{"id":238614,"date":"2026-04-15T14:08:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/the-right-tooling-for-the-job\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:08:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:08:35","slug":"the-right-tooling-for-the-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/the-right-tooling-for-the-job\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right Tooling For The Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you read this blog regularly (or at all for that matter), you might be under the impression I\u2019m a total Rivendell shill\u2013and obviously you\u2019d be right. However, nobody at Rivendell ever asks me to mention anything on this blog, which probably has far less to do with integrity than it does with self-preservation, since no sane company would ever want its products associated with me. All of this is to say that I recently learned Rivendell is having a fundraiser<\/a>, and they did not<\/em> hold a pointy lug to my throat and insist that I flog it; rather, I am sharing it completely of my own volition:<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the background on it:<\/p>\n

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We\u2019re fine. We\u2019re doing well now, we\u2019re established, but careful and not cocky. We\u2019re investing in our future by taking control of our necessary bits and pieces\u2014the SILVER parts, the lugs and crowns we use, and on a human level, our crew here, too. But we have some huge bills all coming due at once, and we don\u2019t string out our vendors, so we want to ask for some help again. Half will go for tooling . We\u2019re working on some components that most brands and manufacturers have given up on.<\/em><\/p>\n

This time, $25 credits, but rather than just giving you face value, we\u2019ll give you $7 extra, so\u2026 $32 credit for $25.\u00a0
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It still doesn\u2019t make sense if you have no idea when you\u2019ll buy something, but there\u2019s no time limit on the purchase. The plan is valid until next Friday, April 17th at midnight, or until we\u2019re out of the riptide and body-surfing to shore, whichever comes first.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Anyway, in looking it over I note that you can buy the credits and gift them to someone, and that gave me the idea to buy some and give them to one of you, my dear readers, who have been so generous with me<\/a> and who have received so little in return, apart from my heart, my soul, and my steadfast commitment to maintaining this blog in a half-assed fashion indefinitely, or until I don\u2019t want to anymore, whichever comes first.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s how it\u2019s going to work: the first person to email<\/a> me with the subject line I\u2019M GONNA DRESS YOU UP IN MY LUGS<\/strong> gets the credit. Anyone\u2019s welcome to go for it, but I\u2019m asking you to self-seed here, and before you do please consider whether or not you really deserve it. For example, I prefer not to give you the credit if you\u2019re a bad actor, such as a terrorist, a human trafficker, or even just a complete and total asshole. Certainly I\u2019d like to give you all the benefit of the doubt, and from my own experience it does seem my readership consists mostly if not entirely of genuinely good people, yet the fact remains that statistically 1-3% of you have Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASDP), and frankly I\u2019m just not qualified to make that determination, at least not based on the short email I\u2019m requiring of you to win this contest. So absent my requiring a full background check and psychological rundown before awarding the prize, only enter if you\u2019re a decent human being who has never murdered anyone who didn\u2019t deserve it, or who can\u2019t at least plausibly explain why the murder was an innocent mistake. You can also consider entering if you killed someone 50 years ago, you\u2019ve been imprisoned ever since, and you\u2019ve since genuinely undergone a profound spiritual transformation, though in that case it\u2019s unlikely that you own and ride a bicycle, and therefore would be unlikely to have much use for what Rivendell sells, apart from perhaps the pine tar soap<\/a>, assuming you\u2019re even allowed to use your own soap in prison, and please give me credit for refraining from making a tired prison soap-dropping joke\u2026at least until now.<\/p>\n

Also, if you\u2019re a billionaire, maybe consider sitting this contest out, or else just sending a large sum of money to me instead.<\/p>\n

Also also, it\u2019s very likely that if you don\u2019t get the credits you won\u2019t get a response from me, and even if you do get the credits you might not get a response from me for a little while, so just keep that in mind. (I didn\u2019t start a bike blog because I wanted to do work.)<\/p>\n

By the way, as a company investing in the tooling for simple mechanical bicycle components, Rivendell really is doing something important, because whether you own one of their bikes or not we all benefit from the continued availability of simple mechanical drivetrain components:<\/p>\n

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Like, we\u2019re very close to the the point where if you have a bike made for you by one of the most respected frame builders in America if not the world, you can\u2019t buy a new mechanical drivetrain to put on it:<\/p>\n

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[Picture appropriated from Karl Farbman\u2019s social media<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Now, you may be thinking, \u201cWell why doesn\u2019t Farbman start building frames that take dick breaks, then?\u201d Or, you may be thinking, \u201cRivendell aren\u2019t developing short-reach brake calipers so how does that help me when it\u2019s time to put together my new Farbman?\u201d You may even be thinking, \u201cTo hell with anyone who rides a Farbman! I\u2019ve been riding the same Surly since 1998! Death to capitalism!\u201d To that I reply, \u201cYou\u2019re missing the point!\u201d The point is\u2026well, I don\u2019t really know what it is, apart from the fact that we\u2019re at an evolutionary fork when it comes to bikes. And while there\u2019s nothing wrong with crabon bikes and dick breaks and remote control shifting and ebikes and all the rest of it, there is if they mean the death of everything that came before it. Ideally we can have a peaceful coexistence (I\u2019m sure there are more than a few people who own and enjoy both types of bikes), but it does mean we can\u2019t take companies like Rivendell for granted, even if\u2013or especially if\u2013you\u2019re still riding a Surly from 1998.<\/p>\n

But at least you can count on never forgetting how to ride a bike<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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My first thought was, \u201cHow come they always make a big deal about how you never forget how to ride a bike, yet nobody ever mentions all the other mundane crap you never forget how to do?,\u201d but to their credit they soon address that:<\/p>\n

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The truth is there\u2019s nothing particularly special about bike riding\u2014the axiom could have used many other skills, such as ice skating or swimming (in fact, swimming was the favored example of something people don\u2019t\u00a0forget\u00a0how to do up until the 1940s, when cycling\u2019s popularity exploded).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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They also note the following:<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s a few reasons why: first, it can be hard to scan a person\u2019s brain while they\u2019re riding around on a 12 speed.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Uh, that\u2019s why all the big companies are going to 13 speeds! Also, you don\u2019t need to scan a rider\u2019s brain to know what they\u2019re thinking:<\/p>\n

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They\u2019re thinking: \u201cThis is great, my bike is awesome, I\u2019m awesome!\u201d Though the article addresses this too:<\/p>\n

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Second, as Dr. Elizabeth Kensinger, a\u00a0psychology\u00a0professor at Boston College and Budson\u2019s co-author, explains, a subject self-reporting how good they are on a bike can be faulty and could skew results.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dr. Elizabeth Kensinger just explained the whole gravel phenomenon, if not the entire cycling media landscape. Incredible. <\/p>\n

Though some people do in fact forget how to ride a bike\u2013sometimes even while they\u2019re still riding it:<\/p>\n

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