I didn't go shopping last weekend, but I did get a new bike. My weekend was spent riding instead of the normal picking routine. The bike itself isn't vintage, but it does fit in with my interests of California and Japanese design and the interplay between the two--a modern day Pacifica if you will. Some of the parts are also vintage from Japan.
The bike frame is a Sam Hillborne by Rivendell, a small California Bay Area bike company founded by Grant Peterson.
From 1984 to 1994, Grant worked as a bike and catalog designer at the U.S. division of Bridgestone, Japan’s largest bicycle maker. When the company closed its American office, he started Rivendell Bicycle Works out of his garage in Walnut Creek, California.
Grant has a certain philosophy about how bikes should be designed and used. It boils down to an emphasis on traditional bicycle technology, practicality and bikes not being geared towards racing (punny).
They also use steel and beautiful lugged construction.
Last March, on a picking trip to the Bay Area, I visited Rivendell. One of the staff members, Antonio, was nice enough to let me ride his personal Hillborne to get a feel of the geometry and sizing. This is a prototype design and not the bike I rode. I know what you Eames geeks are thinking.
I've always had at least one bike and in the past five or so years, I have become more of an enthusiast and daily rider. However, I've never built a bike up from scratch before.
My other two bikes I bought used. One is an
Ebisu, which is designed by Hiroshi Iimura, a Japanese industrial designer with a studio in Berkeley, CA called Jitensha. Hiroshi opened his studio in 1982. In the early 1970's he worked on the design team for the first generation Honda Civic. I've read that Grant, pre-Bridgestone, used to visit Hiroshi at his studio to talk bike design. Jitensha was just a few miles away from the REI where Grant worked. My other bike is a 1991
Bridgestone MB-1, which was designed by Grant when he worked at the company. So the next step was obviously to get a Riv.
To keep with a Pacifica theme, I was set on using mostly parts from the west coast United States and Japan. Luckily, that's where the best components comes from.
The hubs are by White Industries and made in Petaluma, CA.
The brakes are by Paul Components, from Chico, CA.
Here we have a vintage Dura-Ace front mechanism by Shimano of Japan and Rene Herse cranks and tires from Seattle.
This a vintage Shimano XTR derailleur. This is the one part that sticks out a little aesthetically but it's legendary and apparently bomb-proof.
There are also a lot of Nitto and Blue Lug parts I picked up in Japan when I was there in May.
As a longtime fan of
Blue Lug, it was on the top on my list to visit the shop in person.
I had already pre-ordered my Rivendell frame but I was able to get a look at what the color was like in person at Blue Lug. I chose bronzey-green.
They sell a lot of Rivendells at Blue Lug.
My Blue Lug pile.
I saw a number of Rivendells in Japan. Here's one at
Paddlers Coffee in Tokyo.
Here's an Appaloosa, also at Paddlers on a different day. I've only seen a few in the wild here in the US over the years and that was in the Bay Area. My friend Esteban here in San Diego does have at least a couple
Rivs and an
Ebisu. He's also the reason I have an Ebisu. However, seeing them in the wild is quite rare or maybe I'm not hanging out in the right places??
Paddlers was my go to spot in Tokyo. I stayed relatively close in a more residential area. Plus, they open at 7:30am, as opposed to 11am or noon like most cafes in Japan.
Bridgestone may have closed up in the US in 1994, but they still produce a lot of bikes in Japan.
In fact, my hotel in Kyoto had Bridgestones for guests to use. This was my ride while I was there. I took it to the Face House or Kao no ie by Kazumasa Yamashita (1974). This reminds me that I have a bunch of Japan posts to do.
Back to my Hillborne in California and the Berkeley ferry boat, which is now docked in San Diego. Learn about the vessel's link to Pacifica and Luther Conover,
here.
Ok, so my water bottle isn't from the west coast or Japan. It's actually from Switzerland.
However, it did make Sori Yanagi's list of New Kogei, with a little philosophy from Le Corbusier. That's good enough for me.
Thanks for humoring me on this!
The bike frame is a Sam Hillborne by Rivendell, a small California Bay Area bike company founded by Grant Peterson.
Grant has a certain philosophy about how bikes should be designed and used. It boils down to an emphasis on traditional bicycle technology, practicality and bikes not being geared towards racing (punny). 
They also use steel and beautiful lugged construction.
