sykerocker 

Boy, have I been out of the loop! This is the absolute first mention I've seen of these bikes. Then again, I haven't checked the Rivendell website in a couple of years now. Never saw a reason to, for the simple reasons of: 1. I can't afford their bikes, and 2. Anything they sell I can build using a vintage frame, at a price that I can afford. Being a die-hard roadie, I always do own one mountain bike for the 3-4 times a year I get the urge to go out on the dirt (current bike is a 90's Trek 6500, hardtail, suspension fork, V-brakes, 3x7, and the second most modern MTB I've ever owned).


I'm completely non-plussed with these bikes. While I completely agree with the cry of, "modern MTB's are nothing more than motocrossers minus engines" (my one experience with a state-or-the-art MTB, carbon frame, hydraulic disc brakes, etc. was the one time I came seriously close to injuring myself), I don't see anything appealing regarding these bikes at all. First off, the step-thru frame is a major turnoff. Yes, that's probably little George Robert circa 1958 convinced that step-throughs are for girls only, and is a bias that I'll only drop a week or so after I've gotten comfortable with road frames where the top tube is not parallel to the pavement. Good luck.


From a couple of those pictures in the catalog, taken head-on, the handlebars look like something from my rod-braked roadsters. Nope. If I'm riding off road, I like having a straight bar in front of me. I've ridden a few dirt bikes in my time, and this is one of the places where I'm glad MTB's copy motocrossers.


And then there's the prostelizing. No, I'm not a Mongolian warrior out riding the steppes to plunder, loot and ****. I'm just a guy who likes chugging on a few woodland trails, and stays away from the difficult sections to due to a gross lack of skill.