Cyclofiend: RBW: PDF's

Cyclofiend.com: Rivendell Bicycle Works: PDF:

Rivendell began sparodically publishing their updates as pdf (Adobe "Portable Document File") format documents in the late "aughts". Beginning in 2010, it this trickle has become a steady stream, with interesting product updates, variants, previews and even a frame design course being distributed in this manner.

To my mind, it is reasonably difficult to go somewhere and find these, hence this page, which is an attempt to aggregate these pdf's into one place. As I am reasonably compulsive in terms of downloading and reading these things myself, I'm also mirroring them here. If you go to the Rivendell Bicycle Works website, you should be able to find them there. Generally, they appear first in the "Peeking through the Knothole" or "Rivendell News" columns, both of which do have their own RSS feed.

I actually find this pretty exciting, as it allows Grant and the gang to get the word out on new things pretty efficiently.

I may be missing a few pdf's here and there, so if you know of one which is not represented here (especially from 2010 - I do have others archived on the RBW page).

This page is divided into two sections - most easily visible are the pdf's in chronological order (with the newest ones positioned, in bloggish fashion, highest on this page. The other section is for the "Draw Your Bike Frame" exercise which Grant posted in August, 2010. These appear below the chronological listing - you can jump there by clicking here.


2/21/11	The "Grilver" Sam - Testing a new color on the twin-top tube Sam Hillborne. This one is even more special as it was made with a Waterford fork rather than the stock Taiwan-built one. Specially built up with a parts pick by Jay and offered via the website as a semi-custom "one of a kind" bicycle. Specifics to the build are found in this pdf invoice, and the original "Knothole" post was 333.
2/12/11	The Purple Rivendell Custom. As Grant put it in the "Knothole" post - We've had a purple custom here for a while, and the owner just picked it up, and I got some pictures before he did that. It's an unusual build, but there's nothing odd about it, and it looks great. It's only the second custom we've done in this color in 16 years. Whatever the reason, it's a mighty nice bicycle and an interesting build.
2/4/11	"Return of the Sweater/Vest" - Announcement of the itchy/heavy tweedish sweaters and vests which have not been available through Rivendell for the past 6 years or so.
12/20/10	The Rivendell "Mountain Mixte". Preview of custom-ordered mixte made for the mountains. Stellar build from Mark Nobilette, paint by Joe Bell and build up at the RBWHQ&L by Mark Abele. Also a short paragraph updating pricing and wait times for the Rivendell custom-order bike frames.
10/20/10	Converting and mounting a Microshift barend shifter and derailleur (derailer).
10/20/10	Tweed Bag Assortment with production versions.
10/3/10	Second prototype of the SOMA San Marcos model - a design by Rivendell. Also, gorgeous images of a fully built up Hunqapillar which belongs to a local customer.
9/17/10	Matthew drops by on a tour.
9/17/10	Power ratchet detail and commentary.
9/9/10	Introduction of the new versioni of the Rivendell Bombadil with full-length lateral downtube running from headtube to rear stays. Also, Return of the Splats, Part Three "The Reckoning" and some images of a steel replacement fork. (Note - this was also posted to the Cyclofiend Bombadil page.)
9/8/10	New models of tweed bags. Preproduction samples. Also some beautiful TA chainrings mounted upon a gorgeous Sugino crank. And, a detail image and musings on the innards of the Silver Ratcheting shifter.
8/30/10	Painted and glorious, splayed twin tube Rivendell Hunqapillar. Here's the one to email someone who wants to see what this bicycle is all about.
8/28/10	Rivendell Hunqapillar final version. Unpainted but featuring the splayed top tubes. Also some unboxing images of the "SampleOne" - the sample for the Simpleone - another derailleurless bike which will replace the Quickbeam. (Identical dimensions, crafted by a different builder.) Shows some possibilities for components.
6/29/10	Yellow Poncho. Several views from front and side.
6/2/10	Images of what happens to an A. Homer Hilsen when it is jettisoned from a vehicle while on the freeway and hit by 3 more cars. Also, Grant's X-Rays of his broken thumb. Splats return - this time in V2.0. And, finally, using Silver shifters with Paul Components "Thumbies" mounting pods.
5/18/10	"How To Twine" An official, hand-drawn guide to wrapping your bar with twine and applying a clean and slick whip finish. (Also previously on this site were the specific steps of the whip finish shown in an early Reader.)
5/14/10	Roadeo build example. This one is build for speed in a reasonably "non-Riv" manner. Also in this is a update on the panniers with corrected samples.
5/14/10	Roadeo build example. Fast and furious parts choice. Also, the introduction of the Splats - shoe covers guaranteed to be the next new styling thing.
5/7/10	Rope Swing & a Snake. Photos from an outing to the local mountain.
5/3/10	Hunqapillar "splayed" twin tubes drawing.
4/16/10	Pannier Notes. Preproduction samples of panniers with notes.
4/14/10	"2nd Life Frames" Showing Renovelo frames going through initial steps of repair.
4/14/10	"My Bike" - Grant's A. Homer Hilsen. An exercise for G.P. to learn the software has him annotating his Hilsen.
3/15/10	Comparison of two Sugino crankset designs. Cospea/Alpina and XD2.
3/10/10	Hunqapillar Demo Unpainted with parallel top tube design
2/24/10	"Bike of the Week" was a short-lived promotion in which one of the staff members would spec out a frameset which would then be offered for a special price via the website. This was a parallel top tubed Bombadil.
2/8/10	The Hunqapillar flyer.
1/20/10	The simple, solid seatpost.

How to Design a Bicycle Frame - Lessons by Grant Petersen

Preparing the Materials	Step 1 - Draw the Wheel Centerline

Step 2 - Establish the Drop	Step 3 - Seat Tube Angle

Step 4 - Chainstay	Step 5 - Top Tube

Step 6 - More Top Tube	Step 7 - More Top Tube

A Quick Note on Fork Rake, Trail & Offset	Step 9/10/11 - The Fork

last update: February 21, 2011 - Most recent additions are at the top of the page