BLUG

TRIPS. Keven’s working on an organized group overnight trip in the local hills, where you pay a certain amount and for that get certain conveniences and certain companionship. You don’t get to specify your companionship; you just get…us and others. In a couple of weeks we’ll have more. It’ll be a low-key budget, largely but not entirely DIY trip, meaning mainly Carry It Yourself, although well have some food and do some cooling. More on that later.

NEW SITE CHALLENGES. We’re getting the hang of the new site and ordering system, and hope you do, too. Please try it. Don’t not try it because it’s new, at least. Get around on it. It will continue to improve. Many of you (six or seven is many) have said “looks good!”, and we’re glad you think so.

New Stuffs:

We’re getting in some Silver Thumbshifters in about a few days. I’ve been using them on the secret handlebar, and they work the way one would hope and expect Silver thumbshifters to work.

EXCHANGE RATE BLUES. The Yen is at a million year high, which means the dollar’s at a million year low: One of ourse buys 76.5 of theirs. Nitto stuff remains (at least from us) underpriced. That may be one of our problems.

NEW BIKE PACKER & GEN’L GOFER: We now have Elizabeth, a 19-year old student who’s prepping and packing bikes, and doing general grunt-gopher work with inventory. She’s highly skilled and meets the standard.

DINOSAURS. This is a random thought, but one worth thinking about for at least the time it takes to read it. I bet one of you has a view point that might help me deal with it. It’s about dinosaurs.

Most sane people in a position to know agree that roughly 65 million years ago, a big meteorite smashed the part of the earth that is now—-I think it’s in the Yucatan peninsula. Somewhere down Mexico-way, anyway. For now, for the sake of discussion, let’s say it hit exactly 65 million years ago—to the DAY.

It kicked up a lot of dust that blocked the sun and killed the plants and ultimately the dinosaurs that lived off the plants, and, naturally, it also lead to the death of the dinosaurs that ate the vegetarian dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs had a 200 million year run (I think, by memory), and then blam. But up until the blam, they seemed unstoppable. And if they were unstoppable, what would another 65 million years have been?

The genus Homo has been around for about 3 million years. Two million? I think it’s 3 million. And Homo Sapiens has been around for 200 thousand years.

Now, if the meteorite had hit just 147 years later, would we be in the middle of the Civil War? If it had hit your age later, would you be about to be born? How do things like that work? I am curious. The first bicycles came in about 1869, or 142 years ago. Highwheelers with solid rubber tires. If the meteorite had hit 147 years later, would the inventors of the day be close to developing the bicycle?

SCOUNDRELS. Three weeks ago somebody tried to break in here, but—-the evidence suggests he (or she, but I’ll take the sexist stance on this one) was scared off by the alarm. Go, alarm! I got a call from the alarm company and came down to investigate. I didn’t find anybody or anything missing, but the door was open. We’re bugging the place now.

DANGERS IN RACING. There was a recent story in the NYT about the dangers of bike racing. Some of it’s the superlight gear, some of it’s the bigger packs, some of it’s the earbugs the riders wear to stay in touch with their coaches.

LONG CRANKS. The superlong cranks, and the steel crank project in general, are moving along. It’s all about bolt circles, weight, Q-Factor, length, bottom bracket compatibility, and price. In four months we’ll have something interesting, maybe. Right now we have a sample, but  it’s too far off.

SHIFTERS-IN-A-BOX to come. Silver shifters will soon come in a box. Prip Ging Kedals will soon come with spikes (for more money). Our MUSA pants are on the long side. I can wear a medium pant, but these days I prefer an XL knicker. I like baggy-baggy.

Be a do-gooder. The charity funds are a bit behind schedule. These are neat charities that need your money AND we’ll heavily subsidize your donations. You donate $100, you get $75 in credit here. Effectively it costs you $25 to give $100, plus you get the write off. You can donate up to $200 to each charity (per donation time) and we’ll keep on doing that. For two $200 donations, you get $300 in credit. Dave will process your credits within 4 days. Here are the links…

Whirlwind Wheelchair Fill out your information in Step 1, then go to Step 2. In the Program Area, select Rivendell as your—contact. Otherwise, we’ll never know.

The Fistula Foundation Fill out the form, and when you get to Step 3, second option, it asks what inspired your donation. Type in Rivendell Bicycle Works, and we’ll make sure you get your credit.

