New Bike, wheeee !

[jobob]

Just in time for my 45th birthday (this coming Friday, if anyone wants to send me cake and flowers ), I caught an ad on the Rivendell bike list for a used custom Riv for sale.

I looked at the measurements, I looked at the pictures, I looked at the asking price, and within about 30 seconds decided This Must Be Mine !!!

So I fired off an email to the seller, waited a couple of days, and around the time I assumed it was already spoken for, I heard back from the seller. We set up a test ride for Sunday.

My husband chuckled on the way home that as soon as I saw the bike he knew I was going to take it - he said my eyes lit up and I was practically drooling

Here's the ad that appeared on the Riv site (it'll probably be taken down very soon. I really need to get my own website to post photos...).

http://rivendellbicycles.com/webalog/frames/50541.html

and here's a link to the photos in case the ad disappears:

http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/graphic/Law_Bike/

The bike in person is simply stunning - the color is more of a dusty rose / mauve than the pink it appears in the photo (but colors like this are very hard to reproduce photographically). I happen to love this particular color so you could imagine my delight, I was originally thinking I could always repaint it if I wasn't too keen on the color, but this color is staying ! It looks particularly gorgeous with the cream head tube and the cream & deep blue decals. (As an aside, I don't know what they were talking about in the ad regarding rose/magenta/pink rims, they're basically a gunmetal gray. Whatever, it probably scared away prospective buyers. Fine by me!)

The frame itself is in very good shape - a few nicks in the paint here and there but considering it was built in 1996 it's in very good shape! I won't bore you with the history, but it was made in the early days of Rivendell Bicycle Works, designed by Grant Petersen & built at Waterford. I think it's kind of special that it's a Riv Road from the early days.

I've already started messin' with it - I took off the rack & fenders for the time being, but I'll probably put them back on later. Eggbeater pedals went on first thing, along with a narrower set of handlebars (Nitto Dream Bars, since we had them, but I might get a set of 41 cm Nitto Noodles) and a shorter top stem - my one quibble is that the top tube was much longer than advertised, but a shorter stem pretty much takes care of that. And of course it's now sporting a black Brooks saddle.

My big quandry right now is whether to stick with the STI shifting or go to old reliable barcons. At first I thought the STIs simply had to go since I never used STIs and I just wasn't comfortable with them. But after I swapped out the stem & handlebars and I toodled around the neighborhood this morning for a bit, I'm now thinking maybe they're not so bad ... jury's still out. I think these particular brifters are pretty ugly (although in person they don't seem as bad as in the photos) but if I stick with the STIs I might get newer, less klunky-looking levers.

I'm probably going to change the crank - it came with 52-42-30 chainrings and 175 mm crankarms and I'll probably change that to something like 48-36-26 rings with 170 mm arms. I needs my climbing gears!! No big rush, though. The rear casette is a 7-speed 12-28 which will suit me fine I thing, esp. with the smaller rings in front.

I haven't gone out for a real ride on this yet (it was pouring rain most of yesterday) but toodling around the neighborhood people couldn't help but notice the big grin on my face ... it feels great, and as I fine-tune it, it'll only get better.

So there you have it. If I ever get any good photos I'll post them.

Oh, almost forgot - of course she has a name! I shall call her "Dusty" (for her dusty rose color, of course).

[Adventure Girl]

<<wolf whistle>>

Nice, Jobob!! I love the lugs! I have lug envy!

Wouldn't you just know the first rain of the season would come as soon as you get your new bike!

[emily_in_nc]

Gorgeous, Jobob!

You'll have to send Crystal at girlbike.com a picture of it once you get for her "pink bike sightings" page. It's lovely!

A fellow pink-lover (check my avatar....),

Emily

[snapdragen]

You know jobob, if you hadn't bought Dusty, I was ready to haul my butt out and get her myself! Such a gorgeous bike!

[Veronica]

Yeah, I thought about buying it too.

V.

[Trek420]

she's a beaut. i wish you two many happy miles together. and....happy birthday.

[aka_kim]

Beautiful. Dusty, and the custom Riv cross bike posted on another thread, are making me think I need a Rivendell too!

Wait a minute Jo Bob... weren't you in a quandary early this year about buying your first road bike, and now you've got two!! You're hooked!

[jobob]

hooked? yeah, I'd say that's about right

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone !

- Jo.

[snapdragen]

I think everybody needs a Rivendell Seeing Dusty had made me feel that way even more so. Maybe that'll be my goal, get my "riding legs" back this next year - reward myself with a Riv!

ps-I showed a picture of Dusty to a friend of mine - real weight weenie type. "Why fenders?" he says. The man has no appreciation for true beauty. Heathen.

[jobob]

Your heathen friend would really like the Brooks saddle I have on it at the moment - it's the kind with springs so it's a small tank, weighs almost twice as much as the un-sprung one, oy.

Since this is a sleek racing ma-chine (or as close as I'm going to get to one for the forseeable future, heh) maybe I'll splurge on one of the "svelter" Brooks saddle models ... as if I haven't splurged enough already, yeesh.

I see the ACTC is doing another time trial at Guadalupe Creek this Sunday, maybe I should take Dusty around and see if I can break my current (er, only) record of 17.9 mph avg over 11 miles, woo woo.

That assumes I survive the graduation ride the day before, complete with the climb to Gilroy Hot Springs and the attack of the tarantulas. Heh, that's one way to make me climb fast, sick a tarantula on me*.

- Jo Speed Demon

(* Janet, DON'T YOU DARE ...)

[Veronica]

Ahh... fenders. I put mine back on last night. Rain shall not keep me from commuting to work on Fluffy.

V.

[snapdragen]

Originally posted by jobob
Your heathen friend would really like the Brooks saddle I have on it at the moment - it's the kind with springs so it's a small tank, weighs almost twice as much as the un-sprung one, oy.

You should've seen him when a mutual friend showed up with his new carbon/ti/god knows what Serotta - with a Brooks saddle! To quote Tommy - ""I'm old, I can afford an obscenly expensive bike, and I'm gonna be comfortable on it!!" Thought Bob's head was gonna explode!
Tommy also likes the big 'ole Carradice (sp?) bags.

That assumes I survive the graduation ride the day before, complete with the climb to Gilroy Hot Springs and the attack of the tarantulas. Heh, that's one way to make me climb fast, sick a tarantula on me*.
- Jo Speed Demon
(* Janet, DON'T YOU DARE ...)

The tarantula's are at the top........at the rest stop. Wouldn't want y'all to hang around for too long

[Karen London]

what a beauty! I am sooooo jealous. To hear that it is "old" Rivendell makes it all the more special. We need to support Rivendell because it's not always easy for them and from this you can see they are such artists.

[CorsairMac]

what a beautiful bike jobob....and how lucky you are! I'd say an all-round marvelous birthday! Ride her long and well my friend!

[fasteryet]

What a beauty. Happy birthday and many happy years of riding!