Rivendell customer service is very good - Page 3 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

03-04-2005, 06:05 PM

"kituyjkm" <fchg> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I don't get the Rivendell stuff.
>
> They make bikes like they used to be made. Lugged frames, etc., only
> they charge huge prices. Why not just get an old bike that was made
> the way they used to make them- you can pick one up out of a dumpster
> or pay $5 at a police auction. Then spend a few bucks on replacing
> the busted parts, or maybe even upgrading them and Voila! you have a
> Rivendell for about 1/100th - 1/10 th the cost.
>
> I am always amazed at how so many people will pay crazy prices for
> things they can easily do themselves for much lower cost.
>
If you tell me I can find an intricately HAND BRAZED, custom made,
beautifully painted bicycle at a police auction I'll eat my hat. Rivendells
are handmade functional art, as Frank said. It's not the same as a mass
produced Bianchi, or Trek, or whatever. They're in a class with Sachs,
Waterford, etc. Custom is custom. And custom is worth the price.

03-04-2005, 06:07 PM

"Matt O'Toole" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> kituyjkm wrote:
>
> > I don't get the Rivendell stuff.
> >
> > They make bikes like they used to be made. Lugged frames, etc., only
> > they charge huge prices. Why not just get an old bike that was made
> > the way they used to make them- you can pick one up out of a dumpster
> > or pay $5 at a police auction. Then spend a few bucks on replacing
> > the busted parts, or maybe even upgrading them and Voila! you have a
> > Rivendell for about 1/100th - 1/10 th the cost.
> >
> > I am always amazed at how so many people will pay crazy prices for
> > things they can easily do themselves for much lower cost.
>
> That's all fine if you have the time, ability, and inclination to do it.
Some
> people don't. They have the money to spend, and they're happy to spend
it --
> especially to support artisans and small businesses. If there weren't
people
> willing to "pay too much" for things, a lot of these things would
disappear.
> What is it that Oscar Wilde said, about people who know the price of
everything,
> but the value of nothing?
>

Nice quote, Matt. It's true. Lugged and brazed frames will go the way of the
dodo if nobody appreciates the artistry involved. I think they're beautiful,
and I would like to support a company like Rivendell, which has the guts to
buck the norm and offer a product such as theirs.

03-04-2005, 06:07 PM

"Matt O'Toole" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> kituyjkm wrote:
>
> > I don't get the Rivendell stuff.
> >
> > They make bikes like they used to be made. Lugged frames, etc., only
> > they charge huge prices. Why not just get an old bike that was made
> > the way they used to make them- you can pick one up out of a dumpster
> > or pay $5 at a police auction. Then spend a few bucks on replacing
> > the busted parts, or maybe even upgrading them and Voila! you have a
> > Rivendell for about 1/100th - 1/10 th the cost.
> >
> > I am always amazed at how so many people will pay crazy prices for
> > things they can easily do themselves for much lower cost.
>
> That's all fine if you have the time, ability, and inclination to do it.
Some
> people don't. They have the money to spend, and they're happy to spend
it --
> especially to support artisans and small businesses. If there weren't
people
> willing to "pay too much" for things, a lot of these things would
disappear.
> What is it that Oscar Wilde said, about people who know the price of
everything,
> but the value of nothing?
>

Nice quote, Matt. It's true. Lugged and brazed frames will go the way of the
dodo if nobody appreciates the artistry involved. I think they're beautiful,
and I would like to support a company like Rivendell, which has the guts to
buck the norm and offer a product such as theirs.

03-04-2005, 06:46 PM

On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 14:52:02 -0600, kituyjkm <fchg> wrote:

> Why not just get an old bike that was made
>the way they used to make them- you can pick one up out of a dumpster
>or pay $5 at a police auction. Then spend a few bucks on replacing
>the busted parts, or maybe even upgrading them and Voila! you have a
>Rivendell for about 1/100th - 1/10 th the cost.
>
>I am always amazed at how so many people will pay crazy prices for
>things they can easily do themselves for much lower cost.

I have bought and built up several steel bikes from thrift store 80's
framesets. I would not denigrate Rivendell by calling them equal
value, but they ride well, after a lot of work, and will most likely
last forever unless I abuse them.

Here's my adventure in getting a good lugged steel bike from Goodwill,
actually several, but beware I did *not* save a whole lot of money...

1. It took and still takes many trips and many hours hounding
Goodwill, Salvation Army etc to find a decent bike... many, many hours
and trips believe me. Luckily I live in a rust-free zone, that helps
a lot.

2. Then when I find a great one it is 4 cm too small for me... rats!

3. But I buy it anyway, no sense letting those good parts go to waste,
and heck it's only twenty bucks, forty bucks whatever.

