The A. Homer Hilsen gets a nice nod from Outside Magazine's article on commuters -

Article Link - http://outside.away.com/outside/gear/200910/best-commuter-bikes-rivendell.html?imw=Y

Graham S. sent me an email with what seems to dispell most of the mystery about the A. Homer Hilsen headbadge motto -

Subject: Re: ludere quo velis.....

I stumbled on to your blog, scouring the web for information and photos of A. Homer Hilsen. I've been lusting after a Riv for years...

Anyway, I studied Latin in college and I think "ludere quo velis birota permittit agrestis" means "the country bicycle allows [you] toplay (in this context, maybe 'ride') where you wish." Placed into normal English word order, to see the structure more easily, it would be "agrestis birota permittit ludere quo velis." Unnecessary and beautiful, that's Rivendell for you -- obsessed with aesthetics. What a wonderful way to do business!

-- Graham

There was a bit of suprise when I ID'd the frames over on the Toyo blog by the existence of a kickstand plate. Before I could even pose the actual question to the folks in Walnut Creek, GP forwarded over some detail photos of the kickstand plate, as well as this description:

"The kickstand plate weighs 26.4g--less than an ounce. That's before it's ground down some to make a neat connection on the frame. It allows you to mount a Pletscher or Greenfield kickstand directly, without clamping down on the chainstays. Doing that elminates the upper mounting plate that comes with the kickstand, and allow you to use a shorter bolt. The plate replaces the normal chainstay bridge, which typically weighs about 19g. So the n-n-net weight gain, even without putting a kickstand on it, is about 7.4g, or about the weight gain of your handkerchief after a good nose blow.

The plate also has a fender-mounting tab. It is not threaded, but short bolts and nuts are easy, or you can use a zip-tie. It won't pass constructeur muster, but it works great.

The plate is vitually invisible, and for better or for worse, you'll see it on many of our models from now on. I think the next batch of 'bouillets lacks it, but the 'antis, 'aluki, and AHH have it, yes. The mixtes have had it forever.

My oldest daughter's friend recently bought a Giant Simple beach cruiser. It came with a kickstand plate, and she wanted a kickstand, but the shop ignored the plate and clamped on the kickstand onto the chainstays, so apparently kickstand plates are foreign matter even to bike shops selling normal bikes.

Grant"

Sharp-eyed RBW Group Member Ed Felker tips us to these photos which appeared on the Toyo Blog - If your Japanese language skills are anywhere near mine, you'll need the Google (Beta) translated version. But, the photos show raw A. Homer Hilsen frames brazed up and getting ready for painting.

As they say on the blog (well, as Google sez they say on the blog...)

"It is in the midst of USA Rivendell frame producing. The lag frame of this time is serious! Because it continues still, summer of this year it may be hot summer, is. Lag design being the highest, air temperature on of site is highest!!"

I think we've all been under that kind of pressure!

In a recent RBW Owners Group posting, a person was encountering tire clearance issues on the Hilsen. This seemed a bit odd, as the Hilsen has some frighteningly stantial clearance. My guess (and guess is the operative term...) is that it could be related to pinching down slightly oversized fenders.

GP hisself was kind enough to forward some photos over, with some notes. The photos are big, so you'll have to click on these thumbnails to see more detail.:

"The A. Homer Hilsen and the Saluki have identical clearances. The brake reach on both is 64mm, which gives great clearance for puffy tires and fenders. That was the point from the start.

I have Fatty Rumpkin 40.5mm tires on my 'luki, with fenders, and no problem.

We tested the AHH frames with fenders and PASELA 37s, and it works. Here are two photos taken at 8:38pm Pacific time on Saturday night. The tires are Pasela 37s, which my $230 Mitutoyo calipers measure at 37.5 (rear) and 36.5 (front). Don't be bothered by that--tires grow some according to pressure in 'em, and that's the deal there.

The diameter of the tires are 706mm (radius 353mm). So that tells you how high they are. To get diameter, measure hub-center to ground, times two. Make sure the bike is vertical.

Photos often lie these days, but I'm not good enough at Photoshop to figure out how to lie with it. The photos show a Sharpie on top of the tires, for scale. The actual tire-top-to-brake arch clearance is 13mm.

That's a huge amount of room, and the SKS 700x45 fenders work dandily. I haven't tried alll fenders on the bikes, but you can see the clearance, and if a fender can't fit into that, it's too something.

Best to all (or as Sheldon signs off),

All the best, Grant"

In a follow-up post, it turns out the clearance issue was at the chainstay bridge rather than the seatstay/brake bridge. Before I even made it back from my ride, GP had followed up with some photos from that area: "The thing with the AHH is that it provides cantilever-clearances with sidepull features. Nothing's wrong with cantilevers. Something was wrong with the SELECTION of sidepulls, until this one, which lets good things happen. Grant"
A. Homer Hilsen Chainstay Bridge with no Fender Mounted Pasela 37mm	A. Homer Hilsen Chainstay Bridge with Fender mounted Pasela 37mm & SKS Fender
Interested Ant's Eye View of the Clearance Pasela 37 & SKS fender	Shoulder cut out detail and mounting bolt. SKS fender

Summer 2006 official introduction of the ready-to-ramble A. Homer Hilsen in Rivendell Reader #38. Click on the image below for a larger version, and if you need better resolution, there's a hi-rez scan of each page as well. The headbadge was not quite ready (it appeared in an article about headbadge making in RR#39).

click for hi-rez	click for hi-rez	click for hi-rez	click for hi-rez

A. Homer Hilsen Adds Audio

No. Really.

I can't make stuff up like this...

"A LIfe With A. Homer Hilsen"

Update: Sadly, the dedicated A. Homer Hilsen page is no longer active, so the recording cannot be accessed. Though, some of the poem can be found on the Rivbike.com A. Homer Hilsen page.

A. Homer Hilsen Geometry Chart

- Click for a Big Version-

From Rivendell Reader #38

A. Homer Hilsen Has a Website!
- Live as of 8/29/06 -

and sadly, as noted above, no longer accessible

With Photos & Poemetry & More!

Update 7/14/06

"IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!"
A. Homer Hilson Prototype caught in the East Bay Hills - click on the thumbnails to see a larger version on Jrome's Flickr pages.

Thanks to JimG for the pointer!

Cyclofiend.com RBW Page

- Rivendell Bicycle Model Pages -

A. Homer Hilsen	Bleriot	Quickbeam
Bombadil	Rambouillet	Romulus (& Redwood)
Atlantis

Company Info:
Rivendell Bicycle Works
P.O. Box 5289 Walnut Creek, CA 94596
T 800.345.3918/ 925.933.7304
F 877.269.5847

If you are looking for information about Bridgestone bicycles, I have a reproduced page on serial number conventions here. The best source for further information would be Sheldon Brown's Bridgestone Bicycle Pages.