That's how we ride in Portland, Maine. Every Saturday Morning there's a breakfast ride with mix of road, bike path, singletrack, and bushwhacking. We got riders on Gravel Bikes, Fat Bikes, MTN Bikes, Road Bikes, and Commuter Bikes. Every bike is the right bike when it's Party Pace!

We all under biked as kids and loved it. We didn't know any better till we grew up and the market told us other wise. This bike reminds me of childhood care free riding!

Russ: I realize every rider is different, but in my opinion no way is that underbiking! You had the perfect bike for that trail! Looked like fun!

This is how I ride on my old Trek 850. Honestly I love it and find it more enjoyable to ride down a dirt trail more slowly and focus on finding the right line.

Love getting a Riv review. Tell Will to send you one of the new hillibikes with some 2.8s on there!

I’ve rode some gravel & local trails on my 7 speed Breezer commuter 😂 I love the idea of ‘incongruent travel’ - setting out on little adventures by means some people would consider preposterous in this age of material specialism.

Niiiiice ! Sweet ride, but now that you’ve made two entire videos to tell us what it’s not - in your mind, “a dainty lady”- perhaps you can tell us what it is, on its own merits ? We’re not roadies here, we can appreciate a quality steel frame.

Just wanted to say that this is an overall great channel. I enjoy your content a lot.

Now this is my kind of cycling ! No lycra, no obsession with pace, watts, cadence etc - just out and about riding a well setup bike wherever it takes you.

wtf, those bars are lit

Great background music! This bike reminds me of those old school schwinn bikes from back in 70s...

That's a TAAALL stem! Also, I love these classic-style mustache bar bikes!

I think you just proved that it’s a mountain bike by going mountain biking on it....

that green trail looked smooth enough to take with a road bike

Well aware that every rider is different, but I regularly ride an Allez Sprint with 30c on single-track very similar to that. You're definitely not underbiked, it just isn't the cadillac-esqe suppleness you're used to with 650bx2.5's. Keep up the fun content!

laura's position is so upright, very relaxed like she can ride all day without getting tired.

Love what you do... and that harmonica tune was intoxicating

Silver 2 thumbies mounted in-board... simply the "bee's knees"🤙🏼😊

Inspirational

That bike is not a fragile flower.

Just buy it Russ. Easy, practical, supple, this is a true bicycle

We used to build our wheels with cross 4 patterns to absorb shock, in our rigid frame mountain bikes of the 80s. They were very hard on the wrists sometimes.

The harley hillborn. My junior high woodshop teacher

You just proved that there are many flavors of bikes out there. Soon when the economy really tanks you really might have only one. Choose wisely.

Would say that diversity is key here. Folk are not all the same...personally having tried cable disk brakes in my gravel bike,after a few scary moments changed to hydraulic. All my best MTB moments were in the 1980’s before suspension.. After many years of hard tail riding with suspension forks,I am now changing to rigid forks. I always ride in Lycra,hate flat pedals. But love to see more and more flat pedal options,for folk who hate clipless! Great to see more custom bikes and there is a bike for everybody. Not just one bike fits all. We must celebrate diversity and individuality.Respect people’s choices.

I have the Hillborne and the Hunqapillar (discontinued). Beautifully tuned bikes. TOUGH bikes. They're not breaking for anything. I really like Rivendell's philosophy: head over to their website, read it over, and you'll find most of what they espouse is what 80% of the population really needs. Leave the fancy stuff for those trying to make a living from cycling (sprinting, downhill racing, etc.). The more tech you put on a bike, the more that can go wrong, especially since bicycling represents self-sufficiency. Bicycling magazines and their emphasis on racing convince you that biking for fun and fitness must be done on something that has little visual and styling appeal in 5 years time. If I arrive at work after commuting in 10 minutes instead of... 9 minutes.. so what? Besides if the bike is decent and well made, your ride performance has a lot more to do with your fitness and skill, not the bike.

Man, those thumbshifters are nice !

Must have been a hard time filming for Laura when you flew over that trail. And finally single handed over some little rocks. Nice bike!

Was on that trail yesterday

Does that quill stem make noise being up that high? Ive got the Technomico quill stem on my roadbike and it does make some noise when climbing. I bought a really slick full carbon roadbike and hated it. Not for me, major waste of cash...........finally after 4 years of selling it sold...........I went back to riding my 1990 MASI Team 3-V and it works great,had it since new....not a scratch on it in 30 years of pretty heavy use. All modern Shimano shifting parts on it,but 9 speed. Steel is indeed,real.

