From another blog, but I think the reply is bang on!

BTW: I own a Riv Atlantis, have taken it out for a good 8-10 hrs
(26 rims/ 1.25 tires) and am amazed at how snappy/responsive
that baby is thus far...and on all sorts of road/trail conditions, too.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Allan Desmond <reserva120(AT)hotmail.com>

"Well I think you make prefect sense and your right it's very hard for
Rivendell as they are a very narrow minded bicycle company( aye that's not
a judgment they just are) so it's makes it a great deal harder for them to
sell as they are not responding to a market place but trying create(or
some might truthfully say Re-crate one)...which of course is what the
Reader was all about..."


Allan,
I don't consider "narrow-minded" as a judgment, but I respectfully and
wholeheartedly disagree with it as a way to describe Rivendell. I recently
had this conversation with a friend, and this is what I wrote. (It's
really long.):

Rivendell is an innovative company that offers real benefits to the
customers it serves, the non-competitive cycling enthusiast (which
includes tourists of many varieties.) The list of advancements in the
technology of cycling that Rivendell supports could go on and on for quite
a while. The following are just a few examples:

Here's a new idea that Rivendell embraces that didn't exist in the past.
132.5 mm rear spacing. It lets you use your steel frame with either a 130
mm rear hub or a 135. I exploited this when I wanted a light bike for
touring. I took the Rambouillet, but still need a stout wheel, so I was
able to put in my 36-spoke 135 mm beefy wheel for the ride. (The
Rambouillet usually has a 130 mm lighter wheel.) This was so well thought
out, and I really appreciated it.

Very small racks that don't weigh a lot, but are useful. Clever, modular
attachment methods.

The long reach dual pivot brake: the long reaches existed in the past.
Great for clearance, but old brakes were not as good for stopping compared
to newer dual pivots. But in the 90's dual pivots meant short reach and
bad clearance. Thanks to companies like Rivendell who clamored for better,
we now (since the early 2000's) have graduated to Shimano long reach
brakes in dual pivot fashion. This is advancement, progress, high tech.

Tires: Rivendell's commitment to good tires with a lot of variety has
served the touring world and road-riding world really well. Nothing
narrow-minded here.

Support of good quality 110 mm cranks for road bikes - Rivendell was for
this, including doubles, long before Tyler Hamilton. This crank size
serves the MOST different types of riding. Nothing narrow here.

Shifting: yes, they are "guilty" of promoting friction. But it is only one
option. Did you know that you can get a Rivendell bike with STI? It seems
to me that that makes Rivendell the company with the MOST shifting
options: STI, Ergo, bar-end friction, bar-end index, downtube friction,
downtube index. 8-speed, 9-speed. Thumb shifters on road bikes!

I really could keep going. The point is that Rivendell supports the
advancement of bicycle technology in more ways than anyone I can think of.
I think they deserve a reputation as an innovation leader, and the old
retro joke should make people wonder why it would ever be applied to
Rivendell. In continuing to innovate, they constantly have an open mind.

Whenever I go to a bike shop or look at catalogs, I think it's the
majority of the mainstream that is narrow-minded. For example, have you
ever tried to change the stock gearing on an inadequately-geared road
triple? I tried to give my sister the gearing she wanted as opposed to
50-40-30 and 12-25 in the rear. It wasn't so easy, incompatibility
problems where there should not have been. I came away thinking that the
people who spec mainstream bikes are narrow-minded and unimaginative.

Thanks for sticking with it this far,
Jim