A Stop at Rivendell Headquarters

23 Thursday Jun 2011

Tags

a. homer hilsen, albatross, Bombadil, Grant Peterson, Hunqapiller, Moustache, porteur, rivendell, SimpleOne, Wool

I was on a tech conference trip in Santa Clara last week, and decided to make the trek up to Rivendell headquarters since I was in the area. This was my second visit since getting my A. Homer Hilsen in 2009. A co-worker tagged along for the ride, and we had an enjoyable morning in Walnut Creek. After I found my way up to the garage that is HQ, we walked into the first bay, and true to the last time I visited, nobody was there. We were browsing around for only a short time, when who else but Grant Peterson himself came in and asked if anyone was helping us.

I asked him if I could take a couple bikes out for a spin, and he asked me my PBH. Within about 5 minutes, he had set up 4 different bikes for me to ride. They were all different in a big way:

58cm Hunqapiller (with diagonal tube) with drops bars
54cm Hunqapiller (no diagatube) with moustache bars
58cm SimpleOne in single speed mode with Grip Kings and albatross bars
60cm Bombadil (with diagatube) and bullmoose bars

My observations were that the Hunqas felt very similar from a frame perspective – they both felt like a nice solid steel frame mountain bike. The cockpits were different, and I found that I really like the moustache setup. I think it felt familiar to me since I’ve ridden the VO Porteur bars quite a lot. The smaller frame was also a comfy setup for a mtb for me. It was probably my favorite ride! I found the Bombadil to be a bit large for me, but only when I stopped and moved up towards the bars – that tube slopes up quite a bit. I didn’t really dig the bullmoose bars, but these were the very long reach versions, and since it was a big bike, it was just sized wrong for me. Besides the sizing, I was in love with the frame, and I felt that the weight was not noticeably worse than a simple diamond frame. Same observation on the Hunqa. The SimpleOne was great, but I didn’t like Albas on it, and the Grip Kings weren’t better than my RMX Sneaker pedals (at half the cost), so it sort of fell down my list of bikes to eventually get. I think I like gears too much.

I picked up some shifters, pedals, wool, and various other items, and vowed that I’d be ordering something soon. Everyone we talked to there was helpful. Grant’s got a great business, and his customer service model is to be envied.

Resurrected MTBs

25 Friday Mar 2011

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling, Uncategorized

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Tags

80s, commuter, Grant Peterson, Jamis, lugs, Miyata, MTB, resurrect, RidgeRunner Team, rivendell, schwalbe, steel, Stumpjumper

I saw an article in one of Grant Peterson’s Rivendell Readers last year talking about the great old steel lugged mountain bikes of the 80s. I have a ’91 Stumpjumper Pro, and a ’96 Kona AA (aluminum), and always liked the Stumpy better – it’s on my restoration project list. It just felt more right for me than the Kona, and I think it was mainly due to a combination of its steel construction, good components (SunTour XC Pro), and it being my first MTB. The Kona always felt stiff, dead, and a bit unwieldy.

I have a friend who wanted to get back into biking. He was planning on picking up a new bike and indicated he had an older mountain bike from his school days. I took a look at it, and fell in love with the bike – it was an ’80s Jamis lugged bike, and I was inspired to try to resurrect it. After he picked up some new parts for the bike, I built it up for him in a few days. It turned out to be a good commuter for him. Originally his bars were too low for his back, but we got him a “dirt drop” stem and boosted them up quite a bit. He’s nice and comfy with the high bars, and is now even eyeing changing them to the Albatross bars to get even more upright.

: Rebuilt for commuting

After enjoying this build, I decided to find a nice lugged MTB that I could resurrect for myself – I figured it would be a great winter commuter. I ended up looking at a number of Bridgestones, an ’84 Stumpy, and an ’88 Miyata. The last one really worked for me based on price, condition, and parts. It was all XT, and the frame pump mount and clean, beautiful brake-less seat stays (u-brakes) made it a no-brainer. It was very similar to my friend’s Jamis, but had a bit of extra clearance so I could easily fit Schwalbe Big Apples. Wow – comfy!