Maintainer
Maintained by Dick Schoeller.
Last modified: (none)
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This just in... 20 January 2007, my new Rambouillet. This is my first new bike since 1973. I finally got to the head of the queue. Thanks to my wife Lisa for buying it for my birthday and to Elton Pope-Lance at Harris Cyclery for building it up.
Click here to see more detailed pictures and the component breakdown.
Lisa picked up the best bike in the family so far on 30 July 2004. It is an Atlantis frame from Rivendell Bicycle Works built up by Peter White in Hillsborough, NH. Peter uses the Atlantis and other Rivendell frames to build up a variety of great bikes. The specs on Lisa's are below.
One thing that I must say, I have never seen such attention to the details of comfort and fit as Peter gave Lisa during her fitting session. His article on fitting was the primary reason that we went there.
Click here to see more detailed pictures and the component breakdown.
I bought this bike with birthday money and other savings in 1973. At the time, I was doing a lot of short group rides and a couple of 70-100 mile rides each year. I didn't have the budget for a similar Fuji and was able to buy the Araya at a shop in Allentown, PA. I don't remember the name of the shop. It was not The Broken Spoke, which was where I bought much of my biking paraphernalia at the time.
Click here to see more detailed pictures and the component breakdown.
This just in... 20 January 2007, my new Rambouillet. This is my first new bike since 1973. I finally got to the head of the queue. Thanks to my wife Lisa for buying it for my birthday and to Elton Pope-Lance at Harris Cyclery for building it up.
The first set of pictures was taken at Harris Cyclery when I was picking up the bike. These show some of the final set up activity. And a picture of the first test ride.
The second set is in front of the garage with the usual set up for taking a short, local day ride. The last couple were out on a ride in Dover, MA.
This view of the bike shows off the beautiful color and the orderly clutter of the shop.
This gives you a good idea of the headlamp placement, the rack and the head badge. The computer isn't attached yet.
This sure looks naked without the bag.
Now we have the bag in there. It looks like it is going to be up against my legs.
The bag has a nice reflector, but it could really use a blinky too. Thee is a small loop on the bag that will be perfect for mounting the blinky.
I'm not sure the smile is big enough.
This is the standard setup for daily rides.
Rivendell has such nice decals.
Grant Peterson has this thing about sheep. Anyway, apparently the town of Rambouillet is famous for sheep. So that's why there is one on the headbadge.
Note the cross levers and computer. The blinky will go on the front bag or basket when they are present.
Sugino crankset and Shimano 105 front derailleur.
Shimano Ultegra rear derailleur, hub and cassette.
Up close and personal with the Schmidt E6 headlight and the Nitto Mark's rack.
Rear of bike, highlighting the fenders, the Busch & Müller taillight and the Carradice Pendle bag.
From here you can see the side view of the Brooks saddle, the Carradice Pendle bag, the Bagman support and the ankle reflector attached to the bag for easy access. Note how the Bagman really does a great job keeping the bag away from your legs.
There's a generator in there. Never be without lights!
Rivendell has the great wheel reflectors. They are as good or better than the bulky plastic ones. Because they are vinyl fabric they are quite light.
I took this shot on a ride in Dover. Finally got the bike in its element instead of in front of the garage. The bottles are a Riv bottle and a Harris bottle.
I got the Gilles Berthoud handlebar bag and used it on this ride. Note that I am not using a decaleur. I instead attached a bungie to the loops for the carrying strap and ran it under the rack. I'll try this for a while before deciding whether it is working. I also hung a blinky on the front of it. One more bit of visibility.
Close up of the front of the bag.
Close up of the back of the bag. You can see pretty clearly how it is attached and how it is accessible from the cockpit.
