Originally Posted by
onyerleft
Like so many of you, I've met Grant and like him. But I wish that he would aspire to be more like Velo Orange, which actually does product development. Talking/writing/whining/being a luddite is easy; product development is hard.
Rivendell certainly has luddite tendancies, but your point makes no sense.
Certainly Rivendell's frames represent "product development". Note that they have many new frames and haven't just been making the Atlantis for 20 years. Also, he has his own "Silver" line of components. They design the "Sackville" bags. Nitto makes them numerous custom racks, stems and bars to their designs. They collaborate with Panaracer on tires under the "Jack Brown" label. Etc. Also, let's not forget that Peterson designed all of Bridgestone's classic 80's lineup. The XO, to take one example, had most of the ideas of modern gravel bikes in place thirty years ago. There's an entire cottage industry of modern brands like Crust, Surly/Salsa/All City or Jones that are heavily inspired by Peterson's work. The Rivendell aesthetic is central to Bicycle Quarterly, The Radavist and any number of PNW or California-style bike shops like Golden Saddle. You might not like his work, but Peterson has done and continues to do tons of product development and I would say he's more influential than ever right now.