Rivendell Bicycle Works
Rivendell is a purveyor of cool tools for bicyclists. And a bicyle manufacturer. And a publisher. Rivendell (yes, it is named after that place) is a bicycle industry anomaly, for the diversity of its endeavors as well as its embrace of the tried and true over innovations in marketing and advertising. Think Filson meets Field Notes, and throw in a couple of spoked wheels on a meticulously handcrafted lugged steel frame.
I find the traditionalist approach of Rivendell founder and chief creative force Grant Petersen both enlightening and frustrating. His perspective on how marketing, advertising and professional racing affect what we buy when we walk into our local bike shops reminds me to seek functionality over newness. He promotes riding road bikes on unpaved fire roads, and I couldn't agree more. Yet his aversion to some technological advances that I love (clipless pedals; synthetics such as my stellar Castelli wind vest or Craft base layers) seems simply backward. Overall, though, I value his voice as a wise counterpoint to the mainstream bike business in the U.S.
In addition to enjoying the Rivendell Reader over the years, I've purchased from Rivendell a number of hard-to-find small items for various bike projects. I also discovered, and happily bought, my first and second Brooks saddles, as well as Nitto's excellent Albatross and Moustache handlebars while perusing Rivendell's unique catalog.
If the charming, gnome-like folks who live on the edge of black holes in outer space came here today and studied hikers, climbers, outdoor magazine cover models, or cyclists, they would get a false idea of the clothing and equipment required to survive and enjoy life outdoors. Most of today's "outdoor" fabrics were born inside a lab, and relentless promotional campaigns can make the ultra-sane wonder: Do natural materials even work? ….Wool regulates body heat much better than polyanything does, so you're more comfortable in a wider range of temperatures. A wool fiber is far more complex than a synthetic one, and its complication evolved to protect sheep roaming the icy crags of Scotland or the blistering hot ranges a half a world away in Australia. There may be extremes of climate where you live that now and then call out for something other than wool, but day in and day out, when you're outside, the best thing to wear is wool.
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Fit is the most important thing about your bike.
Don't buy any bike because of its parts or price or looks or anything like that. In that way, think of a bike the same way you'd think of a pair of shoes. A pair of Keds that don't fit is no bargain even at a nickel.
Of course, you know when shoes fit, because you've worn them since you were one and a half, or maybe even one (if you were advanced). A half size too small or big is obvious; no shoe-fitting PhD can tell you cramped toes or loose heels is A-OK.
But riding a bike and trying on shoes are not the same thing. When you sit on a bike, your body can lean, fold, bend, compress, extend, and stretch to meet the bike. If the bike fit is off significantly, you can still sit on the saddle, reach the pedals, and hold onto the handlebar. When you aren't really used to sitting on bikes, you don't know what constitutes a good fit, and you tend to believe the sales associate who tells you yeah, you look good now.
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Light is fine if it doesn't compromise safety and is marketed honestly. Selling "race-light" parts to recreational riders who weigh 50 pounds more than racers and won't get free parts every year is not honest....The components that matter most are those that affect riding position and safety. Those are stems and handlebars. Tires are next, because they affect comfort so much, and how the bike works over a variety of terrain. Things like derailers (note continued use of the Sheldon spelling) are the least important parts on the bike. Even low-end cheap derailers work great, even if they're made with crummy materials and look ugly and weigh too much. Big deal...worry about the things that matter.
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Dumbell Tool
This is probably more useful for older bikes since most bolts are allen these days, but this here has a 6 mm through a 15 mm spanner in one small package! The 15 is for nuts on fixed gear hubs. The 8, 9, and 10mm are good for brakes and fender nuts. The shape is conducive to carrying with you without maybe poking a hole in something. I/Grant use mine every other week or so for something.
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Sheldon's Fender Nuts
Named for Sheldon Brown, who bugged QBP to have them made, and thank goodness for that. The deal is: Modern frames have recessed allen fittings for the brakes, and they make it harder to mount fenders. They force you to mount the front fender in front of the crown, which is neither the end of the world, nor as desirable as mounting it in back of the crown--for easier on and off.
These nuts sub for the normal Allen brake nuts, and do double duty as fender nuts. The 13mm one is the front one; the 10'er is the rear. Stainless steel.
Favorite (15)
Aaron Cass
Rivendell is a great place to look for no-nonsense, non-carbon bicycle parts and accessories that are designed for function, not just to be the lightest weight possible. And they have a very informative and fun to read online catalog.
Other places to look for similarly no-nonsense parts are:
velo-orange.com
peterwhitecycles.com
Richard
The Reader is great; there aren't too many bike company publications w/ contests challenging subscribers to re-write stanzas from Poe's "The Raven" w/o using particular vowels.
And Grant Petersen's philosophy on bikes is spot-on for people who are interested in something more than just racing (That being said, they do have a new steel race bike, the Roadeo, coming out soon that looks amazing). With longer chain stays, lower bottom bracket, room for fatter tires (w/ fenders!) and a comfortable riding position, you can use Rivendells for commuters, for light or heavy tourers, off-road, or for just whizzing about. Steel and lugged, the bikes are damn solid, but they are nimble as all get out and descend like a dream. Unquestionably one of the best things I've ever bought.
