A story I've neglected to tell here... A month ago, the kids and I were riding the Greenbelt (our in-town bike/walking trail). I usually take notice of other bikes along the way, hoping to catch the fella that had a green Quickbeam (only other Riv I've seen on the Greenbelt, aside from my Rambouillet). A couple of miles along, there was an elderly gentleman sitting on one of the benches with his bicycle parked beside him (a Schwinn, if I remember); I remembered him because he had a brown sprung saddle and a handlebar bag, which you never see (75% of the bikes on this trail are NEXT BSO's from WalMart). We usually say 'Hi' to whoever we pass, but continue to roll along at a good clip. We rode out to one of our usual turn-around points, and was about halfway back when we encountered the gentleman again. I spotted him far enough ahead to notice that he had seen us and was stopping, so I slowed up a bit as we approached, when he hailed me.... "Can we talk for a minute? It's not often you get to see one of Grant Petersen's designs out on this trail..." So he and I ended up chatting for about 20 minutes. Nice fella, Mr. Brooks, said he used to run a bike shop, had retired almost 20 years earlier. Said he loved Grant's bikes from back then, and was excited that he'd just gotten a Bridgestone on ebay (I can't remember if it was an MB or an XO).
As we rode away, my 9-yr-old daughter said "I know, your bike's famous..." Well, at least in our house, it is... Thing is, I love the name Rivendell. I knew about Rivendell as a bike company, but I had no idea what the heck a Rambouillet was. I bought the bike because it was an awesome bike, regardless of the name. Yeah, I think I kinda wished it said Rivendell instead of Rambouillet; but, at the same time, I can see how reserving that label for customs might not be a bad thing, either. (If it wasn't for money, I'd 'almost' order a custom Rivendell that was a copy of my Rambouillet, to have 'Rivendell' on it.) But by the same token.... if I lock my bike up outside a restaurant, and it says 'Rambouillet' on it, and no one knows what it is other than 'an old steel bike', then maybe it'll get left alone, whereas perhaps the name 'Rivendell' just might have a bit better chance of being known as an expensive bike, maybe being a bit more of a target then? But, even called a Rambouillet, I had a stranger stop me on the trail to look at my Rivendell... so, maybe, it doesn't really matter... those in the know will know, and those that don't, don't care... On Thursday, August 4, 2011 10:35PM -0700, Joe Bernard wrote: > > > My assumption is that it is the result of "Rivendell" - the original > production models from Waterford - becoming the high-end customs, so > they > needed a way to differentiate the production Atlantis from the customs, > then > kept at the practice as they became more of a "production bike" company > > again. I personally dislike this approach. I owned a Romulus, and never > > liked the name much. I always wished that it was a "Rivendell", with > the > model name in smaller letters on the toptube. > > I can see the problem, though. In the early '90s Schwinn established a > road-and-MTB line called "Paramount", while still producing custom > high-end > Paramount road bikes. That probably pissed a lot of "real Paramount" > owners > off, and still causes a mess on Craigslist. > > Sooo..I don't really like the practice, but can't think of a way around > it. > Helpful, no? > > Joe "helpful, no" Bernard > Fairfield, CA. > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/pQhITjqhiMcJ. 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.
