Rivendell saved for now...

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by colker

Where? Who was promoting bikes able to accept fenders and 700x30 tires by mid 90s? I remember looking at the first Riv catalogue and thinking "no one does these things". Bikes were tig welded and lugs were ridiculed.

Ah, you're hung up on the "promoting" side if it, yeah, he did do that but those things were still available.

The kickers here is that last sentence, which I totally agree with, people did and do ridicule lugs and the consumer base,looking to buy it is small and shrinking.

I love lugs myself btw. But as a business you can't live in the past, you can't spend past laurels.

Right size the business. Do a market evaluation and see how much you can actually sell and cut everything else.

I feel like that if you really cared about keeping this thing going you wouldn't reinforce what isn't working, you would promote what does. Nostalgia isn't going to pay the bills.

[colker]

Originally Posted by Burnette

Ah, you're hung up on the "promoting" side if it, yeah, he did do that but those things were still available.

The kickers here is that last sentence, which I totally agree with, people did and do ridicule lugs and the consumer base,looking to buy it is small and shrinking.

I love lugs myself btw. But as a business you can't live in the past, you can't spend past laurels.

Right size the business. Do a market evaluation and see how much you can actually sell and cut everything else.

I feel like that if you really cared about keeping this thing going you wouldn't reinforce what isn't working, you would promote what does. Nostalgia isn't going to pay the bills.

You can make a ton of money out of the past like Rolex does.
Rivendell brought back technology. Grant was saying in the 90s and 00 we should ride like guys did in the 70s: bigger tires on unpaved roads, sitting on comfortable saddles, w/ long reach brakes and fenders.
He was saying we should ride on gravel roads. .
Who else besides Rivendell was preaching that gospel? Bruce Gordon maybe.. but BG never played things as Grant, as an attitude, a notion of what cycling should be.
These are facts.

Edit: Grant insisted on lugs and steel. Now lugs are the epithome of class but it wasn´t in the late 90s.

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by colker

You can make a ton of money out of the past like Rolex does.
Rivendell brought back technology. Grant was saying in the 90s and 00 we should ride like guys did in the 70s: bigger tires on unpaved roads, sitting on comfortable saddles, w/ long reach brakes and fenders.
He was saying we should ride on gravel roads. .
Who else besides Rivendell was preaching that gospel? Bruce Gordon maybe.. but BG never played things as Grant, as an attitude, a notion of what cycling should be.
These are facts.

I'll say to you too that your passion is noticed, I get it but what is missed is that it's a business. It doesn't matter what Riv did or said yesterday if they can't sell enough to remain solvent today. A day where the market pivoted to their way if thinking yet their offerings are our of step with what what sells. No, you don't have to go back to the 70's to enjoy cycling.

And sincerely, their current offerings in no way should be compared to a Rolex.