Originally Posted by Bekologist
grant's enterprise leaves an unsavory feeling with this member of the proletariat. are stock rivendell framesets really that good to wait four months for? I'd say, emphatically, NO, no off the shelf frame is worth partial payment in advance to help the owner cover his bottom line and a four month wait.
Hey, you've got a perfect right not to like the way he does business. He knows that the way he presents his bike business will turn some people off. He's going for a niche market and he's finding it.
I was over there looking around and saw the Homer Hilsen and I've got to tell you that if I was working right now I would have bought it. It was Waterford built and every line was perfect. The paint job was very nice if a bit too conservative for my tastes (I prefer bright BE SEEN colors) and the workmanship was every bit as good as Waterford is famous for.
I won't be wearing baggy shorts, semi-dress shirts or wearing tennis shoes and using clips and straps anytime now or the far distant future. Lycra is good, Coolmax is BETTER, clipless pedals are a God-send that make cycling a lot safer even if you do have to have special shoes. Just use SpDs and touring shoes and you're fine.
And when I tried using those big fat tires they had too much rolling resistance for my tastes. I ride a bit faster perhaps than most of Rivendell's crowd does so I notice what they don't.
But rough camping and touring on a Rivendell is not a bad way to go. And you can sit and look at your bike for hours on end if you read up the last of the books you bring with you.