State of the Rivendell Bicycle Works Owner's Bunch Mailing List
============================
June 2007 - #1
============================

Things have been moving along pretty darned well for the Rivendell Bicycle Works Owner's Bunch List during it's first couple months. We seem to have pushed away from the dock without running aground or plowing over anything. Hopefully, you have enjoyed the group and found it to be both entertaining and instructional. It's been a real pleasure to continue the conversation of the earlier bikelist.org RBW list and I look forward to more Rivendell tour tales, tech talk and the odd product preview.

As it is always easier to keep your boat on course when it's pointed the right way to begin with, I thought that it might make some sense to comment now, with the wind at our backs and calm seas surrounding us, on the list in general.

First off, again, let me thank everyone who has followed this list to its new location, made comments, asked questions or given answers while maintaining an encouraging tone in their posts.

Any discussion is only as good as the words we share, and it seems evident that people have been weighing their opinions, and taking the time to make sure that they are in keeping with the spirit and topic of the RBW Owners' Bunch.

I feel strongly that we insure the vitality of this list by maintaining the focus. Many of you are veterans of other lists, and some of you even remember the dial-up days when Usenet had mostly good info, with the odd crank here and there. Dunno if you've been there in a bit, but when I finally left a few years ago, the ratio had been altered significantly.

The same sort of increasing noise has moved into a lot of other forum and list discussions, and while some of the change has to do with the sheer volume of people accessing the net these days, it rests squarely with the attitudes and behavior of everyone.

In short, we all make this discussion what it is. The core attraction of this list remains a reasonably low traffic and focused discussion on RBW products and designs. Other lists have a broader spectrum and invite a wider variety of topics, and many times those may be a better venue for more general comments.

I worry a little that mentioning this might tend to stifle contributions, but semi-public forums always seem to suffer what the project managers call "scope creep", so it makes sense to me to bring it up from time to time. We're all going to verge off-topic now and again, but we're also mature enough to recognize it and not spiral off on too many tangents.

Just to restate it, I think things have been going very well so far, and felt it was worth just considering and acknowledging that a bit as we move forward.

============================
Projects and Features
============================

On the Google Group Pages:
I've created a few pages* here -
http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch/web

*For me, the Google Groups page building software is clunky, slow and tends to render oddly, so it's much quicker for me to create pages within the Cyclofiend site.

Cyclofiend.com Updates
The Cyclofiend RBW page has been inverted, so that it moves in a more blog-like fashion (newest stuff at the top of the page) -
http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw

RBW links have been aggregated onto that page, and there are now separate pages for Bleriot, Quickbeam and A. Homer Hilsen bicycle models. I'm going to add some Reader Scans about the AHH "Intro" pretty soon, much the way I did on the Quickbeam page.

If you want to see all of the Rivendell bikes in the Current Classics Gallery, here's where they are gathered: http://www.cyclofiend.com/cc/cc-maker.html#rivendell

I'm trying to finish off the Weekend #3 Writeup, but just got a bit slammed this week. The last part is semi-written and mostly outined, so hopefully soon...

RBW PDF Newsletter
I mentioned this idea to a few people on the RBW Weekend, and the response was reasonably positive. The thought is to do a 4 page e-newsletter in Adobe PDF format, which could be emailed or downloaded to those who are interested. It would probably help if others wanted to submit articles of regional interest, RBW outings, etc. It might aggregate some of the info on the list, but would hopefully expand upon it.

============================
Statistics & Housekeeping
============================

List began: March 26, 2007
Members: 315 (Up from "0")
Activity: Medium activity (up from "Low" for the first two months)

In addition to email delivery, the list can be viewed via the web at -
http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch

If you wish to turn off or restart email delivery, change to digest mode, update your profile or make other changes, simply log in at the page above and make the changes you desire.

As stated, this list is a discussion of things Rivendellian in nature and is not associated with Rivendell Bicycle Works or its employees and staff. If you have specific questions for Rivendell Bicycle Works regarding customer service or other issues, you should contact them directly.

============================
Ending Note
============================

I'd be more than happy to continue the discussion on any of the topics mentioned above, but in the interest of clarity, it might make sense to either email me directly or to create a new topic thread specific to your comment. Thanks again for your contributions and enjoyment of the list.

Your list admin,

-- Jim

---

- | - | - | - | -

Back to the top of this page

Please note - this is absolutely not meant to be a comprehensive representaton of Rivendell Bicycle Works, their products or their policies. This information is purely for enjoyment and education only - I cannot be responsible for any errors in pricing or availability, suitability or accuracy for any product specifications.

If you have questions regarding these items, please visit the Rivendell website, or contact them directly regarding these products.

Last updated: September 4, 2007