I think it would be a mistake to view this presumed original Rivendell Road Standard as singularly representative of Grant Peterson's design philosophy at that time. As you know, there were three original models of Rivendells that were available initially. These were the Road Standard, the All Rounder and a Mountain bike.
The Road Standard was oriented as a more competitive, racy model (similar to the Bridgestone RB-1). It was designed for close to moderate clearance brakes (the SunTour Cyclone model sidepulls were available from Rivendell and appeared on a test model in the old "Bicycle Guide" magazine). Even in this model, however, the extended head tube was a standard specification in the first catalogs and order forms that I've seen. The first catalog that I have (Summer 1996) states "Higher handlebars good!", so this seems have been part of the Rivendell design philosophy from very early on. The "All-Rounder" model of the original Rivendell was, in my opinion, quite similar to the later Atlantis bike and some subsequent Rivendell bikes (e.g. Saluki) . It was designed for 26" wheels (650B wheels and tires weren't really available at that time) and cantilever brakes. The catalog states that the inspiration for this model was based somewhat on the Bridgestone XO-1 (which was, in turn, "modeled after the French 650B-wheeled touring and the British 'rough stuff' bikes"). The bike that is the subject of this post is only partially representative of the original Rivendells, it's not the definitive example. Jim Cloud Tucson, AZ On Jul 17, 9:08 am, CycloFiend <cyclofi...@earthlink.net> wrote: > on 7/16/11 3:17 PM, Steve Palincsar at palin...@his.com wrote: > > >>http://gallery.me.com/rodendahl#100196 > > See, now /that/ is what a Rivendell is supposed to look like, not no > > 2TT2 much. > > Don't want no undertube, don't buy no undertube - it seems odd to be talking > about this like these don't exist - > > http://assets.rivbike.com/images/products/full/0000/3108/mark_s_roade... > > http://assets.rivbike.com/images/products/full/0000/0987/AHH_61_ff_30... > > I'm glad that GP has evolved his design ideas from 1994 - it would be sad if > he had not. The additional clearances he's added back to "road" frames is > one thing I like, which is pretty lacking in that early model. > > It's interesting too to look at the amount of seatpost showing on that > setup. That '94 Riv is set up like a race machine - max extension seatpost > to ensure the smallest frame (we'll come back to that idea in a second) and > the bars down low to ensure a nice flat, level back when powering along. > It's a race position paradigm. Which is neither good nor bad - it certainly > isn't where most of us are. > > Regarding the frame size - > the idea bandied about back then (and earlier, of course) was that you > wanted a small frame to ensure a stiff _triangle_ . We bought mountain > bikes that way (until the advent of suspension) and we bought our road bikes > that way. This whole idea of compact frames came from mountain bikes to road > bikes (via Giant and their TCR series ridden by the ONCE squad in the pro > peleton). These still had tiny triangles, but much, much longer seat posts > which enabled fewer sizes. Expanded (as practiced by GP) took that idea and > stretched bits of the design (headtubes longer and up-angle reduced) to > allow more real-world rider positioning. And in doing so, moved away from > the triangulation. > > Spent most of yesterday's ride counting "race" bike brands (i.e. mainstream) > which use long, tall headtubes, creating a convex polygon. Most of 'em. And > they do look more "wrong" to me than a second tube. Some of that is > aesthetics, possibly, but it does make me understand a bit what Grant might > be pondering as he looks at things. > > - J > > -- > Jim Edgar > cyclofi...@earthlink.net > > Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries -http://www.cyclofiend.com > Current Classics - Cross Bikes > Singlespeed - Working Bikes > > Gallery updates now appear here -http://cyclofiend.blogspot.com > > "'You both ride your bike?' He held his hands out and grabbed imaginary > handlebars, grinning indulgently, eyeing Tom's helmet. Double disbeleif: > not one, but two grown Americans riding bicycles." > -- Neal Stephenson, "Zodiac" -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