Agree w/ Aaron on the links, both of those places are excellent. Disagree w/ Elon about clipless; they're needed for fixed gear bikes, racing, cyclocross, perhaps, but non-essential for everything else (a much larger circle in the venn diagram), and those clipless shoes are more than non-essential once one dismounts.
Brent
First, I enjoy just about everything posted as a "cool tool" on this website (including this one) and while I use a feed reader to read the site I do sometimes click through to the site for the occasionally valuable reader comments.. and this one has me stumped for it's lack of comments.
Back when Bruce Sterling was editing this there were many people who objected to his picks because they were expensive (albeit good) versions of otherwise everyday kind of objects (shoulder bags, jackets, litter boxes) - where now are the howls of protest and self-righteous mockery of a place that sells multi-thousand dollar bikes when you can obviously get perfectly functional bikes for a fraction of that cost?
Why are bikes exempt from these attacks while litter boxes are not? I know bikes are easy to like and love while litter boxes are not - is it because the number of people who fetishize bikes vastly outnumbers the number of people who fetishize litter boxes? Was the idea of paying $300 for a litter box that makes it so you NEVER HAVE TO SCOOP LITTER AGAIN simply unacceptable while paying $4000 for a ready-to-ride bike perfectly normal? Or is it because many people objected to something that did the work for you rather than allowed you to do the work better (or more easily or with greater pleasure)?
I really am curious.
Richard
First, the lede here is to Rivendell as a "purveyor of cool tools for bicyclists." So the main point was that you can get difficult to find and most useful bike tools at this website. (That dumbell tool is $8, and a cool tool).
The second virtue touted is the practical approach to cycling espoused by the owner of the company in its literature and on its site. Both of these things are illustrated in the excerpts that follow. If the post was just about the bikes, then you might have seen a photo of one of those. They are pretty fetching. But it's also about a unique attitude, and one that's been conspicuously missing from the marketplace.
Finally, although you can spend $4000 on a Rivendell, that's not close to the average price of a bike they sell, and it's not representative of the kind of company they are. (single-purpose carbon racing bikes, tho, w/ a lifespan of 4 yrs, do go for that). You know what is? Look at the text for the Sam Hillborne model (~$2000 complete), where the owner of the company tells you that it's kind of like a Surly LHT in its utility, and if you don't mind not having lugs, go buy one of those, b/c they're great bikes and cheaper. Name another company that does that for a competitor. Or in their Reader, where they tell you how to retrofit a steel '80s era mountain bike to do what their bikes do.
I'm not certain what you mean by "perfectly functional" bikes. Until the last couple of years, major bike companies showed little interest in selling "functional" bikes. And by that I mean bikes you can ride everyday, that would take a fatter tire than 28mm with fenders and go in the dirt, or a rack so you could do grocery shopping with it. They appear to be coming around. And part of the reason for that is companies like Rivendell. Oh, I should mention: the Rivendell bikes are worth the money.
Henry S
I drank Grant's Kool Aid back in his Bridgestone days when I bought my MB-4 mountain bike. I'm now the proud owner of a production Ramboulet, which should be the last bike I'll need to buy. I agree with most of their ideas regarding bike design, but I object to writings in the reader that people don't really need to wear helmets. I survived a crash where I landed on my head because I was wearing one.
Loren Pechtel
Dumbbell tool? I've always known that as a dogbone wrench!
PaulD
I like going to the Rivendell website because they have sort of a Ken Kifer (search him out on the internet; he unfortunately is no longer with us ) bicycle nomad mentality coupled with skepticism towards all things modern that I find refreshing. I probably starting using merino wool clothing because of them, and just a couple of weeks ago came across some great advice from their site: instead of using fancy "chamois butter" and other outrageously expensive concoctions, use petroleum jelly. (I got a squeeze tube at Target that makes me smell like a newborn baby!) My son and I just went on a three-day ride and it worked like a charm. Last but not least, Grant is a great catalog writer -- modest in his claims and with a wonderful sense of humor. Oh, I'm sorry, one more thing. Unless you're into major speed (which, face it, most of us are not) you won't see any advantage from locking your feet to your pedals (by whatever device) and I think it could end up causing a much more serious accident than you might otherwise have because you can't get your legs loose.
Michael C
I have an old Bridgestone form the era that Grant was there there that I still ride today and love. The attention to detail in the design is just outstanding. I've spent so much time on it that it feels like part of me when I ride it.
About a year ago I had the Bridgestone and a fancy newer mountain bike chained up together. The two chains were cut and the newer bike was stolen but the Bridgestone was left behind. I was bummed at the loss, but nowhere near as upset as I would have been had the older bike been taken.
Matt R
If you find yourself in the SF Bay Area, go visit Rivendell. It is in a back-alley light-industrial building behind a car-rental place, and it is just cool.
I have followed a lot of his ideas, and there are more than a few good ones. I only do Merino now (mostly icebreaker and smartwool). My bike is an old Miyata ($150) with new Nitto parts and a new seat from Rivendell. Part were not cheap, but I have a $550 bike that is nice to look at, is already 30 years old, and is quality.
In the real world, the Riv Bikes have an aesthetic appeal that you either are into or not, but the parts, bags, accessories, and approach are affordable and excellent.