Seeing a Rivendell blasting down a trail is way cooler than any pro MTB edit, 10 stars

Leave the Canolli, Take the Rivendell

I’m as yet undecided as to which cake or pastry that bike is. Gateaux perhaps? Pavlova?

Propably the friking BEST video review of a bike so far! Tho i would love to hear some Immortal or Edith Piaf on the downhill section. Seriously nice edited video and awesome content even its so not bike for me. Love your vids! Get some free shipping options to your european patreons! That would be cool! Med vänliga hälsningar..Janne of Finland!

Its a strange sight on the single track for sure, bordering on ridiculous.... not what we're accustomed to seeing in that environment. But it sure looked like a fun ride and that is what counts more than anything.

Love from DC!

It looks like a nice easy trail. Talking about wrong bikes, is there really a wrong one if you're comfortable riding it? I'd ride my 20" through those trails all day.

Bikes and harmonica music. 👍

can you go over the differences of the country bikes by Rivendell someday dude?/ great bike there

That's an Amsterdam bike. Made for smooth, flat ground. You're lucky you survived!

Grab parts, here and there , make your own style . Fenders , groovy bars, leather seats etc , it's all up to you. Be creative and brave , have fun .

I love this! Thanks, Russ! Even the music makes me happy!

I read once, and am a firm believer since then, that the handlebar ends should be pointed at the rear axle.

I have a Homer (very similar) with drop bars running the original 35mm Schwalbe's I was pretty surprised at what I can ride with that bike and I ain't no spring chicken...

My look at that BIKE. !!!!!!!!!!!!

Not gonna bore people with yet another personal definition of what is the "right" or "wrong" bike 🤣 but I WILL say, you both looked way better to me than some super high tech robot looking person coming down the trail, visually destroying the beautiful landscape 🤣... Looked like a nice ride...

Entertaining -- good video. Looks like you both enjoyed the ride, which is what counts in the end.

I recently have found your channel and have been binging it quite a bit. One thing that would be nice to see is a shifter guide for noobs. I am looking to put drop bars on mt Trek 8700 Pro Carbon from 1991ish. Not quite sure what to google to get started. Cheers!!

what is the gearing?

The hole Rivendell stuff is hot shit! But buddy, you ride like my grandmother. She has only one arm, and she is blind! And dead.. ;-)

Haha, relatively round wheels that continue to roll along with ONE gear are all that ANY bike 'needs' to 'Be ridden' in the mountains. The issue is the operator, motivator, their fitness and their attitude. Its the RIDER, not the bike!

Is that the Nitto Dirt Drop stem?

Okay so this is two videos about the same bike.............................. are we safe in thinking you like it Russ?........................................ does it solve the Breadwinner envy?.................................... is someone in your stable going to have to shift over to make room for a Riv?

Great vid! Loving all your content actually. What handlebars is Laura using on her current setup in this vid?

I would have to change out the bars and stem for MTB. For the other biking uses I would try flipping the bars and lowering the stem a bit? The Frame is art.

What size?

I'm just a tad confused. Being a child of the 80s and ridden the first generation of production MTBs, I can see why you would compare that to an MTB. And to be fair, that is very similar to the preproduction Klunk bikes, from what I can gather. You probably have a bit more knowledge there. I feel like your channel is geared toward gravel bikes and not MTBs though. So, when you say it's not a mountain bike, I get doubly confused. Modern MTBs are a far cry from the early days. Even a hard tail is faily different. Let alone full suspension. TL;DR: why do you compare this to an MTB and not a gravel bike? P.S. thanks for doing a Rivendell bike!

So sikkkk. I’d consider this frame/fork if had disk brakes.

That's the kind of bike most of the third world is still riding, except with no transmission.

Russ what’s your pbh and what size Sam Hillborne did you get sent to try?

What stem is that? size? Great video Russ!

is Laura wearing donut socks?

I may have missed it in previous videos, but what bars are on her Cutthroat? Thanks!

The bike is good enough for these "singletrack", the cockpit you are using isn't tho...

Is Laura going to let you buy one?

No drop bars for laura

Great vid and ride Russ! Gonna be honest tho ... the harmonica track is really grating my ears at this point.

Rip it!

I like it 👌 😏

why do manufacturers continue to use threaded 1" forks... such an old, outdated, and under performing standard.