Oof. That is a tough read. It's particularly difficult to read the same whiny story year after year.
I love Rivendell. They have influenced my thinking about riding so much. I still think back to the time when I was a new cyclist and discovered them in the early internet age. What a revelation! Theirs isn't the only way of thinking, but it's a healthy addition to your lighter/newer/faster/tech-ier urges.
Lately, I just cannot get behind anything they are doing. I click through their site looking for something, anything to buy to help them and it's all so strange. Leather straps that polish your hubs when you ride, Acera rear derailleurs, a bell.. not a bike bell, just a bell that dangles from a string off your handlebars. Completely manufactured attempts at building bikes sloppy and whimsically. It's like watching your favorite uncle age into senility.
Here are screenshots of three bikes from the 2004 Riv site:
And here is what they are doing now:
