RE: New to the forum

[hidekazu matsuba]

Hello All, 

I am new to this forum!  Glad I found you guys!  I wanted to share with you my special Riv.  I will just post the photos for now, I am curious to hear what some of the experts have to say about this bike.  

Best,

Kazu

[J L]

Kazu,

Welcome! 

Is that color black or midnight blue? What a nice bike! 

Mavic starfish crank? Wow.

What can you tell us about the bike?

Cheers,

Jason

On Aug 26, 2021, at 5:42 PM, hidekazu matsuba <kaz...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello All, 

I am new to this forum!  Glad I found you guys!  I wanted to share with you my special Riv.  I will just post the photos for now, I am curious to hear what some of the experts have to say about this bike.  

Best,

Kazu

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[Joe Bernard]

Welcome Kazu! 🙋‍♂️

Holy Toledo that's a nice time capsule Riv. I believe the sloping toptube makes it a Rivendell Mountain as opposed to the flatter-tube All Rounder, and all that kit is from the catalogue pages of very early Rivendell Readers. Mavic Starfish! 

Joe Bernard

[Ryan]

I thought it was an all-rounder at first...but Joe's right, once I looked at the clearances; it's the Riv Mountain...that is a beauty! Thanks for posting and look after that bike. A white whale for sure. 

Tell us the story.

Ryan 

Winnipeg,MB

[Marty Gierke, Stewartstown PA]

What a nice bike! Here's some of the early info on the frame, and a couple other Riv MTBs:

Wish I had one myself! 

Marty

[JohnS]

Awesome bike! Love the color, Suntour barcons, Brooks B17 select, wide tires, cool crank, mustache bar, dirt drop stem, all great!

JohnS

[Ryan]

Nice shots. The sage green looks more like an A/R

I'm trying to remember whether the mountain was still an option when I ordered my A/R in 1997...which I still have. Much as I applaud and admire what Grant is doing now, I love the classic Rivs 

[Steven Sweedler]

Another big fan of these early off road Rivendells. I also keep a folder of picture I get off this list of ARs and the less common mtbs. This one is the ninth I have a picture of. Steve

Plymouth, NH

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Steven Sweedler
Plymouth, New Hampshire

[Joe Bernard]

What's interesting about the Mountain model is it was the precursor to what most Rivs look like now with the sloping toptube. At the time it was the outlier among Rivbikes.  

Joe Bernard

[brendonoid]

I would also like to hear more about the history/how you got your hands on such an unusual early Riv in such fine condition. What a beauty!

[Joe Bernard]

We may have to be patient. He's a new member so that post probably took forever to be approved and now his followups are in the same limbo. I want to hear more about this bike! 

[ascpgh]

Welcome aboard, that's a heck of a bike! I'm a Mavic crank fan, curious if it's on the matching bottom bracket (grey anodized lock rings on both sides). Look forward to hearing more.

Andy Cehatham

Pittsburgh

[RichS]

Welcome Kazu! What a beautiful classic Riv. Love the color and lean look. Nice parts too.

Best,

Rich in ATL

[hidekazu matsuba]

Hello Gentlemen!

Thank you for all your messages and sorry for the delayed response, I have a 2 year old and a 4 week old, things are chaotic!

About 4 years back I asked a friend to find me a Bridegstone XO-1.  After months of searching, he couldn't find a single example that was my size.  Instead he found this Rivendell Mountain.  He put me in touch with the original owner who was very close to Grant, (he was an original board member of Rivendell.)  I will paste the details of the bike he emailed to me a while back as it is a bit long winded:

It was in '94 that Grant began Rivendell Bicycle Works.  I have been from the outset on the Board of Directors (it's just four of us, including Grant and his wife Mary), and a shareholder, so for me it's kind of the family business.  We are old, good friends.  I was part of the founding of Rivendell and had a hand in giving up ideas for bikes.  So in 1995/6 we thought about making a far improved version of the Bridgestone MB-1 mountain bike.  We had custom lugs made --- designed by Grant in homage to the French Nervex Pro---and used much the same geometry as the MB-1 but in fact closer to the X0-1 '93 (which used cantilevers while the purple '92s had caliper brakes, so less tire clearance).  Our goal was a bike every bit as good on the trails as the MB-1 and much like the X0 on the street.  We made a total of 15 bikes, perhaps fewer.  The fabrication was done by Waterford in Wisconsin when Rivendell had a manager in house in Wisconsin to oversee the process.  I know of two others but both were crashed and ruined.  As far as I know this is the only perfect example left.  It's about 18", it was made as a "medium."  Parts were from the special Rivendell bin: Mavic 841 Starfish Triple cranks, Suntour XC Pro rear derailleur, XC Pro brakes, Suntour Power Ratchet bar end shifters.  The rear hub is a very rare Ringle, the front Suntour (this mix and match was early Rivendell's choice).  These were considered the cherry parts.  Grant always gave me dibs.  The Brooks Pro saddle was key but we sold the sprung B-61s too, so that was an option.  The paint is a dark metallic blue, deep and easy on the eyes, the head tube was painted off-white in contrast ---this was also a Rivendell speciality of the time.  In sum, the bike has the Bridgestone/Grant Petersen design and is a real rarity in every respect.  I doubt there is another like it.