4. So four too-small bikes later I finally find one in my size, wooo
hoo but now I have to build bike racks throughout the garage, up to
six bikes now counting the $1500 store-bought full-suspenson MTB just
to tide me over til I get my save-money road bike built.

5. Let's see, working on my like-new 1984 Peugeot, 501 steel, cool
chrome fork with neat panto on the sloping crown, new tires are
needed, they cost a bit of change, no way to use twenty year old
tires... oh oh can't use the extra 27" tires I bought for my
oldie-but-goodie Schwinn Le Tour... when the heck did they change to
this new-fangled 700c stuff?

6. Okay, a few bucks for a workstand and tools, couple hundred,
nothing fancy, so I can ...

7. Rebuild the BB and headset and hubs... Ooops, where did those
little bitty ball bearings go, under the workbench somewhere, damn,
off to Nashbar to buy ball bearings, might as well get a couple bags
of every size while I'm at it... oh and look at all that other neat
stuff, 'nother couple hundred, no sweat...

8. Like-new old Peugeot, 501 lugged steel, fairly long chainstays, all
ready to ride, monsieur, and it does ride great, but the shifting and
braking leaves a little to be desired... darn.

9. But wait! Trip #84 to Goodwill nets a cool Fila bike with
dual-pivot RSX brakes! And a pretty good crankset! And indexed
downtube shifters and deraillers! Of course frame's too small (how
come everyone who donates their bike to Goodwill is 5'4"?) So up go
the bikes on the workstand and trades are in order, now with new pads
and dual pivot brakes and indexed shifting I am riding and stopping
like mad on that fine Peugeot!

10. So far I've only spent about six hundred, so I have saved a lot,
and I also have accumulated (in my size)
10.1 a cool all-black 1987 Cannondale (27" wheels, brazeons for
touring, double but nicely geared for a light load, side-pulls that
would not stop for nothing til I put on some salmon Koolstops;
10.2 three Schwinns, one a good tourer that I ride on the canal trails
like an XC bike,
10.3 another a spare,
10.4 and the third a pretty clean and good looking fast bike from the
early days of indexed ders, with 700c wheels with pretty new 23mm
Vittorio tires.
10.5 a neat full DA bike from the days when the rear der was Crane
10.6 plus five good MTBs, a couple of which are comfort bikes, and
three hard-charging hardtails almost as good as my $1500 model.

....so, if I were someone whose time is money, my cheap bikes would
probably have so far cost me double or triple what a custom-built
Rivendell costs. And lots more than a Surly LHT which with a spare
set of wheels set up with different tires would no doubt fill all my
road bike needs.

I'm having fun, and I've learned a lot about how to differentiate
between a good old bike and something not worth a plugged nickel. Of
course I still dream that someone out there has a near-mint 1984 Trek
720 tourer or 1988 Schwinn Voyageur in 25" size that they will trade
for my 21" and 19" bikes.

But my wife says I have to stop saving money now, if I save any more
money we will be broke quick, besides the garage is completely full of
bikes, only one small path to get out, bikes two-high stacked to the
ceiling... maybe should donate some to Goodwill...

....but my biggest fear is I will inadvertently buy back from Goodwill
a good old bike I DONATED TO THEM!

--
John Mustarde
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

03-04-2005, 06:46 PM

On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 14:52:02 -0600, kituyjkm <fchg> wrote:

> Why not just get an old bike that was made
>the way they used to make them- you can pick one up out of a dumpster
>or pay $5 at a police auction. Then spend a few bucks on replacing
>the busted parts, or maybe even upgrading them and Voila! you have a
>Rivendell for about 1/100th - 1/10 th the cost.
>
>I am always amazed at how so many people will pay crazy prices for
>things they can easily do themselves for much lower cost.

I have bought and built up several steel bikes from thrift store 80's
framesets. I would not denigrate Rivendell by calling them equal
value, but they ride well, after a lot of work, and will most likely
last forever unless I abuse them.

Here's my adventure in getting a good lugged steel bike from Goodwill,
actually several, but beware I did *not* save a whole lot of money...

1. It took and still takes many trips and many hours hounding
Goodwill, Salvation Army etc to find a decent bike... many, many hours
and trips believe me. Luckily I live in a rust-free zone, that helps
a lot.

2. Then when I find a great one it is 4 cm too small for me... rats!

3. But I buy it anyway, no sense letting those good parts go to waste,
and heck it's only twenty bucks, forty bucks whatever.

4. So four too-small bikes later I finally find one in my size, wooo
hoo but now I have to build bike racks throughout the garage, up to
six bikes now counting the $1500 store-bought full-suspenson MTB just
to tide me over til I get my save-money road bike built.