Easy and important! Remember, we cover 75% of your costs, in credit.

Click around and explore the new layout, login, and place orders.

We’ll likely post here more often, maybe less significantly. We have lots of things going on here, lots of projects, samples and prototypes. The secret bike project has just taken a medium leap forward. It’s going to be a neat bike, and we’re having several new things made for it.

Here

We’re re-doing our site, and so the current one will be down a few hours late Saturday afternoon, probably 4:30 to 8pm. Even if it goes beyond, it should be up by Sunday.

Our current site is super duper, no doubt, and hard to move away from. But our database (not connected to the website) predates the internet, and they’ve never really worked as a team. You may not have noticed the complications, but we have on this end, and the new site—-even with growing and rookie pains—-should be easier for us, and better for you.

The look is familiar, but different. The search feature is better. There’s a single, easier-to-navigate blog (we’ll call it a BLUG) instead of two blogs, You’ll be able to review/change all orders, not just web orders. There’s a customer product review page that we’ll take down if too many are too mean. It’ll catch payment and address typos, so we don’t have to call you up and leave a message for you to call us back with the right card number (meanwhile, your order is shelved). Things like that.
 
There’s a lot more new content, too.

You can count on better service and fewer goofs blamed on “the system.”

We did our best to sync up your email accounts with the new site, so you’ll just log in with your existing email address and no password then change it to whatever you want. Rather than move your passwords around from site to site and risk god-knows-what, this will be more secure. But our ever-since-1994 database is the Winchester House so some of you might have to make new logins. It’ll give you a chance to check out the new features.

We hope you like it. There will be some bugs at the start, but they’ll get squashed in time (or if you’re a Buddhist, set free). We hope you find it better. Bear with us as we adjust to it ourselves, and don’t worry, we’ll still get your member rebates sorted out in January.

About once every other year something gets me excited beyond my normal range. Sometimes it’s something somebody else is doing, but usually (and this is not braggy, it’s just the nature of what excites me) it’s something we have in the works.
I’ll say with various degrees of detail what they are now.

1. The new secret bike that ten of you bought without knowing anything about it other than that it would cost well over $4,000 and wouldn’t duplicate anything in our current line. There may be a production model of it in 2012, but first we have to see if it works in practice as well as it does in theory. I’m getting the first super fancy one, and if it works, the other nine will get theirs as planned. If it doesn’t (super slim chance), I’ll modify it, try V.2, and then fix all theirs.
2. A handlebar to go with that bike. I don’t like bars with too much going on visually. Those trekking bars are kind of neat functionally, but they look like they were designed by a dentist who wishes he were an engineer, and fancies himself a great thinker. This bar won’t be like that. It will be deceptively normal looking. It will also work on normal bikes, not just the secret model.
   
   The more I ride the second sample, the more convinced I am that I don’t want to get ANY cues from the outside world, which would bash this bar to death. It works so well, but like so many other things that do, it wouldn’t be accepted, at least not right off the bat. The normal bike-company mentality is to keep a finger on the pulse of popular stuff and to latch on to trends early enough to seem pioneering, but late enough to reduce risk. The whole concept of “risk” as it relates to innovating (making new stuff) is so weird and out of place, anyway. When the question comes up, “Who will buy it, and how many?” you know the person-or-company asking it is on a different wave length, where business is a game of numbers and strategies and executions. Maybe it has to be sometimes, but in the simpleton world of bike parts, that seems so weird. If something works for ONE person, it ought to work for many, or millions. And, if it works, shouldn’t that be enough to get the project going? THEN figure out how to present it inoffensively and completely, so people know what it does, and how, and all that. I wonder how this bar will do, but I don’t wonder at all about how well it does what it does.
   
   I also don’t expect everybody to like it, although, I think it would be hard to dislike it if you use it according to intent and with some, I don’t know, body-bike-handlebar awareness.
   
