a worthy Bombadil is back on the road at long last...

[WilletM]

I'm happy to report that the non-creamsicle-but-still-pretty-dang-orange-y Bombadil frame that I bought here last September from Jamison B. is all built up and ready to do a little Bombadilling (thanks for that, Jason!) in the Rocky Mountains of western Colorado.  Though it's destined to be more of a show pony than a workhorse like Jason's rig, I did do a fairly premium build on this one that I'm sure would hold up for rigorous off-roading or even moderate bikepacking if only my legs were a little longer.  

Particularly noteworthy on this build are the lovely fillet-and-nickel Nitto bullmoose bars, which turned out a lot better than I was expecting given that I used a quill-to-threadless adapter to mate the 1" threaded steerer to the 1 1/8" threadless bar/stem combo.  I also ended up pretty thrilled with the wheelset, which Peter White built up with custom Velocity Cliffhangers (silver anodized with machined sidewalls) laced up to a polished Phil Wood cassette hub in back and a special "Peter White Cycles" edition SONdelux Wide Body dynamo hub up front.  Other parts include Sugino cranks and seatpost, Brooks Alpe D'Huez saddle, Schmidt Edelux2 headlight, SimWorks/Honjo fenders, Paul Neo-Retro's and Love Levers, etc, etc.  It was NOT, very frankly, an inexpensive build.

On the bright side, it did provide hours and hours and hours of diversion during the Covid shutdowns and bike parts shortages.  And I got lots of practice using various dremel attachments and hand files and many other specialized bike tools in order to fit the fenders under the rack and over the canti brakes and 29x2.1 knobby tires.  In the end, having just mostly finished it up this weekend except for a few REALLY anal tweaks, it did turn out better than I had ever hoped for and it is the sort of a bike that looks even better up close than it does far away.

Willet M.

[Jason Fuller]

Wow, that thing is gorgeous.  Nice build!!  I love the unique color. Looks salmon to me. Still undecided whether I'll invest in a paintjob for mine!  And yeah I wouldn't have even considered the threadless bullmoose despite being well aware of the existence of said adapter, and it looks as clean as a quill version would have.  

[WilletM]

Those fenders actually made it into the final build based on a suggestion that you (Jason) gave me many months ago as I was contemplating which direction to go with the frameset.  I eventually decided to go "all silver" or as close to it as I could possibly get, and the Flat 65's from Simworks were a good match for the 29x2.1 tires that I was planning on using.  They ended up being perfect for the tires, and they didn't take up much room vertically either.  But both front and back fenders were too wide for the fork blades and seat stays, so I did have to notch them pretty significantly and then try to keep the notches aligned as I mounted hardware to the fenders and then the fenders to the frame.  Somewhat shockingly, the notches fit so closely and line up so perfectly that it's hard to tell they've been modified without shining a flashlight on it.  

At $167 shipped for the fenders, I was HIGHLY motivated to get it right the first time!

Thanks again for your helpful suggestions over the winter.  I still have the Proto-Bombadil built up and it fits my short-legs-long-torso dimensions better than this one does (mostly due to a different bar/stem choice).  So this one is for Show and the Protovelo is for Go.  I couldn't be happier or more proud of both, as they were bucket list items for a number of years before I somehow lucked into getting both of them as framesets within less than a year of each other.

Willet M.

[Chris L]

That's a great looking bike!!  

I have a Hunqapillar but I still sometimes feel like the Bombadil was actually THE Riv for me.   I don't know if the geometry and tire clearance would even work for me but something about it speaks to me, and they are even more rare than Hunqapillars!

[Jason Fuller]

Willet - oh wow, glad I could be of help! Other than misleading you into thinking the 65's would fit, now you're a cautionary tale for me if I ever need to replace my fenders haha.. 

Chris - Ha, I feel that way about the 53cm 650B Hunq.. I guess the grass is always greener!

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[Chris L]

" I guess the grass is always greener!"

Ain't that the truth!!

[Joe Bernard]

51cm gray/kidney bean Hunq for me, which makes no sense because my custom has a brighter version of that paintjob and does every single thing a Hunqapillar would do. I want one anyway! 🤣

[Matthew P]

Awesome bike. I like salmon-y paint. I'm in the "I like Bombadils and Hunqs and any other Riv that fits 2" wide tires but I've only ridden an Atlantis" club.
I'm almost done with my Toyo Atlantis. One of my most desired bikes. Lucky to score it from Karl on this list.
Thank you for the details on the fender work. Impressive, and a reference. I fear tackling such a job, as it seems like one shot and I doubt I'd hit the nail on the head.
I have a Riv bullmoose bar. It doesn't show the fillet brazing. I wish it did. But its under there. I assume there is no logical way to remove a layer or something to let it show.
Thanks for sharing.
-Matthew
San Diego, CA

[Dorothy C]

Matthew, Riv have done two versions of their Bullmoose bar - a TIG welded (which I have) and the fillet brazed which definitely shows the beautiful brass tone round the joints. Is it possible you have the TIG version?

[Matthew P]

Hi Dorothy,
I think mine is the fillet version because of the big broad weld. I think TIG welds have far less material in the joints, but I could be wrong.
Here on the fillet version product page:
https://www.rivbike.com/collections/handlebars/products/nitto-bullmoose-bar-dull-bright-fillet-brazed-150mm-16194
it looks like there are two versions of the fillet...version: one showing the fillet brazing and another that must have a layer on top of it.
Or, something else, which is likely, because, again, I don't know this stuff well. Did they chrome(ish) dip some of them?
Perhaps material for another post/thread...or maybe there already was one.
Sorry for the thread drift.
-Matthew
San Diego

[WilletM]

The posting for the threadless version of the contemporary Nitto bullmoose bar/stem that's on the RBW website specifies that the finish on the fillet-brazed version is a dull bright nickel-plated finish over the CrMo steel.  This is the version that I have on the Bombadil pictured above.  The fillet brazing on bicycle frames or bar/stems or racks, etc, results in a smooth finish that makes one tube seemingly flow into the other.  If the resulting creation is left unfinished/un-plated, the brass "bead" is typically visible encasing the fitted joint between the two tubes.  But on this plated bar/stem, the fillet-brazed joint is covered up by the plating and the brass is not visible.  Were it a tig-welded joint, the bead would usually be basically the same color as the adjoining tubes and it would also have some degree of texture from the welding process that sort of resembles a stack of dimes or a segmented worm (for lack of a better analogy).  How much texture (and how neat and how uniform) there is depends a great deal on the skill of the welder and whether there was any finishing work after the welding to dress up the joint.

I'm certainly no expert on such things but I do have several fillet-brazed bicycles currently.  If anyone has more precise info than I mentioned above, please feel free to chime in with corrections.

Willet M.

Carbondale, CO

[Matthew P]

I see! Thank you Willet!
-Matthew
San Diego