Reportage

Rivendell Hillborne Country Bike

The Samuel Hillborne is Rivendell’s self-proclaimed “Country Bike”, meaning while it’ll do just fine around town it’s best at home touring the countryside. Actually, that’s not true at all. Not that bikes need rules, or stigmas for that matter, but the Hillborne is one of the most beautiful bicycles to be included in the Rivendell lineup. A veritable “do it all” bike. Road rides? Sure. MTB singletrack? Yep. Touring? You bet. It’ll do all the above with an uncanny elegance.

So elegant that you really can’t photograph this bike in a cityscape. It needs the sunbleached, parched rolling landscape as a backdrop. Whether its Walnut Creek’s rolling hills, or in this case the terrain of Los Angeles where it currently resides.

As far as the build is concerned it’s very Riv-esque with shellac’d Nitto Albastache bars, Schwalbe Little Big Ben tires, Nitto M1 rack, the IRD quill stem shifter mount and a brand new Brooks saddle.

Built originally for a rider who later determined it was a bit too long for him (hence the short stem), this bike is now at Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles with a price tag of $2,200 as shown. If you ride a 58cm and want a killer deal on a like-new complete, holler at the shop. Otherwise, just ogle this Beautiful Bicycle in the Gallery.