Here is mine: 1990-1991: everyone in my circle of friends started noticing Bstone mountain bikes. I was riding my cheap GT Outpost at the time. Bridgestone's adherance to smart parts and their lovely riding and climbing geometry offroad was becoming known to us as each of us started buying one. (Eli: 1990 MB-2, Jay: 1990 MB-4, Steve: 1991 MB-2, my brother Dave: 1991 MB-3, Bill (who had money): 1991 MB-1.) I wasn't serious about getting one until my brother showed me the ad for the 1991 Red MB-4 made in Japan with a fully lugged Ritchey frame - such quality at the budget end! The sensibility of the bike and the ad hooked me, as did the the page for it in the catalog: "We LIKE this bike."
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridgestone/1991/pages/bridgestone-1991-16.htm It cost $550 and was the first big thing I ever bought with my own money. I was in college at the time. I love that bike. I still ride it as my main mountain bike even though I have a newer Niner. I got into reading all the Bridgestone catalogs over the next couple of years. I was upset when the 1994 bikes came with Rapidfire and moreso when later that year, Bridgestone left the US market. Summer of 1994 happened to also be my entry into the world post-school, and one of the first things I did was to get an RB-2 while they could still be had. I got it from the Missing Link in Berkeley: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridgestone/1994/pages/46.htm My bike preferences formed in those years riding both of those bikes - a great pair of bikes to have. In this time, I knew nothing of the name Grant Petersen. In late '94, I liked my pair of Bridgestones so much that I decided to call the San Leandro number of the Bridgestone office that was printed on the back of the catalog to see if there any remaining XO's to be sold (naive I realize.) Part of the reason I called was that the Bridgestone ads over the years definitely had a friendly tone that made calling them seem pretty reasonable. In '92 I think I ented a contest where you cut out the ad and "draw, paste, or paint" a helmet onto Pineapple Bob's head (from the picture in the ad.) So anyway, when I called the now defunct Bridestone in late '94, there was an answering machine greeting telling us to keep our eyes open for Grant's up-and-coming business called Rivendell Bicycle Works. As an LOTR fan, I loved the name, and I was really intrigued by the idea of the new company. Then survival concerns took over for the next 10 months or so - had to figure out where to live, how to have a job, etc., and in the midst of this, I crashed my RB-2 in the summer of 1995 and head-buckled the frame. This really bummed me out. I put a lot of effort into replacing the frame with something that I considered equally groovy. (Remember, no eBay back then.) I then remembered the Rivendell message I had heard, wasn't sure if it got off the ground yet, but somehow found their phone number. I called, wondering if one of their frames could be the replacement. Grant answered the phone. By this time, I had learned that he was pretty well-known, and thought it was really cool that he gave some time on the phone to give me advice. I also learned that the $950 Rivendell Road was going to be way more than I could afford at the time! From our conversation, I knew I wanted a membership, so Grant set that up, and in that summer and fall of 1995, I made a few calls to Riv ordering the really cool parts they were selling, a lot of NOS stuff like good DiaCompe brakes. Usually Grant, sometimes Spencer, was who I talked to on the phone. It was really fun keeping up with their progress in those days (including the Reader's progress reports), and in the mid-90's, they were one of the only fun bike companies that was easy for me to access. I also learned a lot more about how to spec-it-yourself on your bike. My replacement RB-2 that I eventually found came out pretty cool, and I rode it work in Colorado every day. I remember Grant explaining things on the phone like how different stems have different quill lengths - fun times! I really wanted Riv to do well. In June of 1996, I got to move back to California as I had wanted to, and during my drive out, I stayed with my sister in Berkeley. By this time, I had learned (probably from one of the Readers) that a visit to Riv HQ was possible, but I also knew that their space limitations at the time might make it inconvenient for them. I got there with my RB-2 on BART, and I met Spencer and Grant, and their old space was really small. But they were really nice. Grant like how I had set up some of their parts on my RB-2 (mustache bars, high technomic and non-Aero brake levers.) To get back to Berkeley, I wanted to ride my bike. It's a long ride, and Grant drew me a map on a copy of his book from the 80's "Roads to Ride" that he also gave me. So nice! So since then, I've continued to update my membership and continued reading every Reader and have rooted for them and used them as a go-to for high-quality nonracing bike parts that work well for the do-it-yourselfer. And in the 16 years since, I have enjoyed several of their models which are optimized for a Diablo-style of riding which is very similar to the riding that I like to do where I live in Southern California. I was a Rivendell customer for several years before getting one of their frames. I've always found it interesting that my own personal interest in bicycles and working on them so closely paralleled the growth of Rivendell as a company. Part of that is coincidental; it just so happens that 1995 was when I really started getting into it, and I would have gotten increasingly into bikes whether or not Rivendell came into being. But I know that having Rivendell as a source all these years has been influential. -Jim W. -----Original Message----- >From: Marc Schwartz <mschw...@nmsu.edu> >Sent: Aug 22, 2012 1:59 PM >To: "rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com" <rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> >Subject: RE: [RBW] Re: What's your Rivendell story? > >The Like-Minded Crazies >(An alternate name for The Rivendell Owners Bunch) >Dat's Us! >________________________________________ >From: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com [rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com] on >behalf of Marc Irwin [irwin7...@gmail.com] >Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 2:50 PM >To: rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com >Subject: [RBW] Re: What's your Rivendell story? > >Beats the crap out of me! I think I was dreaming and surfing about a custom >(in the seventies, I dreamed of a Bayliss frame). That led to a bookmark on >my browser years ago, years of obsessive browsing, one >decision<http://simplecycle-marc.blogspot.com/2010/12/elves-of-rivendell-are-delivering-for.html> > after >another<http://simplecycle-marc.blogspot.com/2011/02/me-and-mixte.html>, a >Hunqapillar and Hilborne in the garage, traveling across country to meet like >minded crazies. Yeah, it's good. > >Marc > > >On Tuesday, August 21, 2012 11:06:10 AM UTC-4, lungimsam wrote: >So how did you originally find out about them, and why/where/how did you get >your first Rivendell bike? > >-- >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/-/PwBM6TIzHn8J. >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. > >-- >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. > -- 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.
