# Rivendell Roadeo



## rcnute (Dec 21, 2004)

http://www.rivbike.com/#product=50-618


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## lancezneighbor (May 4, 2002)

Wow, very nice!


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## rcnute (Dec 21, 2004)

lancezneighbor said:


> Wow, very nice!


Not mine just in case anyone's wondering.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

It's nice, but if I was going to drop that kind of money on steel/steel, I would probably go with Hampsten. It is cool that Rivendell is putting it's marketing behind a steel road bike.


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## SystemShock (Jun 14, 2008)

I like it, and think it's great that Riv is putting out a more 'roadie'-oriented bike (the current lineup is dominated by touring bikes and all-arounders).

But for the same price Riv's charging for a production frame/fork ($2000), I could get custom lugged steel, right? :idea:


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## tihsepa (Nov 27, 2008)

I have always like their stuff.

Nice bike.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Very very nice....I like big tired, short wheelbase, steel bikes.....


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## Applesauce (Aug 4, 2007)

Are...are those _*700c*_ wheels? Has Rivendell capitulated before the conspiratorial standards of the brainwashed masses?

But no, seriously, you'd think if they were going to do a road bike they'd do it right, and use S6 or 700a or something - not just plain ol' vanilla 700c, for which parts and whatnot are easily available from manufacturers who aren't in "the club," whatever that is.

Anyway, cool bike.


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## bike_guy (Mar 26, 2002)

Are the bars actually lower than the saddle?


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## Scooper (Mar 4, 2007)

Grant had Waterford build some of the early Rivendells, and it's great to see him going back to the well now. Sure, $2k is expensive for the frameset, but it's a lugged Waterford.


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

wtf??? sloping tt? threadless? "brifters"? (hate that term) carbon? no rack mounts? minimal fender clearance?

kinda saxy :ihih:


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

Kind of a botch, IMO. Awkward and blah. Tubes look clumsy and oversized. As for the attempt to fancy things up with the red head tube and gigantic, spiky lugs, it's all for naught. It's like it put on too much rouge and eye make-up.


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## buck-50 (Sep 20, 2005)

I like that it's supposed to come out just under 20 pounds in racing trim, yet can fit 35mm tires. I wish more bikes would do that. And it's pretty. You gotta like that.

I just don't like the price. 

For less than $2000, I can get a custom steel frame, which means I can pick my own lugs, paint, braze-ons, etc and save money for better parts. 

It's an awesome idea. If they got it around $1200 (significantly less than almost any custom lugged frames), they'd never keep them in stock.


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## dismal (Jul 28, 2009)

Mapei said:


> Kind of a botch, IMO. Awkward and blah. Tubes look clumsy and oversized. As for the attempt to fancy things up with the red head tube and gigantic, spiky lugs, it's all for naught. It's like it put on too much rouge and eye make-up.


It's a prototype, so it doesn't have the final lug work or paint and stuff.

More here: 
http://ramblings.cyclofiend.com/?p=376


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## SystemShock (Jun 14, 2008)

buck-50 said:


> I like that it's supposed to come out just under 20 pounds in racing trim, yet can fit 35mm tires. I wish more bikes would do that. And it's pretty. You gotta like that.
> 
> I just don't like the price.
> 
> ...


 +1. But I often get the feeling that Grant just wants to sell to his small circle of Riv-heads, and doesn't really care about expanding his 'base' much.

Kind of a shame, really. If GP just took the Roadeo design down to the Sam Hillborne price point (or better yet, the now-discontinued Bleriot's), he'd have a 21st century Bridgestone RB-1. 'Cept for the carbon-heads, who doesn't want _that?_ :thumbsup:

But I think the RB-1 became so iconic not only because of the design but also because it was _accessible_ to most. The Roadeo's neat, but I wouldn't call the pricing accessible, no matter what GP says or what carbon bike he compares it to (though I admire his chutzpah to spin the Roadeo as a 'value' bike).

