Emily, Obviously, we don't know your personal finances, with that aside I agree with Chris there are other fine bicycles out there that will cost far less and do all that you want a bike to do but with less aesthetic beauty like the Surly's. I never thought I'd be able to afford a Rivendell but in 2012 I made the leap and have never regretted the decision, at current count we have an A. Homer Hilsen and my wife's Betty Foy. We love Riv's so much that I purchased a used Atlantis and am in the process of building it up...from all that I've gathered folks that have ridden the Atlantis love it as the highly versatile bike that Riv intended. But if you do some research there are custom builder's like Bantam Bicycle works up in Portland that may be less expensive http://bikeportland.org/2013/02/14/framebuilders-share-space-dreams-on-se-ankeny-82860
I know that other RBW list members have bicycles built by Bob and they look sweet. Worth a look. http://www.flickr.com/people/bikeforvictory/ You can probably contact him through Flickr or Chris can get you Bob's info. Just to be clear I have no idea how much a bike would cost through them. And lastly, the above comments about an Atlantis as an investment is completely valid...and you keep some really nice people in business. My two cents worth. Enjoy the process and I look forward to your decision. ~Hugh On Thursday, March 20, 2014 7:33:29 AM UTC-7, Emily Hutchinson wrote: > > Hello, > I am trying to talk myself into or out of a really pretty new Atlantis > with all it's parts. It would be the smaller frame because I'm short and > average weight 130. The price tag is somewhere around 4000 all said and > done and I feel stuck. My gut is pushing me in both directions because I've > never ridden an Atlantis. I'm also out of country and can't just go find > one to try. I love touring and I'd love to do some long international and > national tours and live in Colorado with hills. Okay thanks.Someone help > tip me! Is it irresponsible to spend this much money? > -- 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 http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.