Customer-built Clems - April '24

Here's our April '24 Clem gallery. Thanks everyone for continuing to submit photos of your Clem (and other models!). Lots more great builds below, including some more international Clems and another H-Style!

Keep the submissions coming! We'll also be requesting customer photos for our other models soon so save your pictures for us.

Thanks!

Roman

Customer Build Photo Guide Lines:

Send 3-7 hi-res photos to customerbikes@rivbike.com. Shoot them in landscape orientation and include a brief description of the bike, how you ride it, why you love it, etc. Please try to keep all your photos in the same aspect ration. 

The photos below are good examples of the format. We can't use images that are too small or taken in the portrait orientation.

John and Juliette from Héricy, France sent in photos of their beautiful Green and Blue Clems. Read on to hear about them:

It's a 45 with 26" tires. I think it's a 2019 model.Stock wheels, rear derailleur, brakes and levers (if you can call Rivendell stuff, "stock"). Tosco 60cm handlebars, Nitto Tallux stem, a silver shifter with thumbshifter adapter, some cork grips that have broken and been surgically repaired, velox tape. Sugino XD2 crank, MKS bear traps, Medium narrow/wide chainringNitto seatpost, Brooks flyer saddle.Surly Nice rear rack. Wald basket. Conti Cross King 26x2.4 tires. Some little odd decorations that my wife and 3-year old son added to the spokes.

I love it.

We live in a village near Fontainebleu, on the banks of the Seine (about an hour outside of Paris). Our rides are mostly flattish, and almost always involve mixed pavement, path, dirt, etc. There are tons of forest paths to discover and plenty of scenic rides along the river...

And here is Juliette's Clem (fyi, originally, the green was hers, and I had a Clem H - but I liked hers so much better, and she wanted a blue one, so I sold the H and got an L - the geometry is different, which you all know of course, the L has a longer ETT, and it worked better with Toscos, which are the best bars in the world, BTW). 

A Clem 45 with 26" tires. Also a 2019 model. Rear wheel is Deore and Sun Rhyno Lites, front wheel from a 89 MB-1, Fat Franks 26x2.4, Altus rear derailleur, SLX front derailleur, deore brakes and origin8 levers, Soma Oxford handlebars, no name stem (maybe a Sunlite - it works), Sunrace shifters (indexed, cause she wanted that), some Widek grips. Sugino XD2 triple, MKS UB-Lites, Kalloy (stock) seatpost, Brooks B17S, Portland design rack (it's really heavy, but it's pretty), cheap-o front rack with Basil basket.

It's such a great bike. With the triple, it's perfect, I can't think of anything to make it function better, even though, yeah, I could add a blingier stem or something, but really, it rides like a dream (for what she wants - I prefer the ease of a 1x and friction shifting). 

Also, Clem is a very common French name (for a guy or a girl). It would be Clem Lefèvre instead of Smith, though...

Cheers,
John & Juliette

Ron from Pembroke Pines, South Florida writes:

My first Riv. I upsized to 59cm and love it. The Tosco bar & FacePlater stem are a great combo. B68 tilted back is so comfy.

Used shortened eye bolts to double up on the Crane Riten bells. Newbaums for the chain guard! Big front basket. James bent up the rack struts for me. Thanks James!

Adam writes:

Here's my 2021 64cm in RBW Blue. I needed a chill cruiser bike, Calling in Sick just dropped issue #5, and then Rivendell announced pre-orders for fresh Clem frames. The rest is history.

I had to purchase wheels, bar & stem, otherwise it's mostly comprised of parts I had stored away. It's been a great bike for goofing around and having fun. 

Bob from the Lake Michigan area writes:

This is an errand bike for a 70-year-old grandpa in a Lake Michigan beach town. I clip a baby seat to the fitting on the stem. Blackburn Mt. front rack from my mid-80s lugged Jamis Gentry. (The Nitto handlebar still looks new.)

I have a basket for the front and your largest seat bag for the back but a toddler seat may go back there if I’m comfortable with riding two kids at once. Maybe a 30 pounder in back and 20 pounder in front.

I just need cork grips to insulate my hands from a cold handlebar and pedal washers. I’ll be converting to friction shifting.

Here is Vincent Mustard 52cm Clem H hailing from Fremont, CA:

“I bought this 52cm Butternut Clem in 2016 (complete). One of the best purchases I’ve ever made! I commute with it and wish I could make more time for long distance/bike camps. I’m looking forward to hauling my daughter in one of those baby trailers soon.

This bike has been through quite a few set ups (pictures 4 and 5) but so far this is my favorite. Banana sack in the back for reduced rear weight (for hoisting over train tracks) and my lunch and other daily items in the basket. What’s to come? Fenders off in maybe a month or so and some knobbies!

Thanks!
Vincent