Toyo is one of the better frame shops anywhere in the world. Rivendell bikes are quality.

But I wouldn't be suprised to think that killing off the Atlantis turns out to little more than a marketing plan. kill it off, then bring it back every so often at a higher price ($3000 plus?)

Look at the cult of Bridgestone-- people pay big money of old beat up Bridgestone frames. Why? Because Bridgestone went under.

Bridgestone didn't go under, they just quit selling bikes in the USA. The "cult" following of the Bridgestone is because of Grant Peterson of Rivendell.

https://www.bscycle.co.jp/en/index.html

Yeah, Panasonic did the same thing. But Panasonic or Univega bikes don't bring the huge EBAY money Bridgestones do. All the more reason to make the Atlantis *go away* for awhile. Then roll it out a *special issue* in a few years.

Ohhh, just couldn't help yourself from turning an innocent question into a Bush slam could you?

I don't know where you live but milk, shredded wheat and gasoline (which had the biggest increase of the three) did not double in price. Right now gas is $3.58 that means that 2 years ago it was $1.79 but instead it was around $3.20, in fact gasoline hasn't been at $1.78 for 8 years before it fell again only to regain that price in 2003. BUT if you take inflation into consideration, your not paying any more for gasoline today then you did in 1980!!! And it's the democrats that refuse to do any new drilling here in America, NOT Bush...but your too much of a Bush hater to see that, or see what the real effect of inflation is. And who was the President responsible for high gas prices in 1979-1980...CARTER a democrat. When Reagan took office inflation dropped and remain level during the whole time Republicans remained in control of the house...until the democrats took over the house in 2006 then inflation went back up to 1980's levels.

And milk prices are actually far LESS then what it should be costing us if you take inflation into consideration; and dairy farmers need to have the cost adjusted to stay with current inflation levels so they can make a decent profit. Not something I would like to see, but it is necessary if your going to maintain quality.

Now I'm not saying I agree with Bush on everything but I haven't agreed with any president ever about everything! Nor do I like paying $3.58 for gasoline, but the inflation picture puts it into proper prospective.

Lighten up, Frances. I think you would do well to remember this is a TOURING forum, and not a political debate. Take this where it belongs.

I didn't know Rush was into touring.

Hey Benge Boy,I might know a thing or two about frames and manufacturing.You won't be finding any of these parts on the shelf anywhere.You too can have one....all you have to do is make it!

Gee, that must be the Hummer of motorcycles.

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.

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.

That's a pretty impressive piece of work, and it's definitely *not* something I could do.

I rely on others to develop a concept, have it made and/or imported, create some kind of PR or marketing plan so I know about it, and then make it available for sale in the size I need and the color I want.

I still think it takes more than a monkey to do that; the fact that Rivendell has their frames imported doesn't detract from the fact that they add value to the mix of bikes available to us.

Gunnar comes to mind, and they sell for around $800.

my dad just bought one brand new for 200 dollars off retail, 1400 i think.

that was probably a good move on his part.

but wow oh WOW is that thing a beaut.

the lugwork is ridiculous, and the paint job oooohhh

I wish Rivendell would stop making the Atlantis. I love mine and don't much like the idea of their becoming more common. As it is, I live in a fairly small town and I saw one on the steets of the small town next door. That's too many already.

*Gunnars are a quality Waterford product. Looks like they are made here too.

*Couldn't find anything on the Riv site that said Waterford was making bikes for them again, they did in the beginning of Riv though.
This is a copy from their site {Currently, our customs are made by either Curt Goodrich or Mark Nobilette. Both have their own private businesses, but squeeze in a few frames for us, as well. In a perfect situation they'd build only for us, but life and business don't work that-a-way, and so we get what we can from both.}
Riv used to have another frame builder, and about the time they started with all the different models & they were begging folks to buy their stuff, he went away. About that same time is when all the foreign made frames came about & they were hiring more staff. Seemed odd to me.

*Several posters have said that Toyo is a great frame builder. Question: Have you heard that from anyone other than Riv? I haven't yet.

*Great points freako, too many of us overlook these things.

*Sweet looking bike Booger1! What sized pistons are those gonna be? (nothing like 3 or 400 horse outa 2 jugs)

"You won't be finding any of these parts on the shelf anywhere"

I think your monkey might have made a scaling eror there!


On comparison of LHTs to more expensive frames, while I agree the materials in those bikes can get the job done without a problem, there have been some odd quality issues come forward here the odd time. Someone had some frame or fork parts put in backwards. It makes me wonder what the QC is on those frames. The one thing you can get in a custom or possibly just higher priced build is quality control and frame alignment. If the thing doesn't track right that is a problem. It is a time consuming process so I wonder if these cheaper parts get to it.

Hey Suzie, I just responded to another jackash that had to throw in a Bush comment that he obviously knew very little about; so I helped him with his education, which is different then a political debate. Just ask any school teacher or professor what their doing when they do the same thing to our kids...their teaching not debating or having any agenda to indoctrinate our children with....right?

Please lay off the Rush and Sean Hannity thing, it will warp your brain.

6 1/2" pistons,heads and barrels are from an old radial aircraft engine,I made the bottom end.It's a little over 400c.i.Things like this is how I advertise my machine shop.I build something like this every couple years,keeps me from roaming the streets.

See, this is what happens when you ask "What size bike should i buy?" on the touring forum.

That is a cool kickstand! Will it fit my LHT?

"6 1/2" pistons,heads and barrels are from an old radial aircraft engine,I made the bottom end.It's a little over 400c.i.Things like this is how I advertise my machine shop.I build something like this every couple years,keeps me from roaming the streets."

You build the engine! Very cool.

From personal experience Toyo builds really nice production frames. Velo-Orange is having some frames made there. Apart from that most of their production is for the japanese market

https://www.toyoframe.com/

So let me get this straight: Some people like some type of bikes. Other people like other types of bikes. Some people don't understand other people's affection for their type of bike. And vice versa. Finally, some people wish high quality bikes were sold really cheaply. Does that cover it?

So how did you design it? I mean, you'd have to custom build the crank, bearings, gaskets, seals, cam, etc.