Finding Love Again: A Renewal with the Rivendell Sam Hillborne

For anyone who's been in a long-term relationship, most of us recognize that there is an ebb and flow when it comes to feelings. Unlike the ideas that are often taught to us (especially females) in our youth, relationships take work and it can be highly unrealistic to go into a partnership with another person expecting it to be (only the good parts of) a fairy tale. Rainy days happen. It's just a fact of life. Sometimes it's easy to feel madly in love with the other person, and at others it can be more of a sense of tolerating each other. We hope that the sunny days far outnumber the stormy ones, but we can't really count them until we are on the other side looking in the rearview mirror. As crazy as it may seem, I can actual find quite a few similarities between human relationships and the one I have with the Hillborne.

Recently, I had someone stumble across an old post about my Rivendell A. Homer Hilsen being for sale. She was wondering if I'd sold it, which rolled into a brief conversation about whether or not I still preferred the Sam Hillborne over the Homer. My response to her was something along the lines that if I had it to do over again, I'd probably have kept the Homer and sold the Hillborne, simply because the top tube is shorter on the Homer and I always seem to struggle with reach - particularly when trying to get the handlebars at a lower position. The Homer could easily have been built up in exactly the same way as the Hillborne, but would've allowed a bit more flexibility with positioning. This is the curse of being made shorter-than-average, and is never more true than when trying to find a good fit on a bicycle.

At the time of the sale, the only thing I could view the Homer fulfilling in the bike fold was my heavier road bike and because I had a road bike that was meeting my needs, the logical-to-me response for that moment was to sell off the Homer and keep the Hillborne. Had I thought it through, I could've built the Homer frame up in exactly the same way and had a shorter reach. But, alas, that idea didn't occur until many months after the sale.

I giggle a bit now looking at this photo and realizing that the brakes/hoods were in the wrong place completely... of course, I am sure I did this because I couldn't reach them if they were where they should've been.

The reminder of this situation put me into some deep thought about the Hillborne and I couldn't help but wonder if I really would have given it up in place of the Homer if I had it to do over again. I've had my Hillborne for over 4 years and it's been the only bike I've owned for any length of time. Most seem to come and go as I find (usually due to fit) reasons to send bikes on their way to a new owner. The funny thing is that even though the Homer had a more appropriate fit, I've grown used to the feel and fit of the Hillborne. Yes, it's larger, but it's almost as though my body has somehow adapted to it in some sense. While I still find that I struggle on longer distance rides on this bike (mainly due to the reach), and I question whether I, personally, could ever truly use it for even light touring because of the sizing, I find myself struggling with the thought of giving this bicycle up.

The idea of selling the Hillborne was brought up a second time in the not-too-distant past as I pondered the idea of selling it off to help fund other efforts. My initial response to the idea was to seriously consider it. I asked myself if it was a necessary bicycle in the fold and I came to the conclusion that I would be willing to give it up. During this time of reflection, I quickly found myself hesitating with the sale. I use this bike a lot and I've made some mistakes in the past selling a bike that I enjoyed, so instead, I decided it was time to play with the set up and see if I truly was ready to let it go. I wanted to ride it on some longer distances again. If I was able to do that and still wanted to give it up, I would let it go, but if I was unsure or hesitating, I would keep the Hillborne.

My biggest frustration with the Hillborne over the years has been my inability to use it with the handlebars in a lower position. No matter how short the handlebar stem, when I put it into a lower position, the reach is simply too far for me. Presently, I have the Hillborne set up in a lighter manner (meaning most of the extras -such as fenders, racks, huge bags, etc have been removed) so that I can use it for training on the roads. I find that there is a maximum lowering point for the handlebars though, after which I start having elbow pain, neck strain, and at times back pain. This was never an issue with the A. Homer Hilsen; however, I also recall feeling as though the Homer was almost too small (my feelings changed a bit as I got used to the Homer, but I do recall thinking that maybe it wouldn't work because of its smaller top tube at one point).

Wanting to attempt to find a comfortable position for my tests on the Hillborne, I located the point at which I could lower my body a bit for road rides without straining myself too much... and then, I rode. I rode so much that even after I received my much anticipated custom road bike, I continued to ride the Hillborne more frequently than the new bike. There were days when I simply wanted the feel of the Hillborne, and other times that I was really just trying to put mileage on it to test out its value in the bike fold. I started to find that I really wasn't much slower than on the road bike, so if I wasn't going for some sort of speed ride, why not take the Hillborne?

As I rode, it was hard not to think about all the transformation this bike has gone through. I expected a lot of it when it first came into my life, and in some sense, I recall being disappointed. Riding with drop bars was an impossibility, even though I attempted it several times. Saddles were changed almost too many times to count. Stems were exchanged as I attempted to fix reach issues. I couldn't decide what this bike was supposed to be for me and how it was supposed to fit in, but through it all, I kept riding, discovering the things that I loved and the things that I might change if it had been made specifically for me.

A couple of years ago, I gave up trying to use the Hillborne as a road bike. I decided to relegate it to more of a city-bike that could travel some dirt trails if needed. I loaded him up with racks, fenders, bags, and so on, creating a machine that often felt slower than it should have... but it worked. It allowed me to pull a trailer, to fetch groceries, to carry things that I might not on a road bike. Suddenly one day though, it just didn't seem an appropriate use for this bike any longer.

The idea of this heavy, slower bicycle was no longer appealing, but I realized I had done all of this to the bike. Lightening the load and switching its usefulness was just the rejuvenation I needed. It seemed in many ways like a new bike, but still had that familiar feel. The bumps don't hurt like they do on a lightweight bike. The wide tires are perfect to take it on dirt or gravel rides when the need or want arises. The magic has somehow returned in our relationship.

All at once, it was as though I had an epiphany. Throughout our time together, the things that I believed were the downfall of this bike, are actually the things that have kept it around. The fact that it can so easily transform from a road bike to a trail bike to a grocery-getter, that I can set it up in so many different ways, that I have this inexplicable desire to stare at it when I see it locked up against a bike rack, the reality that I honestly can't imagine my life without it... for these reasons and more, I know that this bike was meant to be with me. It has seen me through fatter days and slightly less-fat days, but it has always been exactly what I needed, sometimes without me even being aware of that reality.

Whether our relationship works because of the designer or because of its flexibility (or both), I will leave that up to someone else to determine. I think little has to do with the brand itself and more with the reality that I, for whatever reason, have always had the patience with this particular bicycle to work through our issues, and that hasn't always been the case with other bicycles. There was an immediate level of comfort - on an emotional level - with this bike, and I suppose that helped spur on the adaptations to help it not only stick around, but get so many miles of use.

Although I do still enjoy having a lighter weight road bike to use, and I can't say that I won't have something faster for road rides or a bike that's slower or heavier for tooling around town, there is something special about the connection I have with the Hillborne. Like a human relationship, we've shared good times and bad, we've had our fights and make-ups (okay, maybe I was the only one actually fighting), and we've each grown and/or changed over the years together. I know that I really love this bike though and am grateful to have a bicycle that I can always count on. It's taken time to understand what our relationship is and how it works best, but it was well worth the effort to arrive at this point.