| Part | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Frame | Rivendell, Rambouillet, 60 cm |
| Headset | Shimano Ultegra |
| Cranks | Sugino XD600, 170mm, 26/36/46 |
| Bottom Bracket | Shimano UN54 68x110 |
| Stem | Nitto Technomic Deluxe, 11cm 26.0 |
| Seat Post | Nitto Crystal Fellow 27.2/210 |
| Saddle | Brooks B17 Standard Black |
| Front Derailleur | Shimano R443 1-1/8 Front Derailleur for Triple |
| Rear Derailleur | Shimano Ultegra RD-6503 GS Triple |
| Chain | SRAM PC-951(59) 6.9mm 9 speed |
| Front Hub | Schmidt SON28 36h Silver |
| Rear Hub | Shimano Ultegra 36h 10 speed Hub 130mm |
| Cassette | Shimano Ultegra, 9 speed, 12-27 |
| Rims | Mavic Open Sport 36h, 700c, Silver |
| Spokes | DT Swiss, Competition 2.0/1.8 |
| Tires | Avocet FasGrip City 700cx32 |
| Brakes | Shimano R600 57mm reach road brakes |
| Levers |
Shimano Tiagra Aero Brake Levers Tektro RX2.0 Silver cyclocross levers |
| Shifters | Shimano Dura-Ace 9 speed Bar End Shifters |
| Handlebars | Nitto Noddle, 44cm 26.0 |
| Tape | Cinelli Black Cork Tape |
| Pedals | Shimano PD-M520 |
| Fenders | SKS P45, Silver |
| Front Rack | Nitto Mark's Mini Rack |
| Headlight | Schmidt E6 Generator Headlight |
| Taillight | Busch & Müller Seculite Plus |
| Computer | Cat Eye Mity 8 |
| Rear Bag |
Carradice Pendle, Black with a Bagman bag support |
| Front Bag | Gilles Berthoud Handlebar Bag Luxe, GB2586, black |
| Decaleur de Sac | Headset spacer mounted Velo Orange |
| Cages | Salsa Cycles Stainless Steel |
| Bell | Japanese Brass Bell from Velo Orange |
Lisa picked up the best bike in the family so far on 30 July 2004. It is an Atlantis frame from Rivendell Bicycle Works built up by Peter White in Hillsborough, NH. Peter uses the Atlantis and other Rivendell frames to build up a variety of great bikes. The specs on Lisa's are below.
One thing that I must say, I have never seen such attention to the details of comfort and fit as Peter gave Lisa during her fitting session. His article on fitting was the primary reason that we went there.
Drive side view of the whole bike. Notice the high saddle, even higher handlebars and the short stem. These combine to match Lisa's leg length and still fit her short torso. The bars may drop just a little once she is reacquainted with drop handlebars.
Specialites TA, Zephyr triple crankset. These are 150mm cranks. A necessary part of making bike in Lisa's size. These really are pretty. The combination of the length and the looks makes the Zephyr a great choice. If Zephyrs were unavailable, she would have taken the Specialites TA, Carmina cranks in 155mm.
Getting the chainline right on the Atlantis with a road triple can be a little tricky. The bike is really optimized for mountain gearing and derailleurs. Since Lisa wanted brifters it required going with a road front derailleur and crankset.
Shimano XT rear derailleur allows for mountain bike range rears if they are desired. A tremendous flexibility for varying terrain.
The front end shot highlights the cantilever brakes again as well as the Busch & Müller Lumotec lighting system and the Shimano brifters. Lisa insisted on brifters over advice from both Peter and me. That did allow her to get the fancy-schmancy Flight Deck system.
This shot shows off the head tube lug and paint work better. It also shows the nice setup with the Shimano STI brifters and the Paul cross levers a little better than the previous.
Lisa opted for generator lighting. The Schmidt is nice bit of German engineering.
The rear end shot highlights the Busch & Müller Dtoplight Plus rear light and the Tubus rack.
Bringing up the rear is support for Lisa's rear ☺. The Terry Butterfly CrMo seemed the right thing in specs, price and feel.
| Part | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Frame | Rivendell, Atlantis, 47 cm |
| Cranks | Specialites TA, Zephyr, 24/38/48, 150mm |
| Bottom Bracket | Specialites TA, Axix Light |
| Stem | Nitto Technomic |
| Seat Post | Kalloy Uno |
| Saddle | Terry Butterfly CrMo |
| Front Derailleur | Shimano Ultegra |
| Rear Derailleur | Shimano XT |
| Front Hub | Schmidt SON28 |
| Rear Hub | Shimano XT Silver |
| Cassette | Shimano, 9 spd, 13-34 |
| Rims | Mavic, ATB X517 silver |
| Spokes | Wheelsmith DB14 |
| Tires | Avocet FasGrip City 26x1.25" |
| Brakes |
Shimano 550 cantilever |
| Levers |
Shimano STI Ultegra Flight Deck levers Paul Component Engineering Cross Levers |
| Handlebars | Modolo X Tenos 40cm silver |
| Pedals | MKS Sylvan Road with MKS clips |
| Fenders | none |
| Rack | Tubus Cargo |
| Headlight | Busch & Müller Lumotec HL Oval Plus |
| Taillight | Busch & Müller Dtoplight Plus |
| Computer | Shimano Flight Deck SC-6500 |
I bought this bike with birthday and other savings in 1973. At the time I was doing a lot of short group rides and a couple of 70-100 mile rides each year. I didn't have the budget for a similar Fuji and was able to buy the Araya at a shop in Allentown, PA. I don't remember the name of the shop. It was not The Broken Spoke, which was where I bought much of my biking paraphernalia at the time.