5. Let's see, working on my like-new 1984 Peugeot, 501 steel, cool
chrome fork with neat panto on the sloping crown, new tires are
needed, they cost a bit of change, no way to use twenty year old
tires... oh oh can't use the extra 27" tires I bought for my
oldie-but-goodie Schwinn Le Tour... when the heck did they change to
this new-fangled 700c stuff?

6. Okay, a few bucks for a workstand and tools, couple hundred,
nothing fancy, so I can ...

7. Rebuild the BB and headset and hubs... Ooops, where did those
little bitty ball bearings go, under the workbench somewhere, damn,
off to Nashbar to buy ball bearings, might as well get a couple bags
of every size while I'm at it... oh and look at all that other neat
stuff, 'nother couple hundred, no sweat...

8. Like-new old Peugeot, 501 lugged steel, fairly long chainstays, all
ready to ride, monsieur, and it does ride great, but the shifting and
braking leaves a little to be desired... darn.

9. But wait! Trip #84 to Goodwill nets a cool Fila bike with
dual-pivot RSX brakes! And a pretty good crankset! And indexed
downtube shifters and deraillers! Of course frame's too small (how
come everyone who donates their bike to Goodwill is 5'4"?) So up go
the bikes on the workstand and trades are in order, now with new pads
and dual pivot brakes and indexed shifting I am riding and stopping
like mad on that fine Peugeot!

10. So far I've only spent about six hundred, so I have saved a lot,
and I also have accumulated (in my size)
10.1 a cool all-black 1987 Cannondale (27" wheels, brazeons for
touring, double but nicely geared for a light load, side-pulls that
would not stop for nothing til I put on some salmon Koolstops;
10.2 three Schwinns, one a good tourer that I ride on the canal trails
like an XC bike,
10.3 another a spare,
10.4 and the third a pretty clean and good looking fast bike from the
early days of indexed ders, with 700c wheels with pretty new 23mm
Vittorio tires.
10.5 a neat full DA bike from the days when the rear der was Crane
10.6 plus five good MTBs, a couple of which are comfort bikes, and
three hard-charging hardtails almost as good as my $1500 model.

....so, if I were someone whose time is money, my cheap bikes would
probably have so far cost me double or triple what a custom-built
Rivendell costs. And lots more than a Surly LHT which with a spare
set of wheels set up with different tires would no doubt fill all my
road bike needs.

I'm having fun, and I've learned a lot about how to differentiate
between a good old bike and something not worth a plugged nickel. Of
course I still dream that someone out there has a near-mint 1984 Trek
720 tourer or 1988 Schwinn Voyageur in 25" size that they will trade
for my 21" and 19" bikes.

But my wife says I have to stop saving money now, if I save any more
money we will be broke quick, besides the garage is completely full of
bikes, only one small path to get out, bikes two-high stacked to the
ceiling... maybe should donate some to Goodwill...

....but my biggest fear is I will inadvertently buy back from Goodwill
a good old bike I DONATED TO THEM!

--
John Mustarde
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

03-05-2005, 05:14 PM

"Peter Cole" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:1109945521.491221.312000@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Gooserider wrote:
> > I paid Rivendell $20 on Sunday for a subscription to the Rivendell
> Reader
> > and a catalog. It was mailed on Monday, and arrived here in Florida
> on
> > Wednesday, which was surprising. I read the catalog and I'm starting
> to
> > think they're on to something with the whole "functional bike" thing.
> I'm
> > not financially able to buy a Rivendell now, but I'm considering
> buying a
> > longer stem to get my bars even with my saddle. Not knowing what I
> needed, I
> > called Rivendell. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with Rich, who
> worked with
> > the limited info I was able to give(called from work, no bike to
> measure),
> > and he gave me an idea what I needed, but wanted me to measure and
> get back
> > to him. No pressure. I'm going to buy the Nitto Technomic stem and if
> > raising the bars makes things more comfortable, I think I'm going to
> put
> > down a deposit on a Rivendell custom. 2 years wait and $3500-$4000,
> but I
> > think that will be the bike I hand down to my kids.
>
> Whatever. See: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] for a
> discussion of bar height & options to increase. There's a link on that
> page to Harris parts, including the Nitto.
>
> Sheldon & the folks at Harris are very friendly, don't require a
> subscription or a waiting list.

There's no subscription necessary to deal with Rivendell, just to get the
Rivendell Reader. As for the wait---that's to have a custom frame built.
They have ONE builder and ONE painter. Sheldon Brown is an excellent guy,
and Harris is an excellent bike shop, but they can't fabricate the bike,
now, can they?

