Originally Posted by
foamy
Variety is the spice of life. So who's making/marketing a line of quality steel bikes these days aside from customs? .
Rivendell alternatives are Waterford, Mercian, Bob Jackson. These certainly aren't mainstream companies,
they're too expensive for that, but they aren't one man custom shops either. If Rivendell can sell a Bleriot frame for $750 I bet a large company could do something similar for half the price so maybe we'll see some lugged steel from someone like Bianchi again.
Yeah, but the "construction, finish, and quality" of the frame will make zero difference in how well the bikes does on a tour. I am not knocking the pride of ownership thing, but that is what it is about. The actual difference in comfort or performance is probably nil.
Pride of ownership is nice and I like to ride a good looking bike, but I bought my Ram as it was the best solution to my touring and daily needs. It's quite fast, and I can put 28mm tires and fenders on it. I don't like touring on a heavy bike with balloon tires so the Ram ticked that box. 3x bottle cage mounts and easy to put racks on front and rear. Finally there's the riding position, the geometry is setup just right for me as a slightly overweight middle aged guy. I rode a Bianchi Volpe for ages and always had a load of stem showing to get me out of the "racer position". FYI on tours in Western MA and up to Canada the Ram has performed flawlessly.
Rivendells are also great for around town and shopping as you can easily put baskets on them an Albatross bar. I have a bike just like that with a 1x6 freewheel and Riv friction shifters that I use for shopping.