It pays off in the end

Text: Silje Strømmen
Photos: Mari Oshaug

It was the short description “Rivendellbicycles. Bags. Gear. Clothing. (Book) Lending Library. And Bob Dylan records” that caught our eye when we first came upon the webpage of Rivelo in our research phase for Bikevibe Portland. At this point in the story we had yet to be introduced to RivendellBicycle Works, whom we now know is a company that has “been bucking trends with lugged steel bicycle frames, wool cycling clothes, cotton bike luggage and leather saddles ever since 1994”. Some emails later we had set up an appointment with Mr John Bennett, owner and founder of Rivelo.

“We’re a little tricky to find”, he told us. Kind as he is, he gave us detailed instructions and attached images of small, reddish building with roll-up glass doors. Still, our driver was quite sceptical of us being at the right place when he dropped us off early on a Friday morning at a warehouse building close to the Tilkum Bridge in SE Portland. Luckily for us, John’s description quickly made us recognize the old loading dock that hosts Rivelo and a number of other small independent shops as being in the right place (John’s head popping out the door greeting us also gave it away).

Hands on - I got the idea to open this place in February 2015, John eagerly tells us (despite it being Friday morning after Thanksgiving, and with only one cup of coffee in his system, he seems wide awake and in good spirit). Before moving to Portland three years ago he spent 13 years at Rivendell, the last eight as general manager. With only 15 employees John consider the whole Rivendellfamily great friends, and upon moving to Portland he kept in touch with them all.

Before taking the jump and starting up his own place John had been doing some different stuff, but found himself in a job he wasn’t too keen on.

- I wanted to be my own boss, which is equally exciting and frightening. Mostly though it is exciting and fun. It is nice to be able to do whatever I want.

And doing exactly what he wants is what he has spent the last months doing. Although Rivendellis a big part of Rivelo in the sense that they are selling their stuff, John is very clear on the fact that he is not running a franchise and that they are one hundred percent independent – something that has allowed him to dip dive into his passion for LP-records.

- The thing that I like about records is that, like bicycles, they are hands on. There is something tactile about picking up a record and putting it on the turntable that is very similar to holding the handlebars of a bike and shifting the gears. It is a little more work, but the work you put into it pays off in the end.

Small and personal These days John’s ambition is to reach out to the people who “do not know about Rivendellis and who would like the brand if only they knew about it”. And of course: to survive and make an income for himself.

- People have commented that the shop is a great place to hang out, and it is! I like it when customers, this is going to sound bad but, I like it when customers come by and don’t feel like they have to buy anything, that they can just come by and say hi, John says while looking around the small space.

- My main gold is just to keep it going and spread the word about Rivendell, Bob Dylan and bicycles. My goals are pretty small, which is very relaxing. It is not relaxing when I wake up in the middle of the night thinking “oh no, we have had three bad sales days, how am I going to pay the rent,” but relaxing in the sense that I get to pick and choose who I want to work with. We run a small operation and I would like to keep it that way: small and personal. I think people will respond to that in the same way as they have with Rivendell.

After 20 years they still only have 15 employees, which has allowed Grant Petersen, the founder, to do whatever he wants. I would want Rivelo to be the place I would like to shop and hang out.