Riv ‘n’ stuff (crow's bikes)

Really nice build. One day I’ll get a Riv frame just like that but for time being I’ve built up a Riv inspired bike with a Crosscheck. I built wheels with same rims you have (a bargain at £40 from Spa cycles). I polished up some cheap Tektro 720’s and added koolstop pads and braking is really good.

Not sure how to post pics, hope this works

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52142783648_1f7a5827b2_m.jpg

This is what I was initially thinking. They seem to be all sold out in tan wall, but I then realised that brown grips, saddle and tyres would be overkill anyway. I think they might be the one.

That is really nice. I built a cross check for my wife last year and it’s been perfect. I’ve built shed loads of bikes over the last ten or so years, and almost all of their uses could have been covered by a single cross check with a few tyre swaps. So versatile.

I'm really quite impressed with the Continental Urban Contact tyres i'm currently running on my commuter. Comes in 26x2.2, so should be plenty comfortable with kiddo on the back.

Progress is slow on the hardrock. Largely because I bought some wheels off eBay but did that thing where you conflate multiple listings in your head. I now have a very nice pair of 7 speed wheels and a collection of equally pleasant 9 speed parts. I have been meaning to ‘downgrade’ the Riv to 9 speed anyway, so it may be no bad thing.

@MisterMikkel these are a great shout - considered them for the Riv, had them on an old bike and liked them.

Hoping the bike shop will get round to the Bb this week. I have a newfound sense of urgency as we have decided our summer holiday will be cycling in France with kid (not touring, but day excursions along the many traffic free and gentle bike paths). Which is great, but means I need to get this finished asap.

Bb took ages. Bike shop were heroic and kept at it and charged me far less than they should have done for all the time it took. I started panicking in the meantime that it wouldn’t be ready for the summer and bought a slightly larger (unintentionally), slightly later rockhopper frame. The hardrock will go to a friend.

Hope to get it finished today, but this is as it stands. May need Bosco type bars to counteract the length but will wait to ride it before deciding.

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Pretty much there. Just waiting for some mks pedals and the hope will go back on Riv. Need to trim and tidy brake cables. Quick run to the shop confirms it’s smooth.

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Very swish

Nice!

High praise! Swisher than I intended, certainly. Lots of odd standards that I didn’t even know existed - who knew 1 1/8 quill stems were a thing??

After four weeks rolling round France on the Rockhopper, it felt very nice indeed to be back on the riv yesterday.

Riv has had a drivetrain upgrade. You might not like it, but this is what peak performance shifting looks like: 9 speed xt rapid rise rear mech, sora front and a fresh 46t chainring with ramps and pins. Rapid rise and friction shifters is the future.

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Oooh Rapid Rise. How is it?

I wasn’t expecting much of a difference tbh. But I had the mech as I’d foolishly bought it for the rockhopper (thinking the wheels were 9 speed) and the 10 speed wasn’t great as the chainrings weren’t designed for it, so I thought I’d try it. It’s a real revelation, just feels like it wants to shift either way and does so with far less effort and thought. Virtually no ghost shifting either, and if it ever does it just gets easier rather than harder.
I shall now be hoarding rapid rise mechs and keeping an eye out for if Riv ever put their own into production :)

Long overdue update: I got the urge to do proper road riding again on a fast road bike so bought an aethos at the beginning of the year (I think it arrived on 3rd Jan). It’s been a total blast. Spent the last three days going Home-Newhaven-Dieppe-Calais-Dover-Home to escape the bank holiday and reset my brain before term starts again. The bike did well, though turbo cottons are not a (light) touring tire.

Due to space limitations the Riv has been relegated to home with my folks in Norfolk. I just haven’t found time to ride it in its current gravel-esque guise. Plans are afoot though for its revival in a more road focussed mode…

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The second new pink Aethos on this forum in a matter of hours! Lovely bike, it's easy to see how you've fallen in love. From time to time, Specialized creates a bike that's tasty enough for niches like ours and "popular" enough to be sold to the masses. I'm also thinking about the Sequoia or the Allez Sprint

They certainly do seem to have a bit of a knack for that, every now and again ;)

Popped back to Norfolk this weekend with a vague plan to put some slimmer tires and clippy pedals on the Homer and see how it felt. It remains a touring bike, but did feel a little nippier. I think getting the position a little closer to my road bike might help. Basically I want something for long slow road rides.

38mm tires are still massive (big gravel has addled my brain, should have gone for 32s!). Ultimately, I questioned the wisdom of turning this into more of a road bike. Lots of things whirring round my brain. Including thoughts of a crust malocchio (le sigh).

One thing I must admit, though, is that now I’m a little fitter, I did find the downtube shifters somewhat limiting. One thing that I think will happen is a shimergo brifter setup.

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Oh, and after this photo was taken I did make the grave error of putting some modern padded tape on it. It looks awful. All kinds of wrong. I will spare the reader the sight of it.

Also, BBB gravel tape is not my cup of tea.

This thread is well overdue an update!

First up is the rockhopper. I got rid of the massive basket and bag as it was quite unwieldy. Replaced with a SimWorks Obento and small ile rack bag (which is GREAT!).

It is a very useful bike, but really awful to ride. I mean, it’s set up well, runs smooth and has some nice parts on it, but the geometry/set up just doesn’t really work for its intended purpose. Without a toddler on the back it’s definitely better, but the handling with and without a front load is sub-optimal (very squirrely). I suspect the moustaches are partly to blame and with a normal flat bar and my weight a bit further forward it would be better.

I may find a cheap flat bar, or it will stay like this until the toddler no longer fits the seat and it will be sold to make room.

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Next up is probably the wisest bicycle investment I have ever made. I bought this superlight Brompton second hand in about 2009. It stayed as it was and didn’t get a huge amount of use until a few years ago, when it went to @sbbohr (I think, different username then?) to be serviced. New cranks, wheels and bars as well as newer levers, shifters and brakes have really made it sing. Goes so well now.

I invested in an IT Chair (terrible name) and fitted a smaller chainring earlier this year and it now does kid carrying pretty well too. I can’t ride uphill with her on it very well, but it’s perfect for pootling around town and just chucking in the car when we think we might have an excuse to ride.

Just a superb bike.

It has a Phil Wood front hub and I now really want to fit some of the new (purple pls) Paul brakes. All in good time :)

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