Actually the wheel base on the true Mountain bikes was longer. This was marketed as a urban bike more for commuting.

Didn't need as long of a wheelbase since it wasn't climbing hills off road. If you look at the Geometry of "mountain bikes" the early ones the main triangle is more of touring bike proportions. In the late 80's up the chain stays of mountain bikes shortened some and the top tube got longer allowing for more knee clearance when climbing steep hills.
Compairing this bike with 23 inch seat tube to my 98 M400 Cannondale with a 22 inch seat tube the top tube of the 890 is close to 2 inches shorter.

I just made a major (visually speaking) change to my bike, moving more toward being Riv-like.

In imitation of Andy's "Kool-Aid" list above:

Made in the U.S.A. Cro-Moly frame
Clearance for at least 41mm tires (running fat 38's)
Stable front-end geometry
Lower bottom bracket (relative to mountain bikes....more in line with a road bike)
Threaded headset with quill stem
Albatross handlebar
Friction shifters (if I stay with the Alba's I'll mount bar-ends)
42/34/24 crankset

This is as close as I'll ever get to a Hunqapillar.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...8/IMG_0029.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...8/IMG_0030.jpg

Very nice, corwin1968! Those Treks are very versatile bikes, I'd almost certainly have one if this Schwinn hadn't come along (my new poor man's Rivendell)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I...00/VSP_005.jpg

I can't wait until I make the "Rivendell Score of the Century" at Goodwill some day!!

That is one sweet Schwinn!! Love the color and styling. What year/model is it?

Thanks lungimsam, it's a 1984 Voyageur SP. It's going to get racks eventually, and I'll commute on it and use it for touring.

That is a very nice Schwinn!! In my opinion, nothing looks better than a dropbar bicyle with a Brooks saddle and the proportions of yours are just right.

I would like to try drops but I don't think I can get them high enough and I think they would be too narrow for me. I was riding 65cm wide riser mountain bars and just switched to the 55cm Albatross. I really think the Alba's are going to be too narrow for my broad shoulders despite Grant seemingly feeling a need on the website to try to convince people to go with a bar that wide. Given that the 55cm Albas feel too narrow ad Rivendell's 48cm Noodle seems to be considered a wide bar, drops may never be in my future.

BigDaddyPete, tell me about your saddle bag. I've been looking for something vintage looking, in canvas, about that size.

Got this on the road and figured I'd add a more finished picture (need to get a better one). Built it more as a Dirt drop Bridgestone X0 series. Its close to the same geometry. Funny thing is when I put my wifes X0-2 together I bought that had been single speed converted I stuck a set of wheels on it I had from a part out. The wheels that came on her X0 were the original Ritchey Vantage but the PO for some reason did a piss poor job of lacing a early 80's Dura Ace hub in the rear. I laced in a modern 9 speed hub I picked up from the Co Op and threw a 12-28 cassette on it. Has 9 speed Durace Barends and mid 90's LX drivetrain. The 8speed RD seems to be happy being run as a 9speed.

To top it off a I ran across a Rivendell "Baggins Bag" with a Nitto rack on CL a while back and this seemed to be the perfect home for it. Will likely throw a set of hammered fenders on it soon. I have a brand new set of tan side wall 26x1.5 Pasella TG's in the shop but the Kendas are like brand new and the cheap skate in me has me wanting to wear them out first. Feel a bit lethargic though. I need to find a seat post. I'm about 4cm short of what I like. That said I'm very pleased with the ride.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...6&d=1331480833

I think you need either a Technomic stem or kalloy riser matched with a set of dirt drops (salsa moto ace woodchipper) for they are really wide at the drops

Trek 730
 

Don't think a Trek 730 can be put in the same class as the Japan built sport touring frames of the 80's. Hybrids just don't measure up especially in a tall frame: top tube too short, bottom bracket too high, heavy welded frame, poor geometry...

I have ridden just about everything including the Trek 730. Best tall steel frames are those from Bridgestone, Miyata, Nishiki, Sekai, Univega etc...

I don't think anyone intended a Trek 730 to be on the list presented to Chris, I know that wasn't my intent. I just happened to post what I have on a thread that seems to be more of a show-and-tell than anything else.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7073/7...4ba3976b49.jpg

Rawland rSogn. Not as inexpensive as a re-purposed ride, but does a whole lot for a reasonable price.

