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  56cm Blue Sam Special
rivendell sam hillborne
 
$990.00
Made in: Taiwan

Availability: UPS GROUND ONLY no matter what the cart says
product code: F-HILLBORNE-56BLOO
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Description Warranty/Specs/Other Testimonials
 

Here's the deal with these. They were supposed to have cream headtubes, but the painter goofed and they are blue, like the rest of the bike. Only a few like this at $235. off. Get some!

Includes Frame, Fork, Headset, Seat post & Bottom Bracket only


Sam Hillborne

Our slam-dunk, more affordable, does-everything great bike. If you don't have a good bike, this is the one to get. If you have a bunch of expensive bikes that you bought with high hopes, but they don't fit, don't fit the tires you want, don't fit fenders, don't let you raise the bars high enough, and are made with materials that aren't as tough, safe, reliable, or repairable as steel, then this is the bike to get. Our most honest, commercial-intererst free thought is that if you ride a bike you should have a Sam. If you ride mainly on roads but sometimes on trails, and your needs aren't extreme (no road racing, no constant extended loaded touring, no downhill mountain bikey gonzo life-risking racing), the Sam could easily be your only bike.

If you have a few bikes already, and the seem, in total, to cover all your needs, the Sam will take the place of any three of them. It takes on the tasks for how it is built up. Drop bars and 32-34mm tires for road riding; Albatross bars and 38mm Marathon tires for General Stuff. Fenders, racks, no problem. Turn it into a perfect commuter. Whatever your goals are, we'll guide you through the steps and parts-picking and make sure you get there. But the thing about the Sam is, no matter how specialized you intend for it to be, the Sam will be good for stuff well beyond your intend. Does it sound like we love this bike. Good, we do. It's frankly hard to stop talking about it.

It's our basic bike, as affordable as our bikes get, and with all of the details and values and comfort, fit, and ride that (if our bikes were famous) would have been responsible for that fame. Almost anything you can do on a bike, you can do on a Sam Hillborne. (Inside the extremes of road racing and rough trail riding).

July 2010: Sam road test @ EcoVelo

ABOUT THE BIKE: 

The Sam Hillborne is kind of a cross between the Atlantis, our cantilever-braked touring bike, and the A. Homer HIlsen, our roadish country bike. "It's a cross..." means it has tubing halfway in between the two (in wall thickness...) and the 40mm max tire clearance (and straight chainstays) of the A.Homer Hilsen.

But a Hillborne costs about $1000 less than either.

You can ride your Sam Hillborne self-contained across the country, but it's also super on roads, for commuting, and fire trails. If you have only one bike, you can't do any better than a Sam. If you have a stable of "normal" bikes, this is the one you'll ride the most. The Sam Hillborne is an all-around bike that sacrifices nothing, and will do all you ask of it without a whimper, forever. 
 
The average price of a normal bike-shop/big brand road bike in 2011 is $1,500--and there are thousands of bikes that sell for four times that. The Sam, at $2500 or so (taxes, shipping, upgrades/downgrades effect the final total) is not only a better bike than anything made of lesser materials, but the biggest bargain alive today. 

Five sizes: 48 and 52 fit 650B wheels; 56, 60 and 64 fit 700C. The frame design is "expanded," which is not at all like "compact." The top tube slopes up 6 degrees, and so the head tube grows in height to intercept it. As a result, it is easy, really easy, to get your handlebar high up where it's comfortable. 

If you're five-ten, you'll probably be on a 56. Most 6-footers ride the 60. Most five-eighters, the 52. The 48 fits most five-twoers, and most 6-4ers ride the 64.

To nail the size, we'll need your height and PBH. We can't stress this enough. Measure it right, have someone help you, measure four times and give us the biggest number. That tells us your optimal saddle height and standover tolerance.  From there we make sure you get the right frame, the right bars, the right stem. Don't think for a second you're at a disadvantage ordering without a personal fitting. The roads are teeming with mis-fit riders who were sized incorrectly in person, and since we send bikes across the country all the time, we've had to evolve sizing methods that work. We must be more careful; we never get returns. This is what we do, and we do it well.

We are excited about this bike.  You should be, too. There's nothing's cheap on it, it has no "dark secrets." It uses our lugs, crown, bb shell as always. We specified the tubing, and every dimension on it.





PBH measurements and Sam Sizes:

75-81cm PBH = 48cm Sam
81-85cm PBH = 52cm Sam
84-89cm PBH = 56cm Sam
88-94cm PBH = 60cm Sam
94-101cm PBH = 64cm Sam

There is some overlap in the sizing there. If you fall between sizes you will still be able to get your bars level and above saddle height on either size but you have a choice between even higher bars on the larger size or increased standover height on the smaller. Typically trail bikes will want a little more standover and long distance cyclists will want the taller front end. We usually encourage you to go bigger, unless you like more standover.

If your PBH is smaller than 75, consider a Betty Foy, Yves Gomez, Atlantis or A Homer Hilsen. Those models have smaller sizes. If you're bigger than 101cm, look at Bombadil and A Homer Hilsen.

Shipping on complete bikes is $110-130.


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