CLEM Smith Jr. is Rivendell’s fat-tire, easy to fender & rack, joyously upright and stable, more affordable than the rest of our lineup bicycle frame. With appropriate wheels, it's either perfect for commuting and just normal riding, or it's as good a mountain bike as you can get for any price. This one comes with fat knobbies that aren't ultra knobby, and for trail riding there's not a reason in the world to switch them.
CLEMS cost less than our fully lugged models only because they come as complete bikes straight from Taiwan and the two head tube joints are tig-welded instead of lugged. Tigging cuts the construction time for each frame down by a lot so the price gets lower. They'd cost even less if we ditched the head tube ring, seat lug, and fork crown, but we can't limbo that low :). Clems are gorgeous bikes, with plenty of beautiful details you won't find on any other tig-welded bikes at any price, including:
• a gorgeous investment-cast fork crown, our own design
• investment-case "napkin-ring" head tube reinforcement rings, with cream-painted RBW and ovals
• an investment cast seat lug with the smartest, strongest binder bolt ears on any seat lug. It uses a standard hardware store bolt (M6 x 22) and a 10mm hex nut. In a pinch, you can clamp it with a vise grip, or use almost any combination of bolt, washers, and nuts to close it. If you or the airlines manage to lose yours, every hardware store in THE WORLD will have either a perfect replacement or a workable solution.
These are made by the same people who make the more expensive frames and with the same materials even, so they ride as well as our custom frames.
FRAME SIZES/PBH:
-
45cm - 68 to 81cm
- 50cm - 72 to 86cm
-
55.5cm - 77.5 to 89cm
- 59cm - 86 to 96cm
- 64cm - 94 to 101cm
Relevant specs:
Seatpost Diameter - 27.2mm
Rear spacing - 135mm
Front derailer clamp size - 31.8mm for all sizes. Get a Skeleton Key FD on our site. It's not a looker, but it works so, so well.
Full June 2026 geometry chart, here.
What's included other than a frame and fork? A FSA Duron headset and a 113mm bottom bracket.
Pick the frame size that your PBH falls most in the middle of the range. Since there's no standover issues, you can go bigger if you want:
A lot of our customers and some staff have found that oversizing the Clems makes for a more luxurious ride. If you want to try that, use the following formula to figure out if you can achieve your saddle height on a bigger frame:
MINIMUM SADDLE HEIGHT per FRAME SIZE = Seat tube length + 13cm.
Measured from center of crank to top of saddle. It's simple, it works like this: Measure your PBH (pubic bone height) and subtract 11cm. That's a good saddle height for you. Subtract 13cm, and that's your maximum Clem frame size. It assumes a saddle without springs, a fairly normal saddle. Example: If your PBH is 85cm, your saddle height is probably 74cm, and 74-minus-13 is 61, so you could easily ride a 61. But since we dont make that size. You can ride a 59cm. OR even, easily, a 55.5cm. In general it feels great to ride the biggest frame you can fit, but CLEMs have plenty of handlebar-height adjustability, so a 55.5cm will feel great, too.
If you'd like a build, we can do that. It'll be more expensive than the boxed Clems but you'll have more control over the component selection. Check out the build packages here; we recommend the "you pick the fun stuff" kits.
Shipping Bikes and Frames
- Frames Shipping: $87 +/- to lower 48 states.
- Bike Shipping: $250 +/- to lower 48
- International is more complicated - call or email
You can always arrange to pick up your bike here in Walnut Creek, California. Walnut Creek pickups and deliveries pay Walnut Creek sales tax.
- If you want to use cantis, buy cable hangers too.
Contact Us
- Call (800) 345 3918 or (925) 933 7304
- Monday-Friday 9am-5pm
- Saturdays 10am-4pm
