Jason,
It's beautiful and I hope you do love it enough to keep it a long time. I
find my Rivendells bring me more joy than I ever imagined.
On Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 12:37:12 AM UTC-5, Jason Fuller wrote:
>
> So, I'm a life-long bike geek that raced XC mountain biking in the early
> 90s, competed in biketrials in the late 90s, then got into freeride
> mountain biking and downhill racing in the 2000s. I didn't really care
> about pavement-based riding until the mid-2000s, when I got into fixed gear
> bikes. In the late 2000s, I discovered cyclotouring, and in the early 2010s
> I discovered randonneuring. I still ride what Grant would consider a
> "motocross" type mountain bike, doing "stunt riding" as he'd call it. I
> also happen to live in Vancouver BC, which is the world's mecca of extreme
> mountain biking.
>
> All that to say, I've taken quite the path to end up owning a Rivendell,
> although they've been on my radar for almost 20 years. When I got into
> touring, I certainly coveted the Atlantis, but I wasn't willing to spend
> that kind of money on a frameset. I'm not exactly rich today either, but I
> think my appreciation for detail has increased to the point I was able to
> justify a (lower cost) Riv. This decision was accelerated by the impending
> end of my favourite model of the past few years, the Hillborne.
>
> A Soma Grand Randonneur donated its components for this build, which had
> been a great bike for me and has taken me on some big rides to cool places.
> I knew full well that I was moving to a "slower" bike by all standard
> measures, but I was excited by the new possibilities. I wanted to expand
> what I could do on this, my most expensive, bike. I wanted to be able to go
> on tours both on- and off-road, ride through some of the local forests with
> friends, yet also keep up with my roadie buddies (as best as I can) on
> pavement-based weekend club rides. I wanted a bike that will be up for
> anything.
>
> Obviously that requires compromise, but I am pretty impressed by how
> little compromising I've had to do. As you can see in the photos, my Sam
> has a split personality - fenders and Rene Herse 42c slicks, or
> Ultradynamico semi-knobby tires. It's kind of a pain to switch between the
> two, but the rest of the build works so well for either version I can't
> imagine changing anything in the near future. The bike is not quite as
> quick as my Soma, but damned if it isn't close. The comfort is incredible,
> and that was a surprise, as the Soma is a very compliant frame (much
> thinner walled, both in frame and fork). It's much more stable than the
> Soma, yet carves a turn so well I nearly over-steer sometimes. This might
> be partly the hugely wide, 645mm Towel Rack handlebars.
>
> This bike is new to me only this once, and I hope to break my tendency of
> switching bikes every few years with this one. I hope to be riding this
> bike 10, even 20 years from now. Only time will tell.
>
>
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