Rivendell magic?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

It was relisted and sold immediately for $800 on buy it now.
....Rivendells are gorgeous but the marketing spiel on this page turned me off to the point where I don't think I'd ever buy one. I would have no problem if that description of the Quickbeam focused on how pretty the bike is, how well-made it is, how clever all the options are ... but instead it is based on a whole lot of flat-out misinformation designed to make dumb people think that the only way to get those options is to buy a $1,400 bike from Rivendell.

OK, so I read that page. I read mostly stuff saying how well-made and well-designed it is, how clever all the options are. But nowhere did I read that the only way to get those options is to buy a $1,400 bike from Rivendell.

Most people who convert old bikes into single-speeds aren't converting old track bikes (those mostly get made into fixies); they are converting old lugged-steel touring bikes. Both of mine can take 700 x 40 tires with a fender. ...We have all the handle bar options and comfortable geometry and everything we want, and not one of those bikes cost more than $350, full built up with very similar components to what is available on the Quickbeam....they are both gorgeous and the total cost for two with all new components (including Brooks saddles) is still about a third of the cost of one new Quickbeam that comes without a saddle.
Which, again, is not to denigrate the Quickbeam; it's a beautiful bike and I'm glad somebody makes it and I think it's awesome that there are people willing to buy it and support its production. I just hate the fact that the marketing of that bike is based on the suggestion that you can't possibly get those options anywhere else, because Rivendell invented every good idea in the history of cycling.

There are LOTS of people who got old lugged steel touring bikes cheap and put new parts on them with the result that they have great lugged touring bikes for way less money than a new Rivendell. I love that people are doing that. Used to be just a few years ago you could find these frames on Ebay and in garage sales for like $20. Not so much anymore- it's getting harder and harder to find people selling them cheap. Ebay has allowed any clueless garage bike seller to get way more than what they might have gotten in their local garage sale. Now there are savvy buyers oozing out of every Ebay pore just watching for old lugged frames. Yes, one can get REALLY lucky and find just the right size lugged frame cheap somewhere...but it's getting harder. Parts cost more nowadays as well. Many people don't have the patience or the savvy to find the right frame, much less know how to go about getting it rebuilt. Good for you and your partner that you both saved a lot of money by rebuilding old frames, it's great that you were able to do that. Hopefully more people will be getting into rebuilding the wonderful old touring bikes now gathering dust in garages and basements.

But when you say "I just hate the fact that the marketing of that bike is based on the suggestion that you can't possibly get those options anywhere else, because Rivendell invented every good idea in the history of cycling."
Well you seem set on this idea and I feel you are reading that into everything you read about Rivendells. NOWHERE do I see it suggested that they invented all these things, or that you can't get a particular option anywhere else except from them. Instead they continually talk about how they use well thought out designs and concepts taken from traditional bikes, so why do you keep saying that they imply that they invented everything?? I just don't see their marketing website hype as being much different from any other lugged steel builder website I have read and looked at. They ALL extoll the virtues of their own bikes and how unique they are, how wonderfully designed they are, how well made, why you should get THEIR bike or frame, etc. etc. I see much the same marketing hype on all the sites I look at, so why pick so avidly on Rivendell?