03-05-2005, 05:14 PM

"Peter Cole" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:1109945521.491221.312000@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>
> Gooserider wrote:
> > I paid Rivendell $20 on Sunday for a subscription to the Rivendell
> Reader
> > and a catalog. It was mailed on Monday, and arrived here in Florida
> on
> > Wednesday, which was surprising. I read the catalog and I'm starting
> to
> > think they're on to something with the whole "functional bike" thing.
> I'm
> > not financially able to buy a Rivendell now, but I'm considering
> buying a
> > longer stem to get my bars even with my saddle. Not knowing what I
> needed, I
> > called Rivendell. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with Rich, who
> worked with
> > the limited info I was able to give(called from work, no bike to
> measure),
> > and he gave me an idea what I needed, but wanted me to measure and
> get back
> > to him. No pressure. I'm going to buy the Nitto Technomic stem and if
> > raising the bars makes things more comfortable, I think I'm going to
> put
> > down a deposit on a Rivendell custom. 2 years wait and $3500-$4000,
> but I
> > think that will be the bike I hand down to my kids.
>
> Whatever. See: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] for a
> discussion of bar height & options to increase. There's a link on that
> page to Harris parts, including the Nitto.
>
> Sheldon & the folks at Harris are very friendly, don't require a
> subscription or a waiting list.

There's no subscription necessary to deal with Rivendell, just to get the
Rivendell Reader. As for the wait---that's to have a custom frame built.
They have ONE builder and ONE painter. Sheldon Brown is an excellent guy,
and Harris is an excellent bike shop, but they can't fabricate the bike,
now, can they?

03-05-2005, 07:39 PM

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 01:14:52 GMT,
<gQsWd.129433$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com> ,
"Gooserider" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>As for the wait---that's to have a custom frame built.
>They have ONE builder and ONE painter.

Here's a hand brazed custom or semi custom frame builder with a
history of doing it right. Some of their employees have been brazing,
painting and detailing frames for over 30 years.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Certain models are custom sized for no extra charge.
The "King of Mercia" ranges from ~$730 to $1100 depending on your
choice of Reynolds tubing. Most braze-ons are standard though you can
specify which ones you want.

The lugs on the Vincitore are as fancy as anything you're likely to
see. http://www.merciancycles.co.uk/frame...itore_vl_3.jpg
The most expensive one is a full $1000 less than the Rivendell and you
could be riding it at least a year sooner. I doubt your heirs will
notice the extra wear when it becomes theirs.

Their paint selection is boggling.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

If you're willing to wait ten days after completion, shipping and
insurance is only ~$150.

When English frame builders are asked to name the best frames built in
England, "Mercian" is consistently mentioned near the top of the list.

The Rivendell has a pretty head badge and certain cache with the
nouveau rich. Waiting two years for custom frame is crazy unless it's
really unique. Rivendells just aren't that unique. They're simply
mimicking what Mercian has been doing since Grant Peterson was riding
with training wheels.
--
zk

03-05-2005, 07:39 PM

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 01:14:52 GMT,
<gQsWd.129433$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com> ,
"Gooserider" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>As for the wait---that's to have a custom frame built.
>They have ONE builder and ONE painter.

Here's a hand brazed custom or semi custom frame builder with a
history of doing it right. Some of their employees have been brazing,
painting and detailing frames for over 30 years.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Certain models are custom sized for no extra charge.
The "King of Mercia" ranges from ~$730 to $1100 depending on your
choice of Reynolds tubing. Most braze-ons are standard though you can
specify which ones you want.

The lugs on the Vincitore are as fancy as anything you're likely to
see. http://www.merciancycles.co.uk/frame...itore_vl_3.jpg
The most expensive one is a full $1000 less than the Rivendell and you
could be riding it at least a year sooner. I doubt your heirs will
notice the extra wear when it becomes theirs.

Their paint selection is boggling.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

If you're willing to wait ten days after completion, shipping and
insurance is only ~$150.

When English frame builders are asked to name the best frames built in
England, "Mercian" is consistently mentioned near the top of the list.

The Rivendell has a pretty head badge and certain cache with the
nouveau rich. Waiting two years for custom frame is crazy unless it's
really unique. Rivendells just aren't that unique. They're simply
mimicking what Mercian has been doing since Grant Peterson was riding
with training wheels.
--
zk

03-05-2005, 07:39 PM

4 Mar 2005 09:30:10 -0800,
<1109957410.076193.284480@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups .com>,
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:

>Regarding the waiting list: That's only for their custom or
>semi-custom bike frames. Rivendell is a tiny operation selling bikes
>that are works of functional art. It's the market segment they choose
>to serve.

You're paying dearly for the name and the whole shtick.
There are frame builders who've been doing that way all along.

For instance: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
--
zk