Well said Jim.
I wish I could find the thing I read from Douglas Brooks where he
talks about 'resolved' and 'resourcefull' bikes.
A Hampsten Tournesol Rando bike is an example of a resolved bike.
Everything is optimized for the function of long distance/unsupported
riding.
A Rivendell (pick any one) is a premier example of a 'resourceful' bike.
Grant designs great riding bikes that are flexibly configurable. They
may be aimed at different
primary riding domains (Roadeo vs Bombadil) but can be setup across a
wide range within the
design target domain.
Underlying this approach to the hardware is a sensibility for
bicycling and bicyclers that is wide
ranging - everything but racing.
For me this sensibility has enriched the experience of bicycling
beyond the bounds of my perspective during
my first 20 years of riding. I was riding '10 speed racing bikes' and
should go fast, train, be like Eddy.
As I 'matured' I found the challenge of going fast and faster was
getting hard and harder.
I had to succumb to the dreaded triple to climb the hills around here.
Once I realized I wasn't racing. I started thinking about other
approaches.
Having discovered Rivendell I'm riding more and having more fun than
ever before.
-JimD
On Jan 8, 2011, at 11:09 AM Jan 8, 2011, CycloFiend wrote:
on 1/7/11 12:06 PM, Kelly Sleeper at tkslee...@gmail.com wrote:
(great questions which ended with...)
What makes the Rivendell Different.. how does one explain that
difference to
those that just see a steel antique looking bke?
I think there have been a couple of handling or "discussion of trail"
threads where this has popped up before. These are a couple points
I've
probably made before...
Rivendells (and I include all of the designs, not simply custom
models) have
a similar quality of ride. While a Roadeo is different from a
Bombadil,
there's an underlying set of design tenets which seems pretty
consistent.
For me, in my riding conditions, they are superlative. They are
stable,
predictable, solid handling bikes that generally keep me out of
trouble, and
then react appropriately when I'm silly enough to get my self into
it. If
they didn't handle well, nothing else would matter.
The handling and ride is a sum of a all parts. It isn't _JUST_
trail, head
angle, bb height, chainstay length, angles, and length. It's all of
those
things. You cannot just change one aspect and have the same bike.
The
bicycles are a product of those variables, plus the things which
Grant has
learned in the XX number of years of plotting out frames, testing
them and
thinking pretty deeply about the results.
The bicycle designs have grown to be incredibly versatile. Ten years
ago,
the longer reach brakes weren't availalble. The clearances which we
now
enjoy were only possible with canti brakes. Finding a 28mm 700C
tire was
difficult, let alone a higher quality 30mm+ tire. The limiting
factors have
been the components, and Grant has always been pushing the envelope
in this
particular corner of the bicycle world. Add to that his commitment
to high
quality bags and racks and you end up with a useful and continually
variable
design. As I've repeated too many times, both my Quickbeam and
Hilsen have
been errand bikes, road bikes, mountain bikes, race bikes and brevet
bikes
in the time I've had them. Over the past couple years, I've grown to
feel
that if a bicycle can't be fendered or adapted, it really is not a
"bicycle"
in the true sense. In other words, when people ask what my "road
bike" is,
I kind of stare at them blankly.
All of this could be done roughly, or quickly, or with a more
industrial
design tenet, but the fact that Rivendell connects the tubes with
lugs, has
small, undernoticed details and pays attention to decal fonts, paint
colors,
and bicycle packaging (just to pick out a quick few) to the extent
that they
do just locks them in for me. It distinguishes them as practitioners
of a
craft. It's important to me to support that. The "finish" work is
part of
the craft...part of the art of what they practice.
I suppose it's easy to equate the outside, finishing layer with the
whole.
The first thing someone notices is the paint layer, the contrasting
colors,
the lugs. While that's part of the equation, the strength lies
underneath.
- Jim
--
Jim Edgar
cyclofi...@earthlink.net
Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries - http://www.cyclofiend.com
Current Classics - Cross Bikes
Singlespeed - Working Bikes
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