   You always have to work with your bike and its parts. If something comes out of adjustment during a ride, or wasn’t adjusted right in the first place (won’t happen here), you deal with it until you can fix it. For instance, if you change your crank and forget to readjust the throw of the front derailer, you ride the gears that avoid rubbing (if it now doesn’t shift far enough). Or you take special care not to overshift, if now the inner and outer rings are too inward. If you have a slow leak and no spare, you watch it around corners and over bumps. If your crank is loose on the spindle because you didn’t tighten in, and now you’re an hour from home with no hope of a tool, you pedal the other leg, not the loose-crank leg, so the crank doesn’t get wrecked or fall off. I don’t know exactly how that relates to the new bar, but it must, because any bike part is subject to something.
   
   We got an email and a return from a super nice guy who  . . . well … he bought a 24t chainring, installed it on his crank, and a short time later as he was riding his big ring (pay attention to that), he heard and felt a lower clunk and jolt, and he discovered that one of the bolts had pulled out and caught on the chainstay, and the force bent and ripped the new 24t ring at one of the holes. He thought it was a problem with the 24t ring. We replaced it and noted that the chainring bolts need to be tight so they don’t work their way out during the ride. We can cover that, no problem, but the point is to keep the rings tight.
   
   We’ve had two kickstand plates rip off. The welds were in tact, nothing defo, but an open kickstand is a long lever, and when it’s weighted and forced—-as it can be when somebody sits on the kickstanded bike and maybe even falls over on it—-then the kickstand can rip away the weld. Not having been there while it happened, there’s a limit to the certainty with which I can say this is what happened. But if the weld ripped, that’s a good indication of a certain amount of force, and that amount is well above, and in a different direction, than the force generated by kicking the stand up and down with your foot.
3. Two companions to Splats. Splats are so cool. They’re the ideal rainy weather shoe cover, in so many ways and for so many good reasons. But they look funny, and after the first round of bold early-adopter purchases, sales have been dismal. I’d like to think, “what’s wrong wich’all?”, but that’s mean and not part of my mission, which is to introduce ShinShieldsraincovers for your shins, for like when you’re riding a poncho or something, and normal pants; and Half-Mittswind- and waterproof covers that block wind by design, and are waterproof incidentally.
   
   They’re both cheap, simple solutions to everyday problems, but suffer from the same low-tech homeliness that scares people off of Splats. I’m excited because they’re just what I’ve needed for decades, and now I’ll have them.
   
   
4. We’re getting a super pricey rain jacket. Some of you have seen a video of the Brooks one, and the Brompton. They’re both designed in Britain (Brooks’s by a Saville Row tailor, la-de-da), and Brompton’swe don’t know who designed that, but it’s looking pretty fancy, too.
   
   Ours will be far from theirs, but far from frumpy. Ours will have a certain unique detail that you’ll either think is groovy or stupid, stylish or ridiculous. The plan is to do one in Ventile (google it) for the bourgeoisie, and one in some modern techy nylon for the proletariat.
   
   
5. More 650B tires. Yes, even more. This time, a 40mm roadish tire and a 50mm trailish one. Both armored and tough, with little to no concern for weight. These.we don’t expect to see until April 2012.
   
   
6. A new Tange headset, possibly with a needle bearing.
   
   
7. And maybe even a steel crank. This is a toughy, but if the dimensions are right, we’ll offer it, possibly in lengthy lengths.
   
   
8. The two Nitto rear brake cable hangers have been out for most of a year, to no fanfare, but they are just fantastic little jewels, and about the cheapest way to own anything Nitto.
   
   
9. I think the GrabSack is the single most useful thing we sell, and is a steal at $55 or whatever it is, but of course you have to be a bag-user to … accept how useful it is, or to like it.
   
   
10. We are working with some other manufacturers on other parts, and half of these things will come to fruition.

Tons of innovation and development happens outside our tiny bubble, and we’ll adopt the things that make sense here, but for the most part it seems boring or unnecessary, and of no interest at all. It would be neat to see Continental make a 650B tire; or Specialized or WTB or Maxxis or Chen Shin..but some the bike makers will have to make bikes that fit ‘em for that to happen. ckeneggchickeneggchickeneggchi-thing.

You know how your fingers and toes get wrinkly from long stints in the shower or bath or pool? According to a recent study, it’s an evolutionary adaptation to slipperiness. More tread, different pattern. The bike-and-tire tie-in is obvious, isn’t it? At some point there may be tires that wrinkle in the rain. It won’t be in our lifetime. Still, tires or no, it’s interesting about the fingers and toes.

I’m reading a book called The Queen’s Gambit. I’m on about page 125 or so. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like it, or close.

We’ve nearly hired for Emil’s job (he left for school f/t), and it should work out.
On Wed the 14th I go to the InterBike trade show for a quick day and night.

G

We have many, could be too many projects in the works, but they’re all coming along, and none is a far-fetched super expensive long-shot. The tandem….which I bring up every 20 months or so, isn’t exactly in project form yet. 

There’s interest out there, but tandems are such a hassle, and I’m guessing that anybody who spends more than $5,000 on a frame is going to pretty much also want the kind of customizing that could come only for another thousand or more. I want to do a stock, boilerplate tandem in four sizes to fit four hypothetical typical couples. So for now, the tandem isn’t on the project list.

We have a new handlebar for the Top Secret HS bike. Specs aren’t final, but close enough. Jay and I are riding one, a nd if it shows up on the net, the poster is going to be responsible for it selling for $20 more than we plan on pricing it now…when it comes. Kind of a mean thing for me to do, but we gotta be able to ride these to try them so we know how to tweak the final one…and so that’s the rulaw. No photos. We could hide the bikes, but no, sholdn’t have to.It will be a good bar, and thozuvus who’ve ridden it are liking it a lot. 

Some of you remember the old MUSA Butternut color. The first one ever. We have it back again in knicker and pants. One of the guys here said the shorts were weird because they matched legskin color too closely. It never bothered me, but that thought stuck with me, and so…..knickers and pants only. 

Chocolate brown, too, with navy trim. We’ll have pictures up soon.

Last year’s brilliantly orange rain pants scared away many, but eventually they sold, and we’re going with the same orange again this year. You’ve got to be seen, and black rain pants don’t do that. 

Some new wool garments a nd variations are coming. A rain JACKET, too. That one’s going to be largely unaffordable, unless you’re used to … expensive clothing. We’re trying to keep it simple and as affordable as possible. 

Brooks has a new jacket coming out. Maybe you’ve seen the video? I’ll try to find it and put it up here tomorrow. Anyway, it looks nice, and so does Brompton’s new (upcoming) jacket. 

But listen——we’ve had this one in mind for longer, and have had a couple of false starts on it already, in years past, but our’s is going to be more our style than theirs, and we’ll just see. It’s not a contest.

More later.

The knew nickers are a bit longer than the other

A few things

1. Our costs go up more often than we raise our prices, and usually by more than we raise them when we do, which isn’t as often as we should….but this coming Tuesday, Sept 6, we’re going to raise almost everything by almost something. We’re shooting for 5 percent. It’ll be a tedious process, and we expect it to take a few days. Any order placed thru Sept 5 (or, practically, before we get to your favorite items on Tues-thru-Thurs) will go out at the current price. The prices apply only to items in stock. Deliverable.
2. We’re closed Saturday, we’re always closed Sunday, and Monday’s a holiday, so we’re closed then. We’d love to have a good Tuesday, and are hoping the long overdue and sorely needed price increases will bring a few weekend sales.
   
   
3. The dollar is weaker against then Yen than it’s every been in a million years. Everytime I mention that, somebody actually emails me and tells me it’s unbecoming to whine, but the dollar-to-yen exchange rate is so integral to our business that to not say anything when it gets so lousy seems like a big fat lie. It’s cathartic to scream how bad it is. It is bad.
   
   
4. On a good note, we have some neat things coming out of Japan in the next half-a-year. A handlebar, maybe a tubeset, probably a headset, and maybe four new tires. Everythings a big IF, but we have a good record, and these are no more longshots than so many other things that now exist were at the same stage of development.
   
   
5. We have hired a shipper to replace Vaughn, who went to Japan for a while, and then will go home to Colorado. She’s Jenny Klug, and goes by “Jenny,” not “K-lug.” Her first official day is Wednesday the 7th, and we’re happy to have her.
   
   
6. We may do a limited production (like, twelve) super-fancy mixte frames, sort of like the Glorious we no longer produce because it was made in Japan, and would now cost ——- more than most would want to spend. A few things need to be worked out, but it’s a possibility.
   
   
7. So is a super limited number of tandems. One fellow is interested. I forget your name. If you’re reading this, contact me (grant) the same way you did last time. I’m almost finished with the design, and have a few questions, before I can finish and getcha-a-quote.

G