Rivendell Legolas

I've mentioned this bike once or twice on this blog, but I've not given it a proper, hearty intro.

Here's the story.

My buddy Rory had this bike. I rode it about a year ago when I visited Seattle for a weekend. I said, "Rory, if you ever sell this bike, let me know first." He said something like, "fat chance; I'll never sell it."

So it was a surprise when he IM'ed me a couple months ago: "Selling the Legolas, want to buy it?"

Damn. And he had a great friend price and was throwing in a Nitto rack and a whole stinking Novara Fusion frame.

Of course I did. And I did.

The story as I understand it, is that there were a couple-few batches of Legolas framesets. This frameset is from the first batch. It's built by Mark Nobilette (btw: he's the guy that had the coolest/smartest demountable bike design I've seen in the flesh -- NAHBS... 4 years ago? Thanks to Alex, here's a pic). Subsequent batches were built by Waterford.

Anyway. Basic specs are this:
Size: 59 cm
BB drop: 70
ST angle: 73
HT angle: 72.5
Offset: 45
TT: 58
CS: 44
Tubing: 7-4-7 through out.

If you're a Rivendell super nerd with real cred, let me know if this is wrong and I'll update accordingly.

Anyway, numbers aside, this bike rocks.

Whoa. How did that get in there?

I swapped most of the bits from my beloved RB-T onto this bike with the intention of racing it. The clot thing happened and the Legolas ended up sitting around for a bit. Justin rode it properly for one race.

Then I started commuting on it. And now, I can't get off it. Every ride is an excuse to ride it. I've been doing some good trail rides on it and it's rad.

It's light, and it just, somehow, expects you to stand on it and go. My RB-T was similar, but this one seems to really pull me into a space where putting out is mandatory. It's probably all mental, but that works for me too. It's pretty perfect as the all-round fast bike: on road and non-technical trail rides.

I've owned some Rivendells in the past: the Quickbeam, the Atlantis. Both great bikes, but both turned out to be stouter than I needed or wanted. The Legolas is perfect in its lack of stoutness. It's OS, thin-walled tubing. And it's really fun to ride. That makes me think that OS, thin-walled tubing may be the way to go. I'm pretty sure that's what my Salsa is -- which is totally different in every other way from the Legolas -- but is similar in its overall feel and the feeling of obligation to push hard that it engenders. If that makes any sense.