New Appaloosa and My Appaloosa
It’s Tani from Kamiuma store.
Rivendell “Joe Appaloosa” has arrived from Walnut Creek, California.
Now it’s available both of our physical stores and global online store.
This time, we’ve got recently popular color called “Sergio Green” and,
the legendary color called “Ana Purple”.
The Rivendell’s display bike looks like this.
I love every single Rivendell and enjoy to compare good points of each model, so I don’t have any particular one I’m into.
But, if you’re thinking about getting your first Rivendell, I’d like to introduce this Joe Appaloosa to you.
Beautiful head badge, graphic and fork crown.
These details and looking are exactly what you imagine for the word “Rivendell”.
That’s enough to choose Joe Appaloosa, however it’s not only because of just how it looks, but its versatility.
I guess everyone has their own “Dream Rivendell” like “if I could have Rivendell bike…” or “I’d like to build it like this…”.
But, you can basically build it as you like in any kind of ways and it fits most of people. I’m sure you won’t regret and you’ll ride it even ten years later.
(This is Grant’s Appaloosa in “Hi-Hi Silver”, the boss of Rivendell.)
And I’m gonna talk about the features.
Rivendell says Joe Appaloosa is the “All-Rounder” which means you can build it
- for going smooth on the paved road.
- for trail rides with fat knobby tires.
- for carrying tons of stuffs on it.
It features the versatility that you can build it like three of these above.
Most of the other Rivendells are not good at some of them, but Joe Appaloosa goes really well with all.
Currently, we have Clem Smith Jr. and Susie W. Longbolts as the step-through styled bikes for mountains, but Joe Appaloosa looks really cool when it’s built like an old MTB or “HilliBike”.
This is the good example for our customer’s build, and
Like this. I don’t know why the combination of thin lugged steel frame with fat MTB tires looks so nice.
It takes up to 2.2″ (55mm) tires, so you can put Ultradynamico MARS.
But, that’s not all about it. This time, I’d like to emphasize its “versatility”. Joe Appaloosa is a really good bike if it’s not for mountains.
I’m going to introduce the other features and attractions with my own Appaloosa. It looked like this at the first time.
I’m 173cm (5.67ft), PBH (inseam) 83cm, the saddle height 70cm and the frame size is 51.
It’s not for mountains, so I chose slick tires for the paved road. And I wanted to make it that I can carry a lot of stuffs on it.
I have Clem Smith Jr. for off-road and A. Homer Wilsen when I wanna go faster, so this bike is just the middle of them.
In addition, I really wanted to stick to 50mm tires to respect Rivendell’s frame design story that they intended to built it with 50mm tires. It turns into the one for mountains with tires bigger than 50mm, or the one for going faster with 40mm slick tires, but I took 50mm.
I put Campee racks on and joined Swift Campout.
Yes, it was originally for a camp touring.
But, umm. I haven’t gone camping yet this year, lol.
I love to ride bicycles, but the camping is not really my type. I just realized my true nature. (Please somebody takes me camping! Even I bought a sleeping bag last year, I haven’t gone.)
After that, I did some small customs to make it more comfy and now it looks like this.
Mainly for commuting, still built with slick tires.
I really wanna tell you how Appaloosa runs well with slick tires.
And fenders. I ride this bike even it’s rainy.
The reason why I chose this bike as the commuter and rainy-day bike is that it takes 48mm tires with fenders.
Other Rivendells can take only 38mm tires with fenders, but Appaloosa can accommodate around 50mm tires with fenders.
This is really important for me.
I wanna go into rainy wet curbs, a riverbed and a gravel without changing tires.
And above all, it’s about my feeling. Whether it’s 38b or 48b, I have totally different feelings. I believe it changes even my mood of the day. (It may sound a bit weird, but it’s true!)
My favorite tire is this Ultradynamico CAVA.
When it comes to the 50mm slick tire, it’s been Schwalbe BIG BEN, but It’s really good to have both of this CAVA tire and a fender at the same time.
And also for a rainy day, I put Rivendell’s comfort saddle made of vinyl, but it doesn’t fit my butt. Still, Brooks B17 is the best for me.
I’m so jealous of those who feels comfy with it (but, it’s just an individual preference, so it can’t be helped.) I think it’s really good for the concept of “no need to worry about a rainy day like a leather saddle”.
The top tube is a bit longer than A. Homer Hilsen and Sam Hilborne, so I’ve been always put Billie bar, but
I feel it’s a bit too swept-back even I put the longest stem and my recent favorite is Choco bar.
Also, I prefer this style of a bar tape which is wrapped like this.
Rivendell’s handlebars look similar in shape, but it’s really interesting that some of them fit you and the others don’t. I’d like you all to visit our stores and compare various kind of handlebars. Your bike takes on a different character.
I put the stuffs for the day in the basket, and
I alway put a rain poncho and tools in the saddle bag.
Cargo net is great to secure a jacket, a helmet and a stuff doesn’t fit the bag.
My usual saddle height is 70cm, but it’s set up at 68cm to make it easier to ride with a rain poncho.
I put racks on the front and rear to make it the bike I can ride without carrying a bag, but
I think this kind of solid build is also nice when I see the display bike of them.
We tend to put off-road tires when your bike can take them, but the versatility of being able to built with such thick slick tires is the realson why Appaloosa is called “All-Rounder”.
If you wanna build it as a “HilliBike”, we also have Ultradynamico MARS, MAXXIS, Continental, WTB and Teravail…
If you straddle Joe Appaloosa in the morning, it’ll be alright. You don’t have to care about the weather and the amount of your stuff.
Joe Appaloosa The Rivendell’s All-Rounder, we hope you will add it to your choice of the next bike.
To choose the right size for you, it’s PBH measurement as always and we can measure it at our stores, so please feel free to ask us about it!
46cm: 75 to 80cm
51cm: 80 to 84cm
54cm: 84 to 88 cm
57cm: 87 to 91cm
60cm: 90 to 96cm
If it’s your second bike, we can tell you the right size by measuring your ow bike. It’s a bit larger than A. Homer Hilsen and Sam Hilborne.
Thank you reading till the end!
Bye.
