I've owned my 2020 Atlantis for nearly a year, and in that time I've discovered how comfortable and functional it truly is. If the Rivendell aesthetic speaks to you, you spend most of your time pedaling at a touring pace, and you want one bike that does it all, then this bike is wonderful.
For background, here are my first impressions <https://groups.google.com/g/rbw-owners-bunch/c/i0mzHUlOgtA/m/4kablnAjAAAJ> and Atlantis on Tahoe singletrack <https://groups.google.com/g/rbw-owners-bunch/c/KsmFdQ7Pbsg/m/kLNDRvv8AQAJ>. My typical ride is a 1-4 hour spin on paved bike paths and dirt / gravel roads, pedaling 13-15 mph on the flats. I've taken it on a handful of sub 24 hour overnights. On the rare occasions when I have a half day free, I'll drive up to the Sierra Nevada mountains and ride mixed terrain. This is my first Rivendell. I've been attracted to the bikes, brand, and philosophy since 2007, but I always balked at the price, and didn't buy one until 2020. In the interim, I've spent significantly more than the cost of my Atlantis going through various other new and used steel bikes. I've realized that aesthetics matter to me, and none of those bikes were special enough to be keepers. The aesthetics and details on the Atlantis are perfect, which makes me want to keep the bike for a long time. Consider the cutout on the bottom of the lug filled with cream paint, a beautiful hidden detail. Every part of the bike is like that. Sometimes I think I might be better off with a Clem L, but the Atlantis is in a different class aesthetically, which is why it costs twice as much. I'm more comfortable on the Atlantis than I've been on any other bike. It's not that I ever felt uncomfortable on a bike; rather, the other bikes were like sleeping on a foam mat in the mountains, while switching to the Atlantis was like coming home and sleeping in my own bed. I feel less sore after long rides on the Atlantis. The difference in comfort really sunk in when I switched bikes during a ride for a fellow rider's Surly Cross Check. After a mile I was ready to switch back. The Cross Check is a great bike, but for a different style of riding. The components I picked have been great. For gearing I have a 38/24 double up front, and an 11-42 Microshift Advent 9 speed on the back for a low gear less than 16 inches, a high gear around 95 inches, and a range of more than 600%. My knees love spinning these low gears during big days in the mountains. The only component I swapped was the stem, a 130 mm 1990's Ritchey MTB stem for a 120 mm Nitto tallux. I think a 110 mm stem might work slightly better for me (I'm 6'1" tall on a 59cm frame). The large vertical adjustment of the tall quill stem quickly and dramatically changes the ride characteristics of the bike, a delightful surprise feature that contributes to the versatility. At first, I thought the 7 shaped stem was just a bit of aesthetic nostalgia. Instead, I find myself using it by dropping the stem all the way down if I want a more aggressive position for fast riding, and raising it by 4 inches if I'm riding singletrack. On longer rides, if I start getting tired and want a different feel, raising the stem height by 3/4 of an inch makes a huge difference. It takes less time to change the stem height than to inflate the tires before a ride. The saddlebag also turned out to be wonderfully functional. Like the stem, I thought it was simply part of the Rivendell aesthetic, but it works better than any other bike bag I've had, and I've had every other kind. The load is balanced, and things are easy to find, clean, and protected. I can stick my hand in and retrieve objects like maps and snacks without opening the flap. I can access the zippered pouches on the side while I ride. It doesn't make your front wheel flop over like a front bag. My only nagging thought since buying this bike is that I might be better off with two bikes: an all road bike in the Jan Heine / Bicycle Quarterly randonneur style, and a plus or fat rigid mountain bike like a Jones. The Atlantis seems to fit squarely in the middle between these two. What would I get by owning two relatively more specialized bikes versus one Atlantis? The randonneur bike might be 2mph faster on pavement, so my adventures could have slightly more range, at the expense of being less capable on technical terrain. I rarely ride with groups, even without COVID, so it's not necessary for me to pedal at the same pace as a group of riders on road bikes. It doesn't bother me when a roadie passes me on the bike path; when I'm on the Atlantis, I've got nothing to prove. A mountain bike with knobbies would be more comfortable on gnarly singletrack, but less so on pavement. Anyways, I don't have easy access to singletrack, and I prefer less populated dirt roads. A low top tube, like on the Rivendell Clem, Platypus, or Susie, would be a tangible advantage on technical terrain. I'd probably trade the Atlantis for a Platypus. Thanks for reading and providing a forum to articulate my thoughts on this bike. Through writing this, I realize that the Atlantis is better for me than having a rando bike and a plus bike; I'd likely get most of the benefits by having two wheelsets. It has been a good year riding this bike, and I look forward to more. -- 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/6f75dd03-ce34-41ea-9f95-79d0fb18e23en%40googlegroups.com.
