sykerocker 

An interesting post. Somehow, over whatever happened at Rivendell for the couple of years I was away from this site, and the present day's writing, I'm getting the feeling that Rivendell is slowly reaching the end of its natural lifespan. As in, they're sating what market there is for the kind of product they produce.

While I've enjoyed watching them exist, and love to look at their bikes in the metal (the five or six that I've seen in the past fifteen years), I've never been a customer, and never will be. Mainly because I've never seen the need to spend the money on a custom bike, given my riding ability, riding style, and most likely distances to be covered in a day. (Now that I think of it, this is also why top of the line carbon fiber bikes with 11-speed electronically controlled drivetrains don't appeal to me either). I'll freely admit that my love for cycling is a continuum of my twenties in glam-rock Erie, PA and the kind ministrations of the late Merle Adams, owner of A. R. Adams Cycle, and the guy who taught me how to take what skills I had and become an effective professional bicycle mechanic - and turned out to be the second best boss I've had in my employment history (the lady I'm retiring on in six weeks is the only person to beat him).

I don't need more than a Seventies bicycle to keep me happy and my love of antique vehicles ensures I'll have some Sixties and Eighties bikes in there to keep the core collection occupied. And given the cost of a Rivendell, I can certainly restore to factory original two or three 'lesser' bicycles that'll take care of my riding needs for as long as my health endures.

Unfortunately, in the progression of things, the situation changes. And in Rivendell's case, I think they're starting to run out of customers. Should the fateful day come, I'll sniff, feel a moment of sadness . . . . . . . . and turn back to the workbench where I'll be working on the next Rossin.