Nice recap! A lovely Winter's Read :-) There were also several "anonymous" builders that came in to play either before or after the match (small-case) bikes. Richard Sachs built a couple for sure (friend has a "RS" frame!).
Mark Nobilette starting building frames to help Curt manage the load. He built up a lot of the Protovelos. Now Mark is the only custom frame builder that I'm aware of. He also builds under his own name<http://www.nobilettecycles.com/background.htm>, and either co-owns or works for the current owners of the Rene Herse<http://www.renehersebicycles.com/>line. I wish them all the best! On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 7:54 PM, Tim McNamara <[email protected]> wrote: > > This has been only part of the story. When Rivendell opened up, they > had an agreement with Waterford to build their frames. Initially the > frames were not customs, they were made in a range of sizes. > Rivendell had a guy named Gary Boulanger who worked at Waterford > doing frame prep, packing, etc. to handle the Riv frames. The custom > thing slowly crept in, Grant's ideas kept developing, sales > increased, etc. and eventually Rivendell and Waterford parted ways > amicably. > > (IIRC the Heron line was developed before that happened and were > still built by Waterford for a while after the Riv frames were no > longer made there. Heron was a three-way joint venture between Riv, > Waterford and another guy whose name I have forgotten. There were > too many people for this to be profitable, though, and Riv pulled > out. Eventually the Heron product line was sold to Todd at Tullio's > Cyclery in Illinois; Todd got out of the bike business a year or two > back.) > > Rivendell hired Joe Starck to build frames; he had been a builder for > Masi and other places (maybe Waterford, too). I don't remember if > painting was subbed out to Joe Bell right away, since Joe Starck > didn't paint AFAIK. As the waiting list expanded, part of the > Rivendell line (All-Rounders and maybe some other frames) were subbed > out to Match Cycles, which was owned by Tim Match. Curt Goodrich > worked for Match and built quite a few of the frames made there. > When Match went away, Curt moved back to Minneapolis came on board > with Rivendell as their second frame builder. For a period of time, > both Curt and Joe built Rivendells. Joe stopped, Curt went on. The > waiting list grew and Curt also developed his own frame business. > Oddly enough I can't remember who's been building customs since Curt > stopped, I guess I haven't been paying enough attention. > > Grant has periodically looked for ways to produce lower-cost frames > than the full customs. Those have their own histories. In terms of > geometry, I think that few people need a custom frame. Human > proportions tend to vary pretty consistently, and most of the > variations can be easily accommodated with the various adjustments > that are possible. It's the details- braze-ons, brake reach, tire > clearance, etc.- that really determine the utility of a frame for > specific needs. > > > > -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
