Vaughn and Emil are both leaving in the next month. Vaughn picks and packs and ships orders with Robert, and like Robert, is a master of the medium of cardboard. It’s a cliche to say, in times like this, that somebody is not replaceable, one-of-a-kind, but you have to work here, with Vaughn, to know how true that is about him.
He’s moving back to home state Colorado to work in a family business, but first goes to Japan for a while to work in a program that does organic farming.
Emil, who also goes by Mile—-not Miles—-is our main bike packer and gopher supreme, always doing whatever’s needed, quickly and well. He was a customer here and only 18 years old, when we called him up cold and asked him to work here. It was his first job, which means it is the only job he’s ever had. He has a 54cm AHH that he put 700c wheels on, for some reason, I don’t know. And Albatross bars and a rack, and it looks great. I’m so glad he got a groovy bike out of this. He is only 19, after all, and is a film student, and is going to concentrate full-time on school.
Both Vaughn and Emil are those rare people, so unlike me, who are so mellow and friendly and kind and solicitous of others, that nobody will ever utter an unkind word about them. The thing about Rivendell that makes me the most proud is the people here, and Vaughn and Emil have made work here better for all of us.
It’s often unescapably hot here in the Summer, and olive-oil freezing in the winter.
We have beautiful bikes (meaning, at least, that I likem), but the amenities are few, and it’s not the kind of workplace one can show off to one’s relatives with pride. It’s a big cheap building, as unimpressive as it gets. Having Vaughn and Emil here, seeing them so much, working with them, makes up for that so, so much, for all of us.
They probably weigh 250 pounds combined, but will leave two huge holes to fill.
Nobody here is sure we’ll be able to do that, and we’re in no hurry, but the time will come, so wish us luck.
G
July 2011
4 posts
I knew going into it that there’d be some resistance to two top tubes (2TT) on the 56cm Sam Hillbornes, because most bikes have one, and then there’s the 2TT Sam. Now and then somebody with a 60 wants 1TT, but 2TT is more accepted there than it is on the smaller 56, becausethere’s not as obvious a benefit on the 56. The structural argument for it can’t beat the emotional argument against it, but that doesn’t invalidate the structural argument. On the other hand, I have never been (and kind-a-by default Riv has never been) in total lockstep with the “form follows function” crowd that sees beauty in all things that work. At some point aesthetics matter a whole lot, and my or our tastes may not be the same as yours, but ours aren’t bad. They’re not “old French,” or “‘70s Italian” or “Japano-Franco” or “English at its fanciest” or “Zennish.” There’s something about each of those that I like (and have sometimes been influenced by) and that I really don’t like. One guy I like a lot and admire immeasurably is Charlie Cunningham. To look at his bikes, you wouldn’t know he had any influence over ours, but I keep an imaginary Charlie Cunningham in my pocket all the time, and he loosens me up some. My tastes change over time, too. Our first lugs are different than our current ones, and it isn’t because I’m getting lazy or anything. Each new lug or crown is better than the last, in some way, unless it’s just, like, a wider version of the same crown, for wider tires. Anyway, the second adds about 7.8 ounces (including two tiny, delicious lugs), and re-establishes the triangulation that is lost as the head tube grows—-which is does on a 56cm frame with a 6-degree upslope. I love what it does and how it looks. The upslope gives the comfort, but it also grows the head tube to the size of about a 62cm bike. Compare the head tube length on the 56 Sam with a 62 normal road frame; they’re about the same. Jay here had a 2TT added to his 1TT Sam. Jay knows bikes and has good taste. Long head tubes aren’t the end of the world, but the longer the head tube, the less the front half of the frame is a triangle, and triangles are what give bikes their phenomenal strength-to-weight. Look at loading cranes, or look at my personal favorite structures outside of bicycle frames those electricity towers that blight the landscape and span canyons with cables, and everybody else hates them. They’re one triangle after another inside of another surrounding another connecting to another. They do tremendous work while looking like praying mantises, and they couldn’t do it with any other shape. They don’t even mix shapes. They’re all triangles. Bucky Fuller’s geodesic domes were made of triangles, and they’d have collapsed without them. There’s a lot going on in triangles that doesn’t go on in squares, rectangles, pentagons, octagons, hexagons. Triangles are unique among all sides shapes, and they’re the simplest of them, with the fewest sides. When you load a square or rectangle or any shape with more sides than a triangle, the stresses concentrate at the point of loading, and sides cave in, joints come apart. Every structure you see, from a wooden gate to a loading crane, is made much stronger and more efficient by triangulation. But when you load any part of a triangle, in any direction, the load is immediately evenly distributed, which reduces the load on any one side or corner. It doesn’t work that way with any other shape. Traditional bike frames are all triangles, because the original designers knew from experience that triangles were the most efficient way to make a strong, light structure. Now and then you see a modern designers remake of the classic frame, often without triangles, and they’re always goofy and fat. The most heavily used and abused frames in India and China and Indonesia are, by our standards, poorly made of bad materials, but they keep on going, year after year, pig after pig, hundred-pound load after hundred pound load over bumpety road, because they’re well-triangulated—-with a 2TT, just like ours. So what looks untraditional actually is traditional, but we’re in the wrong country. The triangulation adds rigidity and reduces flex, which can lead to fatigue. You’ve see seat tubes fail at the base. It happens ONLY on bigger frames. Granted, a 56 isn’t a huge frame, but I’ve seen it on that size, and now, with the extra bracing, there’s way less flex and fatigue down there. And again, it’s only 7.5 ounces (or so…)The 2TT makes hoisting the bike easier. Not a huge thing, but then, 7.8 ounces isn’t a lot of weight on a bike-plus-rider combo of 180 pounds or more. Tiny benefit for tiny weight payment…but this is a tiny benefit on top of a list of benefits. All these are logical-structural arguments that, and telling true tales of pigs being carried on two-top-tube bikes in China, won’t always swing the deal when somebody’s gut reaction is “eeeuuuuww…. that looks funny…” From my point of view, which is often but not always a good one, I’ve got to do what I think is best, even if it’s wildly unpopular. But “best” for business or “best” for the bike and customer aren’t always the same thing. Usually here, they are, but if we sit on the 2TT Sams, I’ll absolutely get more made, eventually, with 1TT. It won’t be this year (Waterford can make 1TT Sams, but they cost about $350 more). The 2TT takes some getting used to, but only a week or so. When you see the triangulation that it re-establishes, and appreciate that it uses ancient, time-tested, proven technology with the best modern materials.to me, that’s a fantastic thing worth jumping up and down about. The other way to stout-up a frame is fatter tubes. Fat tubes make sense in aluminum, but we do only steel here, and I love the look of skinny steel tubes and fat tires. Adding a 2TT looks way better to me. It looks like, “hey, they went to extra trouble to make the bike better and still good-looking,” but not everybody sees it that way. Anyway, every Sam 56cm and bigger has a 2TT. The new batch is a beautiful green.
Rivendell Reader #43 just arrived from the printers. It’s $5. Learn how to make a slingshot, learn about bikes. Find it here.
Also, if you need to catch up, get 38 through 42 in a bundle for only $16 here.
Don’t forget about our 2011 Charity Program. We’re offering 75% credits for donations up to $200 for two charities, Whirlwind Wheelchair and the Fistula Foundation.
If you donate $200 to each charity you can get $300 in Rivendell store credit. Get all the details on this post.
We’re trying to raise $12,500 for each charity before the end of the year. We’re getting there, but need a bump, so don’t forget. Thanks to all who donated already.
-D
