Earlier this month, I decided to make a decision to hop the fence and buy my first Rivendell bicycle as my last bicycle purchase at 67 y. o., after considering buying a SOMA Buena Vista bicycle earlier.
I want to thank a list member out of Utah for giving me the opportunity to do so. He sold me a 59cm Clem Smith Jr. "L" bicycle in olive green. Ideally, I would love to have one in that light blue color.
The bicycle is not even a year old yet. The seller bought it from a guy in his neighborhood in February of this past year. The original owner bought the bike last December of 2021.
After receiving and reassembling it, I did some modifications along the way. I changed out those micro-shifters for f/r derailleurs and installed an old pair of Suntour ratchet bar-con friction shifters(YES ! .. the shifting works well), removed the cork ERGON grips, installed a new pair of MKS Grip Monarch pedals, stole my Brooks B67S saddle off of my 1984 Raleigh Elkhorn and my Topeak MTX Trunk Bag DXP Bicycle Trunk Bag. I added some water bottle cages out of my parts drawers.
I tried not using the shim for my Sakae Ringyo MTE-100 seatpost with the stock 29.8 seatpost. I just placed my Brooks saddle on there and moved it as far back as I could. So far, it is working for me.
I purchased one bike's worth new Dia-Compe DC980 cantilever brakes in silver and a new pair of Dia-Compe SS-6 Brake Levers in silver, a NITTO A-2 rear cable stopper and a NOS vintage Dia-Compe front cable hanger. Sometime down the road, I would like to buy the NITTO cable hanger.
I am planning on buying a set of Velo Orange Fluted 700c x 63 fenders in polished silver later on before the seasonal rains come here on the west coast of Washington state.
At this point in time, I have only ridden my CLEM KADIDDLEHOPPER four times. I really like riding and sitting upright in the saddle a lot. It is nice to have fat tires. Reminds me of my 2012 Salsa Mukluk 3 on a smaller scale. Having a step-through frame helps not having to swing my leg over the back end of the bicycle and having it hurt. It's cool having a long wheel base. This reminds me of the tandems that I owned in the past.
I rode a 1973 Cilo Sprint-X road bike that I turned into a sports touring bike for nearly 40 years. It fit me very well for a production bike. I truly loved this bike. I rode it thousands of miles. I got older. I got tired of riding in the drops and longed for riding a different bike with an upright riding position. I retired this bike in 2011.
The Elkhorn was nice, but it truly did not fit me. The weight of it bothered me the most, after my modifications.
I think I am going to grow in love with this one and say good-bye and sell my Raleigh Elkhorn here in the near future.
Kim Hetzel
Yelm, WA.