I've never been to this SS forum before, but I am totally taken aback at the cultish reactionary response to this bike. It's weird, because this company is being accused of being conformist, of being ugly, of being too expensive, etc., but this frame has several aspects to it that are not widely available.

1. It allows the double chainrings or flip flop hub while running a rear brake using angled track ends. As far as I know, that has never been done before. I think this confounds the conventions for the riders on this forum, but you can't see this in your normal context. This is a off-road/touring all-rounder bike, far more suited than any track/SS bike to go places besides flattish roads or urban areas. Having no brakes or just front ones might arguably be "cool" for some of you, but it is no good if you want to use it as a cross bike or off-road trails bike. Which is what most people do with it. One of their employees placed very well in the national cross SS division last year (and good overall) on this bike.

2. This goes with one, in a way. Excellent tire clearance. You can run many 29er tires with it, and with the shorter BB drop on this frame compared to their other designs, you have good off-road clearance.

3. The rack and fender eyelets allow touring and commuting, and the design allows--but does not required--you to have the bars level with the saddle.

If none of these things interest you, that's fine. It wasn't designed for you. But since there is no bike *quite* like it in production, and since it can be demonstrable either comfortable for touring and race-worthy for cross, this is a "smart" bike, as the copy reads. It might not be your smart bike.

This is a disclaimer: I have one, the green one. Every person who sees it (and I do not know any people like you) says its cool and beautiful. And it does have shellacked tape, which I did for the cool green that I got. I can take it everywhere, and I love to ride it on muddy trails. The headbadge is an evergreen tree, and I live in the forest in Southeastern NY, not in the city. I am 28, and I would NEVER do my 20 mile roundtrip hilly commute to work with bars as low as many of those displayed in this forum. It has nothing to do with physical ability; I'm in fantastic shape. The design of this bike meets my needs for winter riding and commuting and trailriding in a way no brakeless FG would. I like to ride with my dog and carry things, and wear boots on snowy days with platform pedals and not sweat about things. If I want to climb a local mountain, I can shift it manually to the smaller chainring. If those bad*ss early TDF riders could do it, I can deal with it.

I really have to agree with the other poster about the irony of charges of "conformity." While there are consumers of Riv and related products that do funny things, an outsider to this forum clearly sees a very insular and conformist community here.