Riv ‘n’ stuff (crow's bikes)

At the end of last year, having realised my riding habits had changed significantly since ordering, I cancelled my order for a Fairlight Strael. I told myself I’d squirrel the money away sensibly and continue to enjoy a more functional type of cycling with the perfectly acceptable bikes I had. All went well for about a month.

Then, Rivendell started putting downtube shifter bosses on their bikes again. This may seem like no big deal, but it was something I had felt was missing given their ethos and I had resolved that if one ever came up for sale with d/t bosses I’d snap it up.

So, at the news that they would be pre-selling a bunch of A Homer Hilsen frames with d/t shifter bosses I was hooked. Did it matter that I didn’t know the geometry or that the chain stays were suuuuper long? I told myself no. I know very little about bicycle geometry and am perfectly happy for Grant to tell me how it should be.

So, I set about measuring and re-measuring my PBH like a maniac and braced myself for the pre-sale. I was there waiting nice and early (I needn’t have, they didn’t sell particularly fast) and snapped myself up a 54.5 Homer. I had no money left, so it sat in a box at my parents from about mid-December to this week, whereupon I retrieved it.

Probably less of a build thread, it’s somewhere I hope to document the life of the bike. I have always told myself I’d do a project thread and always fail because I’m too impatient. So this time I’ll try a bit harder. To be continued…

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Did it matter that I didn’t know the geometry or that the chain stays were suuuuper long?

I believe it's possible to enjoy your bike without knowing these things :-)

oh yes

Yes. More riv content.

Subbed

Excellent.

Good stuff.

always in for the riv

Tinkering in the garden this afternoon. I have moved the SimWorks Fun3 bars over from the Pack Rat as I had enjoyed them, but I’m not sure they quite sit right with me here and I think it needs some moderately-but-not-too-wide nitto noodles. The nice thing about dt shifters and quill stems is that it’ll be relatively easy to swap between the two.

Play stopped by me realising that the Bb is too short. New one on the way…

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Wheels and tires. I would have gone for pacenti brevet but they’re all out of stock for the foreseeable apparently. The man at the wheel place seemed quite taken with these cheap(er) Borg22s though. Tubeless compatible, wide enough and come in silver. Need to get rid of the logos though. Novatec rear and Son 28 front. Ultradynamico tires because I’m a sucker.

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Tektro r559 brakes? The people's brake.

The very same! I must say, something of a relief not to have to set up cantis. Calipers are just so easy.

Bin the stock brake pads, they're pretty shit, fit some swissstop or koolstops and they work surprisingly well.

Oh, and a quick squirt of gt85 on the bolts every now n then, they do go rusty pretty sharpish if left with muck on em.

Good tips! Many thanks - swisstops added to my ever growing sjscycles basket...

Progress…

Flat bars now just a placeholder. 44cm nitto noodles incoming. Riv problems: the chain is too short, even with all 116 links and a weedy 40t up front.

Speaking of weedy 40t - anyone care to weigh in on gearing… currently has 40/26 on the front. I think the cassette on the back goes up to 32. Pack rat felt just about right with the same cassette and 46/30 but I have now moved from 650b to 700c. I’m thinking 42/28 may have been a better middle ground. Will I even notice?

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That looks fantastic.

So cool.

Wheels n tyres look great. I'm waiting for the Ulradynamico Cava JFF to come back in stock (650b), they're what I wanted for pink bike originally. Those Borg rims are rebadged kinlins, so nowt wrong with the quality, I have a pair of the xr31ts and my mate runs a pair of the 26mm deep ones, I shan't be buying Velocity or Pacenti again.

Evening bag modding…

I have been a bit undecided on bags for this. I’m not keen on racks for now, and my rides are not overly long and don’t usually involve overnights (flask and jacket being my main needs). As such, this needs a moderately sized saddle/bar bag type thing - frame bags being out because a) it’s a Riv and b) downtube shifters say no. Having sampled the goods from some (too many) of the big cool bag names, most of them have either been too big or too small and frankly too fancy. I have a feeling the swift catalyst pack may be exactly what I need, but I’ve already bought one expensive thing from America and another would be too much right now. I’d also prefer something a bit more… domestic.

This nice Carradice Audax in a rather fetching blue (complimentary or clashing…? we shall see) caught my eye some time ago. It is not only very lightweight but also very saggy. I mean, even a bagman won’t fix this unless it’s stuffed to the brim.

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Some hdpe plastic and some waxed thread later it is installed, and the bag now stands up on its own when empty. The plastic butts up against the dowel at the back, and needed a wonky stitch at the front to keep it in place.

Thanks to those in the Carradice thread who discussed this some time ago i think, and I lodged it all in my brain, ready for this moment.

Not sure yet yet whether this will go on the front or the back. It’s too wide with pockets for the front, but if the pockets can be secured flat it’ll fit. Will have a play around.

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Well this is all kinds of awesome. Reminds me of my colleague's Blue Lug build. Man do you have a cool bike.

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That is good to know. The wheel chap seemed a bit miffed that anyone could want anything more. They seem very nice so far.

Swissstop pads now installed in the r559s - ta!

What thickness HDPE sheet did you use? Stitched back, front and base?

Yep good into this