Quote Originally Posted by uforgot View Post
Lisa, Actually, it's not so much self control, but ever since you put up the pic of your dh's bike, I have wanted a green one. If I want a green one, then I'm going to GET a green one! I'm not even a green person, but like I said. If I have to pay extra I will. I'm not compromising on this, even though I'll probably drive a neon forever because I don't care about the car.
Oh! So the plot thickens....
Well then you should be told
The Saga of the Green Rambouillet.

It all began when he was a little boy in Iowa.....
(no, maybe I'll fast forward a bit)

It all began over a year and a half ago, when he was having trouble getting his 10 year old Trek hybrid set up to ride the way he wanted it too. The Trek was not cooperating and was starting to show its age. I was not riding bikes yet, hadn't ridden since I was a kid. I'm 53.
Anyway, I told my husband that he really deserved to get himself a brand new bike after all these years, and it should be a GOOD bike, not some cheesy bike. He does not spend a lot of money on himself. He began to look at and research bikes. He wanted the kind of bike that would perfectly match the kind of riding he was hoping to do here in the rolling hills/country we live in. He also wanted a bike that would be comfortable for long rides of say 70 miles. After much careful research (he's a careful and patient man), he decided that a Rivendell Rambouillet was the right bike. It was a big step.

The closest Riv dealer to us was Harris Cyclery near Boston- a 5 1/2 hour drive round trip for us. He wasn't sure about whether he'd take a 60cm or 62cm frame. Harris had both in stock, so we drove there one weekend for him to test ride them. I told him to take all the time he needed, and to not give me a thought while I waited in the store for him to test ride and discuss bikes endlessly. I sat there for about 3 hours, watching people come in and out excitedly with their new bikes, watching the gleaming bikes being rolled back and forth, spinning silver spokes and clicking gears...
He rode them both, and found the 60 was best. BUT.....all the Rambs at the time were bright blue. He didn't like that blue at all. They then told him that Rivendell was about to start making the Ramb in dark green. They said if he was willing to wait about 4 weeks, they'd have some new ones coming in in green. He was thrilled, and ordered one on the spot.

So we went home and waited. And waited. 6 weeks came and went... 2 months went by....then he was told it would take another month....or maybe two or three more months. At that point, frustrated, he decided to buy the blue one right there already at Harris, have it sent to Joe Bell clear over in CA (the GREAT bike painter) and have him STRIP it down and repaint it (at an additional cost of several hundred dollars to us), then send it back across the country to Harris to build up. It was getting rather complicated, but he'd have his green bike within 2 months then for sure.

And so....the blue bike in MA got sent back to CA to be stripped and painted green. My DH had seen a pictures of a beautiful dark machine green Ramb that Joe Bell had painted for someone else- and Joe said Yes I know that one, I have a paint sample of it still right here! Wonderful!

OK....another development in the meantime. All this bike talk and all that sitting at Harris' looking at happy people on new bikes had infected me.
We visited a girlfriend and I borrowed her hybrid bike and started riding. I absolutely loved riding, and couldn't believe I could still ride after 38 years or so off a bike. Her bike had to be returned in 2 weeks. What would I do??

I asked DH what he thought of the preposterous idea of ME getting a bike too. Would he scoff, would he be resentful of my trying to horn my way in on his happy pastime?....NO!- he was thrilled, he said he had always dreamed of riding bikes with his sweetheart one day. (what a man!)
Thus, in the midst of his no-bike torture saga, this wonderful man takes me BACK to Harris to get ME a Rambouillet...and they just so happened to have one in my size in blue right there in stock, no waiting!
I got my bike and started riding happily. DH continued waiting patiently.....


More delays to get the bike repainted. We still didn't know when exactly it would be painted and ready. Joe Bell had his waiting list after all. By this time it was 5 months since DH had ordered the first Ramb at Harris'.
I felt so bad for him!
ONe morning he sheepishly showed me a Rivendell for sale on Ebay. It was a beauty- a custom Riv in a cool frosty pale ice blue, in his exact size, in PA within a few hours drive, in wonderful condition and very nicely priced with a Buy it Now low price. It was ready to ride.
I said GO FOR IT!!!! JUST GET YOUR *"{%RH^# BIKE ALREADY!!!!!
He bought it. The next day we drove to PA and picked it up. It was fabulous and just needed some new gearing for our hills.
So.....DH was in seventh heaven tinkering on his new beauty and riding it, making it his very own.

Fast forward....(skipping the middle part where the repainted bike arrived in MA and almost got sent back to CA again)....

A few more weeks later.... his repainted green Rambouillet was shipped from CA to Harris where they built it back up and we excitedly drove back to MA to pick it up.

IT WAS THE WRONG GREEN. It was supposed to be a dark "manly" French green, like old vintage machinery used to be. Alas. Instead, it was a soft creamy grey green- exactly the kind of green that DH jokes around is MY girly kind of green- the same green I have so many clothes and objects in , that I painted our kitchen in. He even had a pet name for this green already: Sweetie Green.

The happy part is that after all this, all we could do was LAUGH about the Sweetie Green bike. It *was* lovely, after all. He joked that whenever he rode it he would dream of me. He gets many compliments on the color wherever he rides.
I love my bike. He loves both his bikes and is a happy happy man.

And here are our three Rivendells:
http://harmonias.com/Bikes.html