The brake levers, shifters, derailleurs, wheels and pedals are not original. It started out with stem mounted Suntour ratcheted shifters. I replaced them with Suntour barcons while I was still in high school. At about the same time I had ditched the 27x1¼ clinchers and replaced them with tubulars. I rode tubulars until about 1993 when I bought the current wheels. The original Sunshine hubs are still mounted up with some Mavic GP-4 tubular rims. The original freewheel was a 5 speed 14/36. I replaced this quite early with 13/26. Because the rear spacing is 126mm I was able to use a 7 speed cassette wheel when I went back to clinchers. The original derailleurs were Suntour V-GT. I don't remember why I switched to the Cyclones, but that was back in college. The pedals have been replaced many times over the years as they wore out. I've been using SPDs for a while now and they sure beat toe clips. The most recent change was to the Shimano aero brake levers. At the same time I rerouted the shifter cable up around the handle bars.
I've been curious about this model bike for some time. Outside of the shop where I bought it, I have never seen another. I was only able to find limited discussion of the bike via a Google search. Interestingly, the other bikes discussed were also purchased in eastern Pennsylvania. If you know anything at all about these bikes, drop me a line.
Some of the photos are a quick job done in the basement with terrible lighting using my daughter's digital camcorder. I tweaked them a little with the GIMP to get rid of the obvious yellow tint from incandescents. The rest were shot in the driveway with my son's Sony digital camera. Outdoor lighting and a better camera make all the difference.
Note the aero brake levers and the cable routing. Pay no attention to the lazy, sloppy routing of the speedometer cable.
Sugino Might Comp crankset, 43/50, 171mm. Note the 144 BCD. Suntour, Cyclone front derailleur.
Suntour, Cyclone M-II rear derailleur and Shimano, RX-100 hub and cassette. Note also the horizontal dropouts.
Rear view of rack, bag, fenders and blinkie. I recently switched bags with Lisa, so this is a bit dated.
Close up of the headbadge. It reads (top to bottom), "Criterium Rex by Araya". The seat tube decal reads "Rex II".
I don't know if it is significant but the tubing is Araya 631. They clearly wanted their sticker to look like a Reynolds sticker.
| Part | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Frame | Araya, Araya 631 tubing, lugged, 25" 126mm rear spacing |
| Cranks | Sugino Mighty Comp, 43/50, 171mm |
| Bottom Bracket | Sugino |
| Stem | SR quill 8cm |
| Seat Post |
Kalloy Uno (originally Taihei Compe) |
| Saddle |
Terry Fly (originally Takahashi Panmax) |
| Front Derailleur | Suntour, Cyclone |
| Rear Derailleur | Suntour, Cyclone M-II |
| Front Hub | 1973 Campagnolo Nuovo Record |
| Rear Hub | 1973 Campagnolo Nuovo Record |
| Freewheel | Sachs-Maillard, 7 speed, 13/23 |
| Rims | Mavic Open Sport |
| Brakes | Dia-Compe center pull |
| Handlebars | Unknown Randonneur bars |
| Pedals | Shimano SPDs (I'm not sure of the model) |
| Fenders | SKS |
| Rack | Rhode Gear (came with a kid seat) |
| Headlight | Cat Eye HL-EL300 |
| Taillight | VistaLite Nebula 5 |
| Computer | Cat Eye Mity 8 |
This bike has been taken away by the insurance company! I'll leave the description in for historical purposes.
This was Lisa's birthday present in 2002. The rack, and electronics are add ons. Otherwise, this is stock. We bought it at Harris Cyclery. They stopped carrying that model the next year because the changed to a disk brake.
Unfortunately, this bike is not currently roadworthy. The rear wheel is completely twisted and there are bends in the left seat stay and chain stay. This is the result of losing an argument with a Cadillac on Pleasant St. in South Natick, MA. That precipitated the purchase of the Rivendell Atlantis, described above.
| Part | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Frame | Marin, 7005 Double Butted Aluminum |
| Fork | Manitou Luxe |
| Crankset | Shimano, Nexave 28/38/48 |
| Bottom Bracket | |
| Stem | Marin, Ovation |
| Seat Post | InSync, B.U.M., Suspension seatpost |
| Saddle | WTB, Comfort V |
| Front Derailleur | Shimano, Nexave T400 |
| Rear Derailleur | Shimano, Nexave T400 |
| Front Hub | Marin, Ovation CNC |
| Rear Hub | Marin, Ovation CNC |
| Cassette | Shimano 11-34 |
| Rims | Mavic, T224 |
| Spokes | DT Swiss, 14 gauge |
| Tires | WTB, Allterrainasaurus, 700c x 32/30 |
| Brakes | Shimano, Deore calipers and Nexave levers |
| Handlebars | Marin, Ovation |
| Shifters | Shimano, Nexave 8 |
| Pedals | |
| Rack | Blackburn |
| Headlight | Cat Eye HL-EL300 |
| Taillight | VistaLite Nebula 5 |
| Computer | Cat Eye Mity 8 |
Drive side view of the whole bike.
Front view of the controls and electronics mounted on the bars.
Back view of the rack and lights.
Coming soon!
Coming soon!
Coming soon!
