Jay Connolly prophesied what will happen if Rivendell doesn't make a disc-brake single bike.
I've prophesied that Rivendell is not going to make a disc-brake single bike. *BUT*....if they did decide to make a test run of disc brake equipped bikes, what would you have them build? In my opinion, the way they should do it would be to take the tandem and hack the middle out of it: https://www.rivbike.com/collections/web-special-frames/products/tandem?variant=39171992845 The segmented fork design allows them to use 9/8" threadless steerer without having to cast a new fork crown. The existing braze-on headtube rings also are established components. They'd need a disc-brake tab solution, maybe off the shelf, and (I hope) a through-axle fork tip. The rear end is also close to done. They could stay with the existing vertical QR dropouts, but a through axle would be much more forward-looking. Mike Varley collaborated with SoulCraft to design the through axle solution for the SoulCraft Treehorn. Maybe Riv could buy those dropouts. The result might be an even-beefier disc-Hunqapillar, made in Taiwan, and could be significantly less expensive than the $1800 price point of the tandem, maybe half-way between the $850 Clem and the $1800 tandem. Maybe a $1300 frameset. Build 50 of those to test the waters. That wouldn't be impossible, and in the Rosco-Bubbe kind of batch-format, wouldn't involve any deep apostasy to their core values. I don't think they will do it, but if they did something like that, it would not be insane, in my opinion. Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 6:41:00 AM UTC-7, Jay Connolly wrote: > > I used only canti brakes a quite a while. Then I went ro discs. When I > discovered v-brakes, I wondered why I had bothered with discs. For true > MTBs, I think discs are an advantage in mud, and I prefer XT-level > hydraulics, which have been faultless, for me. Most mechanicals are fiddly, > though the best I've found are TRP Spyres, which are less so. Back to > v-brakes: TRP CX9s are the strongest brakes I have used--bar none, > including discs. They don't allow much more than a 35mm tire with fenders, > but they are strong enough to pitch anyone over the bars. On my Appaloosa > I'm running Avid Single-Digit 7s, ands they are more than strong enough for > me--as good or better than any mechanical disc I've used. > > Having said that, there's this: Riv can't win the battle against industry > "progress" on this issue, unfortunately, because the perception will be > that the bikes are pre-obsolete and the fear will be that replacement parts > will be unavailable. Both will hit sales harder and harder as time marches > forward. I ride with 30-year-olds who have never owned a bike without > discs. As these people age and acquire the earning power to embrace a wider > set of values in their bicycles, they will likely reject the bikes on the > brake issue. I love everything about the company, including their > collective stubbornness, but I would also like to see the business survive > and thrive. > > Jay > > -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
