Hey Joel, I think you make some excellent points. I feel that with Rivendell by the time the bike is in production everything is thought out and ready to roll. Oh sure, pretty much all their models except maybe the Bombadil are short a few braze-ons for me but I still feel like I know what I'm getting and I know it's going to work.
I feel fortunate to have two Toyo built Rivendells (AHH, Rambouillet). I purchased the AHH only a year ago for $1600. That does seem like a deal now. All the builders here in Portland are around $2000 for a frame and for some that doesn't include fork. And then there is the wait... Also, I've seen plenty of locally made frames that sorta miss the mark. Usually it's an issue of tire clearance or something. I hope Rivendell will keep at least one "high-end" production frame, the Atlantis or the AHH, but that just may not be economically possible for them. I always thought the Bleriot was a fantastic deal and a really nice looking bike and would have no problem with a Taiwanese made Atlantis (Atlantis 3?). Less fancy lugs would not be a problem for me. To me it seems like Rivendell is more on top of their game than ever. I've had no problem with anything I've ordered from them. They seem to have a solid inventory of products although I'm not sure about frames. Their workforce seems larger than it's ever been. And I really like what they're doing. --Mike On Aug 21, 6:28 am, JoelMatthews <[email protected]> wrote: > > As you say, there are many custom builders out there who make steel > bikes. Many could and would happily make something along the line of > the Atlantis. I know this first hand, as I have bought three custom > bikes over the years, am currently on a waiting list for a fourth and > also had a custom builder restore a forlorn Trek 728. > > Nevertheless, I appreciate what Riv does. Buying customs is fun, but > it is fraught with risks. Unless the buyer and the builder are > completely in sync, there is always a chance something the buyer wants > will not be understood correctly by the builder. Worse still, the > buyer may think they want something they really do not and the builder > will come through with what the buyer asked for but could not use. > > One of my customs turned out to be a complete disaster, (beautiful to > look at, a royal pain to ride). Because of my life situation I was > able to shrug it off, and sold it to a bike mechanic for less than the > components are worth, and moved on. If I could not afford such a > loss, or if I had kids or other dependants with needs of their own, > the bad experience might have poisoned me on good bikes for a long > time. > > When a person buys a Riv, the only thing to worry about is buying into > the Riv philosophy. With all the Riv Readers and other information > out there about the Riv experience on the net, in the press, from bike > shops, and current and former owners, it is pretty easy to understand > the philosophy. After that, everything is gravy. I at least think > that is worth something. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