Surly LHT. It's pretty much a mass-production version (i.e., copy) of the Atlantis.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...9_07_27027.jpg

OT, but isn't this at Winslow Park campground? Nice.

Even lower cost than the LHT - the Pake C'Mute:

http://pakebikes.com/product/F8EF09/C%27Mute+Frame

While it's not a poor man's Rivendell per se, in terms of geometry Soma's Stanyan is pretty tight & sexy copy of the B'Stone RB-2, albeit made with a tad better steel and a 1 1/8" threadless HT. I'd love to test-ride one sometime; if it's anything like my Smoothie it'll be quite nice. Smmooth, even.

Come to think of it, I'm surprised no one's mentioned Handsome's Devil or XOXO, which is a reverent recreation of the XO-1, right down to the pumpkin-orange paint; Reynolds 631 and they cost only a little more than an LHT.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=250706

This is my "country bike". A 1988 Raleigh Technium "The Chill". Fat franks, Freddy Hardcore's, an inverted riser bar. Not exactly Rivendell, but it rides purty nice. Soon to have a spankin new UN-73. Then I'll get those 165mm cranks I've been scouring ebay for. Anyone know why older MTB's seem to have been universally equipped with 175mm cranks? It's like they thought no matter the frame size a tall person would be riding it.

The higher bottom bracket clearances on older mountain bikes and the theory that a longer crank arm would give you more leverage
when climbing is why so many older bikes came with 175mm cranks. In the early days the hot thing was to use 180's, if you could get
your hands on them.

I have to look, but I might just have a set of Deore XT Compact Drive cranks (M737, 58/94 BCD 5 arm) in 165mm if you're interested...

Alan :thumb:

Since this thread has come back to life here's a pic of my Bridgestone XO2 I picked up off eBay, it's served me well had a MB2 before it as my commuter.

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSCF3137.jpg

Here's the latest iteration of my PMR (Poor Man's Rivendell). It's my Bob Jackson World Tour, which I recently had rebuilt for loaded touring. I added a triple drive train, Tubus Cargo rear rack and Brooks B17 saddle. Will be adding a Tubus Tara front rack soon, so it will be ready to handle front and rear panniers (Ortlieb Rollers). I originally bought this frame (direct from England) for commuting, but found it a little stiff for daily riding altho I commuted on it regularly for more than two years. The frame and fork cost about $600 including shipping from England but prices have since gone up.

BTW, has anyone bought one of the new Soma San Marcos? They were designed by Rivendell but sell for a pretty reasonable price at Soma ($900). Very pretty bikes altho sizes are limited. Coincidentally almost the same color as my Bob Jackson.

http://www.somafab.com/archives/prod...rcos-frame-set

Mayhaps I would be...I have seen these on ebay, but was turned off by mr. sheldon brown saying they speed up drive train wear. But is that just with a small cassette/freewheel cluster used in conjunction with the compact? When you rode it did it seem to wear faster than a standard sized crankset would?

I vote for the Salsa Casseroll. Beyond the mechanical build, it's also just a beautiful bike.

Latest version. Moving somewhat away from some Rivish qualities but the overall philosophy is still there.

I've upgraded to a threadless fork with more rake and a more nimble front-end. I also plan to go back to fatter tires, 40's at least and bigger if they will fit. Add V-brakes and a custom front wheel to match the back one and it will be complete.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...IMG_0854-1.jpg

A poor mans Rivendell is a lugged steel bike, not some brazed steel or aluminum crap, lugged steel and lugged only, otherwise you wouldn't like a Rivendell.

I think the lowest price one is indeed the Velo Orange Rando as one poster pointed out, lugged frame with lugged fork $500, not a bad deal, and the lugs look very nice too, and the fork uses the classic style flat crown with lugs. Very nice looking bike. http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p.../rando-74.html Even comes with downtube shifter bosses in case you want to make it look vintage. Take a close up look at that frame, it really has nice looking lugs.

If you want to go vintage just hop on E-Bay and get the entire Suntour Cyclone group, these can be found pretty cheap...cheap compared to trying to get new Ultegra group, but they were the best friction shifting system in it's time besides Sprint and Superbe, and they were extremely reliable; and you can find them either nos or nib if you watch long enough. Or find the older Shimano SIS group or 600 group, these featured downtube shifting the sis had index shifting, these were very reliable.

Anyway, there's all sorts of options you can do, mine is just a couple of ideas.