My Latest Rivendell Order

I’ve always had a hate/love relationship with Grant Peterson. I love him cause he helped kill off the ridiculous Biopace chainrings back in the 80s. Some of you may remember Bridgestone’s MB-2 ads proclaiming “round chainrings!” Yes! Sweet! However, Grant’s dislike of Shimano caused him to spec a lot of weird crap on his bikes, and I regularly cursed his name while building up Bridgestones back when I was a lowly wrench in bike shops. The Giants and Treks went together easily, while those B-stones with their crappy Suntour derailleurs, Ritchey cantis and crummy wheels were a pain in the ass. I think Grant was the last person on the planet to switch to the Shimano cartridge BBs. Anyway, I wasn’t sorry to see B-stone go away, and find it humorous that they have such a following today. Yes, the catalogs were cool and the colors were cool and lugs are cool and the X0 bikes were cool but for the most part Bridgestones were inferior to the garden variety Giants and Treks from the same era. Continue reading…

Rivendell Order

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Hozan 4th Hand Tool

Back when I worked in bike shops (1985 to 1995) we called these green grabbers. Sometime around the early nineties they stopped being green. Bummer. Looks like the current color is blue. Anyway, this is a great fourth hand tool. I’m generally a Park fan but Hozan always seemed to be the standard. And the Park ones look funny to me. Anyway, they work great and last forever.

Used for: 20 years
Price paid: can’t remember
Purchased at: can’t remember
Rating: 5 stars!

Hozan 4th Hand Tool

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Shimano XT Rear Derailleur

Found this in the bottom of a box the other day. One of my favorite derailleurs ever, it lived on my old Bontrager Race for a while, then on my Merckx. Then it got retired, but I’m not sure why. Short cage 7 speed FTW!

Used for: 10 years
Price paid: can’t remember
Purchased at: can’t remember
Rating: 5 stars!

Shimano XT 7-Speed Rear Derailleur