore]

+ 1. Me, I sense that Jan rather regrets the old Rivendell days and models -- old, versatile, but still race-connected, steel road bike. I do too, but so what: Grant has found a market and, almost more important, a group of aficionados, who love the current "cruiser" bikes; certainly, such a deep and widespread following for Clems and Appaloosas and so forth means that these fill a real need. And, of course, there are still available the Roadeo, the Legolas, and (I'm out of touch) various "country bikes" like the Sam and Atlantis and and -- forget now. Hilsen? And customs, of course.

But I am still very glad that I got Grant to build my Riv Roads!

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[Joe Bernard]

I think the transition was inevitable based on the rides Grant & Co. actually do, and the bikes he was specifically designing for them at Bridgestone.

The Road, LongLow, Heron Road and Rambouillet were all extensions of the RB-1, which was probably considered an expected bike from Rivendell in the first decade. But the All Rounder and Atlantis were the XO-1 that Grant's heart was in (my opinion), and variations on that All Roads S240 theme spread throughout the production models as the years went on.

The "cruisers" work well for commuting on rough roads and trails with a bunch of stuff loaded on, and are presented to the buyer as "you don't have to meet a mileage or speed goal, just get outside and go for a ride." It manages to remain a niche for RBW in the sea of utilitarian steel bikes that they created as the original nice. That's a neat trick!

[Joe Bernard]

Ugh, I need an edit button. "Nice" near the end is "niche".

[Craig Montgomery]

Ordered mine in '96 and took possession in '97. Still my main squeeze though I've put a low trail fork on it and converted to 650B.  

The first tour: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24722971@N05/4354670656/in/album-72157622053427539/

The last (as in most recent) tour: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24722971@N05/29460145875/in/album-72157673327069476/

Craig in Tucson

[Chris Birkenmaier]

I certainly get what you are saying Joe about the "cruisers" versus the "road" type of bikes.  I just would add that my Joe Appaloosa is far livelier than what most people would put into a cruiser category.  Really a fun ride and it gets up and going quite nicely for me.

[Patrick Moore]

For the record, I wasn't being snide or trying to deprecate when I used the word "cruisers" -- I think that the word fits; they're very nice and fun to ride and sporty cruisers. And -- I'm 62 -- in 10 years, heck, I may be saving pennies for a Clem or Joe or similar.

As to Joe's hypothesis: I dunno. I was a late member of the original bobgroup, and an early member of Rivendell, and I recall the print space devoted to what basically was old school steel road bikes and all the cool retro steel/friction/leather/canvas/wool roadie kit; only, more practical than your 1995 Eddy Merckx. And IIRC, they -- Riv Roads, Long Lows, related by marriage Herons -- sold a lot more than All Rounders.

Aside: My first customized Road was built around the All Rounder idea -- I asked Grant to make me a XO-1 that was more roady and was better than the XO-1. (He said, "Oh, it'll be better!") So, 54 cm st c-c, 56.5 level tt c-c, 73* parallel, toute Riv 753 except perhaps the fork may have been 531. Tweaked geometry, road tubing, lugs, and fork. Now, with a level top tube, I can very comfortably ride a 60 c-c. I told Grant, "I'll post this to the boblist!!!" He said, "Don't you dare!" But the statute of limitations has run out.

A very nice bike, tho' I had to get a custom Salsa upjutter to make it fit; but fit it did. The current '99 and '03, though, are light years and quantum levels and levels of being better than that first 1995 custom, even though that was a huge improvement, for road use, over the '92 XO-1 (I think that the XO-1 was a good idea that hadn't yet come to fruition; fruition was the Atlantis.)

[Les Lammers]

I'll add that the Cheviot, for a cruiser, is no slug either.

[Jeremy Till]

Indeed to further the argument, I would suggest that what Grant is doing with the "cruiser" bikes (by which I mean the proportional chainstay bikes like the Cheviot, Clem, and Appaloosa) is very much trying to achieve the handling of those early road-ish bikes but for an upright fit and wider tires.  I recently took my Clem on a 2 day credit card tour, a ride that I had previously done a couple of times on my then-upright barred Long Haul Trucker.  The Clem was definitely an upgrade--it climbed super well, but where it really shined was the downhills.  The stability and planted feeling afforded by the longer chainstay design really gave me confidence to take corners at high speed in a way that a traditional touring bike with upright bars had not.  In fact, I thought of you, Patrick, and how you're always praising your Rivs as being stable but with a wonderful "turn-in," and I thought to myself, "This must be what he is talking about."

[Patrick Moore]

Very good point, Jeremy. I like the looks of my Rivendells, but looks are as nothing compared to the fit and handling and "feel" of them, which each of the 5 Rivs I've owned has exhibited in one degree or another, but enough that it is set apart by this from any other bike I've owned. It's this straight line stability combined with non-hesitating and yet not-too-eager turn in that defines the handling brand.

Good to know that this is kept in the current crop of "cruisers"; I may be riding one, one day.

Interesting: The Sam Hill I owned (circa 2013, 56, single tt) exhibited this "unerring" quality in fast downhill sweepers particularly strongly, though it was rather slow in turn in compared to the 2 road bikes I still own. 

How long are Clem chainstays? Those on my 2 Roads are 44.5 to the center of the dropouts (tho' the '03 has been modified with longer -- very long! -- dropouts by C Matthews (without doing anything to mar the handling, though).