The Platypus is our most popular bicycle. Behind and beyond its superficial beauty is a bicycle that— in the best possible interpretation of this description—practically rides itself. It is supremely comfortable. No weight on your hands, no leaning forward in a manner you’ve been brainwashed into thinking is “proper” but in reality is wrong and hurts; and it's easy to control. It’s not a trail bicycle, but it fits tires to 50mm (2-inches) wide, so it’s good for smooth or rough roads, and “light trail” use, whatever you think that might be.

Like all Rivendell bikes, it has a longer than normal wheelbase. Like long surboards, long kayaks, long skateboards, and limousines, a long-wheelbase Platypus rides smoother than what you’re used to, unless what you’re used to is one of our other long-wheelbasers. If you have a “normal” bike, you’ll notice the improvement within 25 feet. If you haven’t been on a bike for years, you’ll won’t have anything to compare it to, so you'll think it's normal. It's not.

Also like our other bikes, the Platypus takes useful accessories like fenders, kickstands, racks, and baskets easily. We can put these on for you when you buy, or you can do it later yourself at home.

When you buy a complete, if some part or a couple of parts aren’t just right for you: (1) We'll wonder what you’re thinking, because the parts are really dialed; and (2) We’ll change them for you, but you pay the labor and we don’t buy the parts back from you (because we’ve already bought them once, and we can’t sell them as new if they’ve been on a bike).

But since a Complete is almost a thousand less than an a la carte build, you’ve saved enough to buy the extra stuff.

“Complete” is a small lie. We don’t include parts that you might already have, or that you want to buy separately because you erroneously think our offerings aren’t cool enough for you. The parts in question: Saddle, pedals, grips, kickstand.

These are for complete Platypus bikes, preassembled in Taiwan. They're coming with:

• 58cm Nitto Bille Bar
• Nitto Tallux stems
  
• Silver cranks in a unique 42/30 chainring combo
  
• Silver Thumbie Friction Shifters 
• Microshift front derailer and Sunrace rear derailer
• Gravelking SS (Semi Slick) tires
• Silver Tektro V brakes
• Tektro RS360 levers
• Alex DM21 rims (narrower than the DM24s we've had on Clems. They're similar to the Velocity Atlas rim)
  
• Novatech hubs
• 9 speed Silver Sunrace cassettes 
• No grips, no pedals and no saddle

The completes are $300 more this year, but part of this increase is because the wheels are built in Taiwan by Saint Jump, who built wheels for 15 of the 21 Tour de France teams. The other part is that the now come with made-in-Japan Nitto Billie bars and our very own Silver 2 thumbies.

BONUS: $50 from each complete Platypus sale will go to the

That's the magic of buying parts straight from the source instead of through distributors. The completes aren't as meticulously assembled as Mark, James, or Antonio would do it, but they're a good enough deal that paying to have a bike shop or a competent mechanic friend bring it over the finish line is easily worth it. 

Can I add racks and fenders?

Yes but we won't be able to install them unless you're local and picking the bike up here, and there'll be a labor charge ($35 and $100, respectively) for each. Not having to take each bike out of the box and then re-box it is part of the lower price.

Kickstand?

No kickstand. Add a Pletscher from our site if you'd like one.

Relevant specs:

• 135mm rear wheel spacing
• 26.8 seatpost
• 28.6 FD clamp
• 68mm BSA BB shell
• V-brake mounts

Ranges: