Discovering Atlantis

One of the early blog name idea's I had when I was contemplating starting a bike blog was 'Ride to Rivendell'...  Rivendell Bicycle Works is a small, boutique company with an iconoclast owner/designer named Grant Peterson.  I won't go deep into Riv and the bike industry, rather say that last year when I was getting into biking I stumbled across the recently published 'Just Ride' book he had written.  The book is a more a collection of short essays and (almost) blog style chapters that runs the gamut of bike related topics.  That book truely formed my mind for biking, struck a chord, something like that... anyway I was an instant fan.  Bringing it back to the present, Riv markets a number of high end, lugged-steel bikes, now mostly fabricated here in the USA, in addition to bike gear, 'lifestyle' items and now hatchets... :)

I think it was exactly two weeks ago that I noticed an ad on craigslist for not just a Riv, but the flagship, longest continually carried Riv, the Riv that Grant himself claims as his own daily rider... the Rivendell Atlantis.  The one in question, at 64cm size, is a touch large for me but actually is the same size as the Trek 715.  The price was right so I took the plunge buying the frame and fork with headset, bottom bracket, crank and seatpost included.

Between a couple of drastic alterations to other bikes and a deep dive in my own, and the Velocity Co-Op's parts bin I've cobbled together a fully functional bike now and can share a couple photo's.  The initial ride around the neighborhood this afternoon was excellent, the bike handles very well.  Completely 'neutral'... much more stable front end than the Trek... as advertised!  I'm planning a longer shake down tomorrow morning so I'll have to get back to you on the results.  Enjoy the photo's!

First we have to recoignize the 'donor's...

The B-Stone MB-5 is a touch small for me but my friend Kamal has been getting alot of riding out of her.  I also had a really enjoyable say out at Wakefield Park trying out some off-road with the fat tires.  The cockpit on this bike and one of it's brand new Tektro 720 canti brakes were lifted so that the Atlantis could be built up.

Has a Diamondback hybrid ever been stripped down to provide parts to a Riv before...?  Can't say its my proudest moment, but when you need 700C wheels with a rear 135mm hub beggers can't be choosers.  My wife's hybrid, which she isn't riding these days (it's for sale! - $240) donated its wheelset, tires and pedals.

Just a preview, but the MB-5 isn't done in the cockpit experimentation zone! :)

And now on to the main event!

Original Moustache bars... Nitto Dirt Drop, tube's-as-tape (I've got a couple rolls of newbaum's that are in the mix). The shifters, Suntour power-ratchet friction shifters are awesome... great feeling set of shifters!

       

I just love this detail on the handlebar shim...

I don't love having the bell on the stem, preferring it closer to my hand position but I'll give it another try.

One of the co-op finds was this sweet Suntour arx front derailleur, shined up pretty nice.... the TA Specialites crank was included with the frame and I believe to be original equipment.  Note the chain-suck scars (beusage!)

Pre-adjustment glamour shot of the FD... the adjustment was a bear, my fault I'm sure.  Anyway I've got all three chainrings dialed in now.

The Deore DX came with my Trek 715, unfortunatey the rear plate of the derailleur contacts the 34T 'MegaRange' cog and prevents me from getting into the two lowest gears... so I've got a really odd 5 speed configuration on the back end.  The limit switches keep me safe with respect to actuall contacting anything as I have it currently set up.  Gotta love those department store wheels!

Onward to many-many happy miles!