Julian's Roaduno

I'm a sucker for #newbikeday. In the past year, I've kind of laid it on thick, with three new whips acquired and only one let go of. I tell people it's because of the money I saved living car-free for the past 18 months, after 17 years of car ownership before that. This is true, but obviously I'm just addicted to riding new bikes. So meet my Roaduno!

A prototype from pre-production of the run of frames Rivendell just released, they brought this 51cm Ana-Purple bike to the Philly Bike Expo where we exhibited in a neighbouring booth this spring. It caught my eye while we were setting up, and when it hadn't sold by the end of the last day, I took it as a sign I needed a test ride. One lap around the convention center and I was sold! I'm a single- and dingle-speed aficionado, after all.

Eben Weiss, better known as Bike Snob NYC, describes it perfectly to detract the dingle-haters: "The upshot of it is that you’ve got a “road” gear and a “trail” gear, and it’s less like having a geared bike than it is like having two singlespeeds in one". It's a surprisingly handy setup - I'm in the higher gear 9 out of 10 km I ride, but for those moments when I need it, I'm so happy to have the 24/18 easy ratio. 

The bike is basically set up like Riv's stock build, though I swapped out a few bits here and there to fit me right: it came with a Brooks B17, but because it's a Roaduno I felt road-y and put this cool old Selle Italia Turbomatic on; the stock Gravel King tires were cool, but I needed some of that small batch terroir rubber, the Ultradynamico Rosé; and finally, the Riv x Nitto Billie bars it came with are great, but I was feeling a little sportier and pulled a fan favourite, the Sim Works Getaround, from my parts bin and it fit just right.

The wheels are built by Rich, Riv's legendary wheelbuilder, and feature Suzue's disco-finish quick-release track hubs and some unbranded Velocity Quills. Riv's Silver2 shifter perched below a Thumbshifter Mount controls an IRD front derailleur, getting me between the chainrings on the Rivendell Silver Wide/Low crank. A Paul Melvin tensioner keeps the chain taut, and my old White Industries freewheel has a new home on my Roaduno. A Nitto S65 seatpost and Pearl stem keep the cockpit crispy, and I reinstalled the two-tone ESI grips that Riv built it up with for the show. Champagne finish MKS Gamma pedals give me all the grip I need for sporting around.

This bike has been super fun around the city so far, but I've got big plans for it. My latest favourite form of touring is multi-modal, and requires some dis- and re-assembly periodically along the way from point A to B. Be it a bus, trunk, train, plane, ferry, truck bed, you sometimes need to make your bike small. Winooski Wheels has been talking about the idea of an airplane bike, that flies and flies, where it can be disassembled pretty extensively without being coupled or a folder. I'll change the shifter to a downtuber to get rid of that cable and housing, add self-extracting crank bolts, and get a compact headset wrench, which'll allow me to take things apart small enough to fit in an extra-extra-large cordura tote bag and pretend it isn't a bike! 

If you're keen on a Roaduno of your own, get in touch! We've got a full run of frames in stock, and would be happy to discuss dream builds. 

Photos by Troy @killiskii