I'd ridden bikes as a kid and had a Cannondale touring bike in college, but then nothing for about 15 years. Around 2007 my wife and I decided that bike riding would be a good family activity for us and our young child. We got three-speeds (mine was a beat up 67 Raleigh Superbe), but I fell in love with riding and wrenching on bikes again, and started looking for a newer bike to tinker around with. I came across Rivendell in my research, loved what I read, and knew I couldn't afford one. I bought a 1984 Univega Gran Turismo on Craigslist, and a Dirt Drop stem and barend shifters for it from Riv. Not too long after, the Sam Hillborne was introduced and the description was a perfect match for what I wanted. But I still couldn't afford one. Ten years later I had too many bikes, but mostly rode my Gran Turismo and a Bridgestone XO-3. One day browsing CL again, but this time trying to figure out what I could sell some bikes for, I came across a NOS Hillborne frame in my size, in the original green. I bought it, I built it up, and have barely ridden anything else since. I've sold about half my old bikes, and plan to sell most of the rest this spring. Everything Grant said about the Sam in that first article is true, not just a sales a pitch, and I grin every time I get on that bike.
-Eric On Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 9:52:28 AM UTC-8, Pancake wrote: > > Leah's discussion about long wheel base led to a lot of interesting > discussions about how people found Rivendell. I'd like to know: > > - How you first found out about Rivendell? > - What caused you to actually get your first Rivendell frame or > component (or something Riv inspired) ... and what was that first buy? > - And could you add a photo of that first? > > Personally, I was overweight and looking to make my biking more > comfortable back in 2004 in Berkeley. Searching online led me to look at > Brooks saddles and sweptback handlebars and ultimately to Rivendell to buy > some steel Albatross bars ... which I still use today! On a student budget, > I attached them to a Jamis Coda Sport (steel frame) with beefed up wheels > from The Missing Link bike co-op. Then about 2 years ago my friend Ronnie > gave me a Cheviot frame to build up as a distraction while waiting to > adopt. The moment I finished building the bike, as I was attaching the > pedals my wife pulled into the garage, jumped out of the car and with tears > and a huge smile and told me to get plane tickets to Kansas because our > daughter was about to be born! Now our daughter is almost 2 years old and I > have the Cheviot, a Sam Hillborne, and the same friend is lending me a > Rosco Baby frame until that we built a couple weeks ago for front kid seat > rides. > > When Grant met my daughter, he noticed the "Baby Muggle On Board" sticker > on our car window ... he was rightfully concerned that we didn't know if > she was a muggle or not! > > Ride on, > Abe > > Some pics of my other Rivendell bikes (and the Rosco Baby with those > original Albatross bars) here - https://imgur.com/a/wWgiDmh > > [image: IMG_4021.jpg] > > > > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/1419a499-f60d-4148-a3f7-d37d28288746%40googlegroups.com.
