Our 50 and 56 Rivendell Gloriuses

These are photos of our Rivendell Gloriuses, taken by Mark Abele at Rivendell before we picked them up, put a Hobo and a Carradice cape roll on one, and a Little Joe on the other, and made them very dusty from a ride along the Baylands.

The components: Nitto seatpost, stem, and Albatross bars (with cork end grips and shellacked cork bar tape that gives the entire bar a deep honey/leather color), Weinemann center pull brakes, Ultegra bar-end shifters, a 105 front and one of those reverse pull Deore rear deailleurs, MKS pedals, Sugino cranks, 38 Col de Vie 650B tires, and Brooks Champion Flyer S saddles in honey. The over-the-top touch: the kickstands, wrapped with shellacked yellow bar tape and given twine endings to match the handlebars. Mark's inspiration, and we just love looking at them when we've parked the bikes and are taking a break. Kickstands are key for Albatross bars, since the bikes are hard to lean on things.

The ride is super -- comfortable, smooth but not too plush, and with the forward hand position that the bar tape allows, we don't miss drop bars at all. Great "country" bikes because you're up high and feel as if it's a Sunday in the country even if it's a Saturday in town. Great town bikes because with the bags, we can handle a couple of days' shopping plus the Sunday Times in the cape roll, and drivers really see you when you're not hunched over.

Pamela S. Karlan

karlan@stanford.edu