Roaduno is here!
Hey all, Santa from Blue Lug Kamiuma here.
The highly awaited Roaduno from Rivendell Bicycle Works is finally here!
In store launch : July 27th (Sat) 12:00 p.m.
Online launch : August 12th (Mon) 7:00 p.m.
We will first give time for in store customers to see the frame/bike in person and then we will have them available for online purchases.
Ah, a single speed frame from Rivendell. Just saying these words makes me excited.
That being said, this is not your ordinary single speed frame, but I’ll get back to that later in the blog.
Let’s take a look at the colors first…
Hiho Silver
Ana Purple
Mustard
All three colors look amazing like always.
Here’s a good look at the head badge.
Love it.
As you know, head badges of Rivendell bikes always have great designs.
It’s just an aesthetic aspect, but these type of small details are what makes a bike neat and what excites us.
Since this is a single speed bike, there is a huge “1” on the graphic of the down tube.
Here’s the graphic for the seat tube.
Let’s take a look at the drop out, which is one of the most unique features of this frame.
As Tani mentioned in his previous blog, this frame has a derailleur hanger tab.
This frame can be built as a “multi speed single speed bike” I know it doesn’t make sense, but it just means that you can have the bike set up as a 2 or 3 x 1 gearing.
Oh, you can of course go with 1 x 1, just in case you are wondering.
Here’s another fun feature. One down tube shifter boss on the left side of the down tube. This is actually for the “multi speed single speed set up”.
I couldn’t hold myself to not buy this bike, so I bought it and built it right when they arrived.
My Roaduno 54.5
My initial thoughts were to assemble this bike as a 1 x 1, but I went with 2 x 1. I don’t have strong legs okay?
Having an extra chainring makes a huge difference.
Nitto Choco bar & nitto face plate stem cockpit set up.
Twine wrapped the spots I would grab when climbing hills.
Here’s a close up of the rims.
Yes, it’s got kickstand mounts.
The new S!lver Crank from the completes.
38/26 double chainring with a chainring guard and a 17T White Industry freewheel on the rear.
My gear ratio is about 2.23/1.62. I like easy gearing for that cruisy feel.
I like this Rohloff tensioner that Konno gave me when I was building this bike.
Down tube shifting, since I won’t be shifting as much as a normal geared bike.
Using a chain tensioner like the Paul Melvin is one way to do it, but I also like using the old rear derailleur hack Issue and Tani did.
Or, you can foot shift like Will at RBW. I don’t think I can pull off this trick, but if you can do it, go for it, but please becareful.
I thought about not installing a front rack, but I knew I was going to ride this bike daily, so I went for it.
Rivendell 52F basket Rack x ILE Porteur rack bag
Baskets are cool, but kind of played out at the same time, so I decided to try something different.
Oh, yes the bike is fender compatible. You can fit about 38C – 43C tires with fenders,.
What do you think of this build? I really like it so far.
Here’s the size chart.
size:47.5 – 51=650b
size:54.5 and up=700c
Last but not least, I hung out with Samba at the shop and built our bikes together!
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Hope y’all enjoyed this blog.
-Santa