If you are wondering why its so clean.....well, after 2 kids and living in San Francisco, where bike theft is quite common, I hardly get to enjoy this beauty.  I will be moving to Europe at the end of the year and hopefully will be able to put some miles on it ;)

Hope you enjoyed this little story of this rare bird!

Best,

Kazu

[hidekazu matsuba]

Hi guys,  I sent a response, but I don't see it.  Does it take some time to get approved?

[Ryan]

Wow...that is quite the pedigree.  I hear you about not wanting to lock up that beauty outside ; it's irreplaceable...2 little kids keep you busy, that's for sure😊

I hope you have many happy miles on it and thanks for telling us the story.

Ryan Fleming

Winnipeg, MB

[Joe Bernard]

That must be Spencer, he was the third person other than Grant or Mary you would talk to on the phone at the beginning. If so it's kinda funny that he had such an immaculate original Rivendell because he also owned (maybe still does) the most scratched and beat on Riv I've ever seen, a Road or LongLow. Grant did a popup gallery in San Francisco about 10 years ago and that frame was hanging on the wall as a piece of art, it was fantastic!

Joe Bernard

[Gabriel Bruguier]

Welcome and thank you for sharing that history, Kazu!  What an amazing setup on your Mountain!  

I learned about the Mountain years ago when I was reading the first issues of the Rivendell Reader.  I immediately wanted one, but assumed that desire would go unmet due to the rarity of the bike.  In January 2020 I cold-called a forum member who had mentioned he had one, and very soon after it was mine.  According to the Waterford serial number it is a '96 model, built in March.  It is my daily rider, and it always brings a smile to my face as I'm peddling along.  I've attached a photo of my setup here-- the saddle bag is the SlimSucker and it does a great job accommodating items that exceed its actual dimensions! :)

[Gabriel Bruguier]

Here's a side view to see the upslope on the top tube.  I'm not able to post two photos at once-- I must need to reduce file size.

[Ryan]

Gabriel...that was a nice find too; it's in remarkably good shape. Not the Mavic starfish, but that Ritchey Logic crank was a nice early Riv spec. Is that how the bike came to you or did you build it up with some of your own parts? Now that I think about it , even in 1997 when I got my A/R as the fancy city-slicker  cousin of the 1993 X0-1 I had and still have, the Mountain was an option. I think Riv may have had to have X Mountain orders to book a small-production run in the Waterford factory.

Interesting trip in the wayback machine😊

Ryan Fleming

Winnipeg, MB

[lucky...@gmail.com]

Gabriel-that looks like the Nitto/Blue Lug Hi-Bar, correct? Looks great on there, and what an awesome color bike too. 

Missing out on a Riv mountain on this forum is the exact reason I switched from forum digest to getting every post. 

On Sep 1, 2021, at 10:06, Ryan <ryte...@mts.net> wrote:

Gabriel...that was a nice find too; it's in remarkably good shape. Not the Mavic starfish, but that Ritchey Logic crank was a nice early Riv spec. Is that how the bike came to you or did you build it up with some of your own parts? Now that I think about it , even in 1997 when I got my A/R as the fancy city-slicker  cousin of the 1993 X0-1 I had and still have, the Mountain was an option. I think Riv may have had to have X Mountain orders to book a small-production run in the Waterford factory.

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[Gabriel Bruguier]

Ryan and Lucky, thanks for the compliments and questions.  

To answer Ryan's questions, no, the current setup is pretty far from how it came to me.  I'm attaching a photo of it as it came, which seems to me to be pretty close to what Kazu quoted above as the original type of setup: Nitto riser stem & moustache bars with Suntour bar ends, Suntour hub up front, Phil hub in the back (maybe a custom request?), Suntour XC rear der, Nitto seatpost and Brooks Professional saddle, and the IRD roller cam headset.  The cantis were Coda, if I remember correctly.  The photo shows studded tires because it was January right after an ice storm, but the bike came with 26x1.75" of a brand I can't remember.

Lucky, you are correct, it is the Nitto/Blue Lug high rise bar. I love these bars, they are so comfy and they go so well with this bike.

Currently, the only original parts on it are the bottom bracket, crank arms, and front der (also a Suntour but not XC).

[Navin Nestle]

Gabriel, I see that Monkey Wrench bottle, are you a Nebraskan?? What a bike.

[iamkeith]

Late to the party, but what a great thread, and beautiful bikes, Kazu and Gabe!  I guess I didn't realize how much the fist-gen Rivs are still the ones that make my heart race.  You have a good friend, Kazu, finding that bike for you.  Never let either one go!