Shamitypus
I rode with Tani and one of his customers last week. Tani brought his Appaloosa that he often rides to work while the customer brought out his Susie.
I rode my Hillborne, since the two brought their Rivs and since the Hillborne is the only Riv I have. Both had fat tires, but I somehow thought it would be easy to ride through the forest we always ride with my Hillborne. I was wrong. I could not keep up with them, due to the small tires on my bike, the 2×2 set up, narrower wheelbase, and so on. My Sam Hillborne is clearly not a bike that can crush through the huge chunk of dirt. Now, I knew this was going to happen, but I wanted to give it a try and most importantly, I had fun.
Later that day, Tani suggested that we should go ride the same path with a Rivendell that fits wide tires, while we were driving back towards Tokyo. Tani started looking at our inventory for Rivendell frames in the passenger seat. We talked about which model I should choose. “Should I ride a Clem?” “The Susie in gone…” “Yeah, maybe I should go with Clem.” We chatted something like that in the car. I told the customer that I will never be dropped in a ride to the forest.
I wasn’t that serious about getting a new Riv, but thinking back about that ride almost made me mad at myself. I talked to Tani for some advise.
“I think I really need another Riv. What do you it should be?” I said.
“What about the Platypus?” Tani replied.
Hmm…they do fit slightly wide tires. That might be it.
A week later after the first ride, we decided to go on the same ride. I had made the decision to purchase the frame.
I flipped my parts box upside down to gather some parts for the bike, 10 hours before the ride and the bike was built up, 7 hours before the ride.
*RIVENDELL* platypus (50)
This is my Platypus.
Height : 163cm, PBH : 76cm, Saddle height : 65cm, Size 50 frame. I lower my saddle down to 63-64cm when riding off-road.
*NITTO* rivendell RBW-32 wavie bar 660mm
*NITTO* tallux stem 6
*RIVENDELL* S-2 thumb shifter
*MKS* gamma pedals, *VELOCITY* Atlas rims.
*ULTRADYNAMICO* mars JFF tires 2.2″
I know the bike would be more practical with smaller tires, but I had to have this bike as my off-roadish bike, so I put tires with the max clearance.
The new batch of Platypus features down tube shift bosses, which I love. I probably won’t put the actual shift levers here, but I like that I can have the cable tension adjusters on the bosses.
What a lovely bike the Platypus is.
What do you think of the build? I really love how it came out. I never thought I’d own a step-through bike, but I’m glad I made the decision.
There are a lot of things I love about this bike, but the stability when riding on gravel and the smoothness when riding on pavement is immaculate. The rigidness that comes from the multiple tubes on the rear triangle makes the bike feel less slow. The handling feels very nice, thanks to it’s head tube angle. I can ride this thing without stress.
This applies to most Rivendell bikes, but they’re not fast or light, but they feel so nice to ride.
There are many kinds of comfiness you can feel in other models of Rivendell in my opinion. That’s one of the big reasons that makes me want to try out other models.
I have the bike built up as a “Hilli-ish” bike for now, but I would love to make this thing into a bike that is good for urban riding with racks and dynamo lights.
This bike makes me want to ride it more in many locations. I’m so happy I got this bike.
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