randomWalks

rivendell bicycles is quite a thing. It's owner, grant petersen comes off as a crackpot prosthelytiser, except he's not a crackpot. Their magazine is more of a zine. they'll write 2000 word essays on shoe fit and boston brown bread or spend a good portion of an 8600 word interview with a notable bike mechanic talking about Québécois folk music or some such. They often totally dispense with journalistic conventions. For example, a pull quote from an interview with a hoary bicycle genius that reads, "I lived next to a wild sheep preserve in france" (an offhanded remark the man made somewhere in the 8600 words). It is always a good read. $15 for a year-long subscription to the reader (but you get $10 off of your first purchase).

I agree; the Rivendell Reader is great, great fun, and well worth the subscription price.



In general Rivendell dissents from most bike orthodoxy, and the results are as impressive as they are expensive. I've been saving for a custom Rivendell bike for a while now, hoping to have enough to have them build me one by the time we've moved from Dallas (a very, very bike-unfriendly place) to Philly (a much more bike-friendly place).



Rivendell bikes express a kind of DIY, punk aesthetic -- one reason I'm so drawn to them.