I’ve read Japanese Steel and found it fascinating since it covers the time back in the mid-60’s and early 70’s when I was coming up and the European bikes - Raleigh, Botetechia etc were aspiratational and Japanese bikes were what I, as a high school student, could afford. I may have lusted after a Raleigh International but a Miyata Pro was more realistic - and probably a better bike.
Now I have a variety of bikes and love each and every one. But on my Bombadil with its beautiful lugs and Joe Bell paint job, I truly love the quality and aesthetics of high end Japanese components - Sun XCD, Nitto, Honjo. Panaracer (Compass). OMG what wonderful tires! I might llike it as much much with value based components but probably wouldn’t love it nearly as much. And to me loving it is what it’s all about to me. To me that is what makes it a Rivendell. John On Sat, Mar 16, 2019 at 10:38 AM aeroperf <dorem...@comcast.net> wrote: > I am SO glad you brought this subject up. It goes to the heart of What > Makes A Rivendell Bike? > > I got my Sam in 2015. By 2016 I had it set up. That means - taking what > came with the bike and making it fit *me*. > Not “tinkering” so much as adjusting, as Deacon Patrick describes. Seat > height. Bar height. Bar angle. Pedal type. > > With that more-or-less done, came the “tinkering” part - what to > change/add to make it better, or even more comfortable? > In my case I put a 3-ring front crankset on in 2017, to replace the 2-ring > it came with. I called Riv and contacted Will about the rings, so this was > still a blessed Rivendell Bike set-up. > > But I had already begun to deviate. Black plastic Zefal fenders. > Expedition EX-1 rack. Arkle panniers. > I was drifting away from the Nitto racks, Sackville bags, silver fenders > of a “true” Rivendell. How far could I go before it became a non-Rivendell > bike? Or did it really matter? > > Rivendell sells frame sets. You can put whatever you want on a frameset. > But how many have you seen with a black Sora crankset, 105 brakes, Sora > rear drive, and (gasp!) SL-3500 shifters on an alba bar? > Does anybody ever do that? Or do they think it breaks the mold to the > point that it is not a true Rivendell anymore, and just kind of keep it > under the radar? > > A good read is “Japanese Steel” > https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0847861708/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 > Another is “Just Ride” > https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761155589/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 > > These will fill you in on where Grant Petersen came from and what his > philosophy (and therefore that of Rivendell) is. > > So do I put on the latest Sora and 105 equipment? Or do I strive to keep > the classic “Japanese Steel” look with chrome accoutrements? Because the > “look” can be as important as the performance. At least twice a year I > have people compliment the Sam who have no idea what a Rivendell bike is. > > In the end I chickened out. I got a 1982 Team Fuji, and put all the > modern groupset equipment on that. I kept the Sam with a classic look > (well, technically speaking it is Retro. *I* am Classic). > How does the whole Classic, Retro, Rivendell, modifications, and tinkering > go together? > > Thoughts? > > > On Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 7:18:21 AM UTC-5, OwenS wrote: >> >> I don't know if it's just me but my recently acquired Clem Smith has me >> continually tinkering and tweaking the setup - trying new positions for the >> microshift thumbies, different bosco bar heights and angles and it got me >> wondering if this has been the same experience for others? Do you find >> yourself continually wanting to tweak, modify and personalize your bikes? >> With all my previous bikes from Trek and Specialized I never felt this way, >> they never really encouraged personalization in the same way. >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
