Like a 90s MTB...But Better! (Rivendell Susie Longbolts) 

Except for the price point lol

@@lucasmikejackson It's a bargain compared to basically every modern mountain bike and "gravel" bike.

Yeah sure…

@@lucasmikejackson This is the kind of thinking that keeps America's garages stuffed with never-ridden but reasonably priced bikes.

Lol, I’m not from the states. I own two vintage bikes, a Bridgestone mb1 and a miyata 1000. No need to spend 4 grand on a bike to enjoy riding and having practical stuff. Yeah for sure you guys are the most consumerist country.

Cool. Does it hv a freewheel?

@@rahuldasmajumder5121 mtb so id assume so. Also it has gears so it has to freewheel, no?

@@0xsergy there's a difference between a freewheel and a cassette. Modern Cassette equipped bikes can 'coast' like a freewheel but they don't use a freewheel. The cogs slide onto the cassette body on splines. The 'freewheel mechanism' , (usually 'pawls) is contained inside the 'cassette body', (not in the freewheel) part of a 'freehub'. Its all part of the hub. This allows for a stronger axle and more bearings supporting the load. Therefore less chance of a broken axle. Freehubs came into existence in the mid '80s, when MTBs became popular and riders started pushing the strength limits of various parts.

do i bike check on your creation please

Its not aero.

​@@0xsergy And aero bikes don't make great off road bikes. Nor do they make great commuter or leisure bikes for the vast majority of people. Buy the right tool for the job you want doing, or at least the job you do most often. Don't expect a hammer to do the job of a screwdriver or vice versa.

I have a Clem Smith Jr. "L", too. I recently bought it used. I am truly enjoying it as well. Very solid and stable over rough terrain. After owning 14 other bikes in my life, I have come to arrive in riding upright with the greatest comfortable in my senior years on a Rivendell.

Would make a good sticker run...

We all adapt quickly to our equipment and being upright means learning to shift our weight around when diving into corners for traction.

I already have to shift my weight backwards when pedaling down a steep grade on my drop bar trail bike. Good points all around!

It's not really an issue. Everyone learns to modulate their brakes and figure out how braking affects the bike and their balance. Being leaned forward on drops actually increases the chances of going over the bars, as your weight is already over the pivot point of the front wheel. Changing to another braking system is more likely to cause problems. My very first time going from old style centre pull/caliper brakes to Cantis (not V-brakes) was something of a shock, resulting in an unexpected lifted rear wheel and almost a trip over the bars.

This is what I wanted to say for a long while about quite a lot of the bikes and components Russ reviews. While I totally support the "enough with the aero carbon ultraspecialized bike" and the "enough with the obsession with ultimate performance" approach of this channel, I cannot possibly comprehend why one would pay so much money for tehnically inferior and significantly less complex components and bikes. Friction/thumb shifters that cost as much as STI/ergopower levers, 8-10 speed groupsets that cost as much as or more than mechanical 2x11 ones, mass-produced (as in not custom built nor even custom painted) 4130 CrMo frames that cost as much as carbon or titanium ones, quill stems and threaded forks on framesets that cost way more than 400-500$... and the list goes on. I totally get why some people prefer such bikes, components and setups. I really do. I also encourage Russ to keep producing content that discusses all the things that the "let's regurgitate some marketing brochure excerpts" bike channels avoid. But I have a hard time finding a good reason to pay so much money on these components and bikes given that they are based on such simple, yet so obsolete technologies, components and manufacturing techniques.

@@11robotics A good, mid-line, steel gravel bike by Trek was close to $2000 in the mid 90's (adjusted for inflation). Once the bigger bike companies went away from steel it became more expensive for those who want it. Less supply=higher prices. Russ should discuss prices more, the economics of the bike biz is interesting, I have no idea why he avoids it. EDIT: I just read a reply where he said he stopped talking about price because it just became a launching pad for complaints, makes sense to me.