That said, nothing wrong with Riv making expensive road bikes (especially of Waterford-quality), but it'd be nice if they showed the mainstream more luv at the same time.

They already do this elsewhere in their lineup... they've got the A. Homer Hillsen as their expensive all-arounder, but also have the Hillborne as their more affordable all-around bike.
.


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## David Loving (Jun 13, 2008)

You can do better by going to Waterford yourself and building your own bike.


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

Why not just get a Gunnar Sport for half the price, with the same tubeset (but tig welded).
700X35 without fenders....28/32 with.

http://www.gunnarbikes.com/sport.php


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

MR_GRUMPY said:


> (but tig welded)




there you go


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## sonic_W (Sep 2, 2008)

holy moley! it actually doesn't use friction/bar cons!


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## kiwisimon (Oct 30, 2002)

sonic_W said:


> holy moley! it actually doesn't use friction/bar cons!


I am sure these are available, don't panic. I like it. Good to see Rivendell is still kicking. Gotta admire Grants marketing gumption. I think he could easily sell a limited run of RB-1s. Ishiwata tubing might hard to get but I am sure the boys at Bridgestone haven't forgotten how to make them.


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## rcnute (Dec 21, 2004)

MR_GRUMPY said:


> Why not just get a Gunnar Sport for half the price, with the same tubeset (but tig welded).
> 700X35 without fenders....28/32 with.
> 
> http://www.gunnarbikes.com/sport.php


The sort of weird thing is that the Sport has downtube shifter mounts and the Roadeo doesn't.


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## ccroy2001 (May 20, 2002)

*Suprised at the price*

When the Rivendell Romulus came out I snapped one up at $1700 for a complete bike. Frame built by Toyo in Japan. It was a good bike, smooth, but never really came alive for me.

I switched back to Aluminum and was happy and then recently bought an old steel Specialized Allez that almost feels like it has hidden electric motors in the hubs or something. It is a very easy frame to accelerate and climb with. Whether this is the tubing or geometry that makes the Spesh feel faster than the Romulus I'm not expert enough to know so maybe the Roadie has high end tubes and therefore higher costs. Hopefully it's fast and smooth I wish them well. Maybe it's just priced for roadies? Ha-Ha!

Anyhow, unless the color scheme gets more true custom or there are options other than white I would be very tempted to build a TIG welded Soma Smoothie or Surly Pacer for about the cost of just the Roadie frame.

Everybody has there own thing, I like lugs and appreciate the look, but I also like TIG welding as well.

Chris


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

rcnute said:


> The sort of weird thing is that the Sport has downtube shifter mounts and the Roadeo doesn't.


They probably use the Waterford head tube lugs.

You could get the same bike with a Waterford decal, for the same price.


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## SystemShock (Jun 14, 2008)

Looks like Riv finalized the design. They got the geo charts up now, and the final product is below.

Very nice. Beautiful even. But again, at $2K just for the (production, not custom) frame/fork, and $3600 to 4200 for a complete bike (Riv's builds), she's no RB-1, aka affordable.

Hopefully, a less-expensive version pops up eventually, and _that_ becomes the 21st-century RB-1.
.


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## SystemShock (Jun 14, 2008)

rcnute said:


> The sort of weird thing is that the Sport has downtube shifter mounts and the Roadeo doesn't.


Yeah, that's very disappointing. The final version appears to have kept it that way.

A Riv _without_ DT shifter bosses? They did that with the Hillborne too, so it appears to be a trend with them. C'mon now, Grant. :frown2:
.


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## onlineflyer (Aug 8, 2005)

*Why not*



Scooper said:


> Grant had Waterford build some of the early Rivendells, and it's great to see him going back to the well now. Sure, $2k is expensive for the frameset, but it's a lugged Waterford.


Why not just get a Waterford?


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## Scooper (Mar 4, 2007)

onlineflyer said:


> Why not just get a Waterford?


Why not, indeed?


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## FlatlandRoller (Jan 22, 2004)

gotta luv the flat crown


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