@@scottyh1509 not sure your example is the best, as Trek is known to be one of the most overpriced brands - albeit I don't know if it was also the same in the 90s, before Armstrong turned it into the wet-carbon-fiber-dream machine selling business it is today. However, more to the point, an obvious example comes to mind. A pair of microSHIFT SL-T10 10 speed shifters cost, in Europe, 120€, while a pair of Tiagra 4700 STI 10 speed levers cost, in the same exact online store, 170€, and a pair of Tiagra 4700 MTB-style flatbar shifters cost under 95€. Even with the lower demand for thumb shifters, their pricing makes no sense whatsoever. They are far easier to manufacture, use far less materials, have only one moving part and yet they cost 70% of the price of a pair of quite decent STI levers and, worse, more than the equivalent pair of Rapidfire flatbar shifters. And don't forget that the price of brake levers comes on top of that. Sure, those microSHIFT thumb shifters will last a lifetime, will probably never break down, but why would other than a handful of people find acceptable to pay more money for a product based on an obsolete technology? I can see some use cases where the added robustness is worth the extra cost (i.e.: long-distance touring to remote areas). And had they been manufactured by Paul Components, the price would have made some sense, yet microSHIFT components are as mass-produced as they can get and not really as refined as Shimano for what it's worth. That being said, I think they should cost at most half of what they do.

@@11robotics Hey, calm down bro! I hear what you're saying, but it's an apples and oranges comparison. The basic premise of Rivendell is that the latest and greatest isn't really either. And while I tend to agree, I don't automatically eschew anything new as sub-par or newfangled gimmickry. STI/Rapid-fire shifters are crap! Always have been, always will be, but my old 7 speed STI shifters were a dream. Yes, these bike don't reflect "the cutting edge", but that's precisely the point; a Rivendell will last you forever, that carbon fiber bike likely will not. My titanium bike will last for a millenia as long as I don't drop it off a cliff or get hit by a car. I owned a Bridgestone XO-1, a Toyo Atlantis, a Roscoe Bubbe & 2 Clementines. A Rivendell is a bike designed for you to form a emotional attachment with, but it's clearly aimed at a certain type person. For most of them the money is not a tripping point and they tend not to be people riding to get rad or work out. Just people who enjoy riding. For me personally I am relatively in tune with the concept, there are things I don't care for; 1" steer tube, quill stems, longer chain stays, friction shifting, but my main thing is I embrace new things if they are better or relatively the same. The main reason I brought up the price, was because I think it should be mentioned. You can't buy one of these right now even if you wanted to anywayz. Liking Rivendell is one of those things where you've just got to not rationalize it, there's an extreme amount of contradiction that goes on and it's part of the charm. Buy a $2,500 bike and make grips out of scrap bar tape, pieces of felt and twine. 🤪 Don't think about it too much or you'll hurt your brain.

@@watchchimp3102 you see, I am an engineer, and I am also a very pragmatic person in general. In my view, a product that costs less to manufacture (in terms of labour, materials, R&D, tooling and whatnot) should not be more expensive than a product that is more expensive to manufacture. Moreover, for a product that offers less functionality, the increased lifespan and robustness is hardly enough of a justification for the extra cost - even in the use cases where the extra lifespan and robustness are crucial and the reduced functionality and ease of use are irrelevant. But I guess this is another case where the battle between capitalist as well as marketing principles and the engineering perspective is won by the former before it starts. Selling such framesets and components at relatively high costs and low volumes will probably maximize the profit margins of their manufacturers, yet their market share will never be more than marginal, as most users will favour the products offering better value (relative to their respective needs) for the same or less money - and also the products that are more aggressively marketed.

One chain isn't enough, these hillibikes require two chains, cut down to about one and a half depending on your drivetrain setup.

Too many bikes to choose from....

There is a limit to those super long chain stay lengths. My Atlantis would routinely throw the chain into the tire, then jam into the chain stay, when running a 1x drivetrain. I finally had to go back to running a 2x crankset, with the long cage, MTB style front derailleur acting as a chain guide. It fixed the problem.

My current bike is an opafiets style city bike, with 622-35 (700c?) tyres and it's great, but it does not like sand, ant I once took it through some gravel trails on the way home and it did not like it. And the hub brakes sounded like angry geese 😅

Some of the Ron's ortho back bar vlogs on YT feature the Susie on rougher terrain...

I setup a bike similarly to this one, more upright and comfortable for urban or even 2-3 hour road rides. Unweighting the front end is more comfortable, that's for sure. Unlike a road bike, the rider is moving around a lot more, more like a mountain bike than a more fixed riding position of a drop bar bike, so the increase weight transfer on the back and seat isn't going to be an issue. If you want front end traction, you'll lean forward and weight the handlebars. There is a balance, however and even an "upright" position by roadie standards may be still more similar to XC mountain bike racing back angles, while still being really comfortable.

Yes, the large and xl version is 29er wheels though