Frequently Asked Questions

What is the history of Heron Bicycles?

Heron Bicycles was started in 1997 as a joint venture between Waterford Precision Cycles, Rivendell Bicycle Works, and Rona Components. Waterford manufactured the frames in its Wisconsin factory while Rivendell sold them through its mail order operation.

Eventually Ted Durant, owner of Rona Components, bought out the other joint venture partners and became sole owner. Waterford continued to manufacture the frames for Ted on a contract basis while Rivendell became an official Heron dealer along with several bike shops.

In early 2001, Ted decided to halt production of the Heron frames to focus on other matters. Todd Kuzma, owner of Tullio’s Big Dog Cyclery – a Heron dealer, began discussions with Ted to purchase the company and resume production.

Heron Bicycles was sold to Todd Kuzma in January 2002, and production at the Waterford plant began soon thereafter.

What is Heron Heritage Custom Select Tubing?

Herons are made with a premium cromoly tubing made to our own specifications and sourced from Reynolds and True Temper.

How do the Herons ride?

This is difficult to convey in writing, but I’ll do my best. Our tubing specifications are fairly conservative. It is thick enough to resist frame twist from sprinting or climbing. It also allows the frame to track straight and true even when hauling a load. We could make the frame lighter by reducing the wall thickness, but this produces a more flexible frame.

The Heron Road and Rally are frames that feel fast. Their handling is fairly quick but not so much that you feel uncomfortable reaching for a water bottle, descending a steep hill, or both at once. They have a bit longer wheelbase than most road frames today which gives you greater tire clearance and smooths out the ride. Like the old sportcars that racers would drive to and from the track, the Heron Road and Rally can be raced but also allow you to fit larger tires and racks for less competitive rides.

The Heron Touring and Wayfarer are both extremely versatile frames. While they are great for loaded touring, they work well unloaded as well. Take the bags off and they will still lean eagerly into a turn. They both excel at light trail riding, commuting, randonneuring, club rides, and even cyclocross. A longer wheelbase than the Heron Road and Rally means an even smoother ride and plenty of heel clearance if you mount panniers.

How do the Herons compare to Rivendell’s Atlantis and Rambouillet?

The Heron and Rivendell offerings complement each other well. They are quite similar in features, ride, quality, and price. Herons are made in the US and are silver-brazed while the Atlantis and Rambouillets are brass-brazed in Japan. US production really cuts down our lead times.

The Atlantis allows you to fit a larger tire than the Heron Touring or Wayfarer. This is ideal for off-road riding since a wide knobby can be fitted. The clearance for wider tires means that the Atlantis has wider chainstays. So, it is best-suited for MTB-style cranks with smaller chainrings. The Heron Touring and Wayfarer are limited to a narrower tire but can accomodate road triple cranks with larger chainrings. The Atlantis also uses 26” (559 mm) wheels for its 4 smallest frames and 700C for its 4 largest. The Heron Touring and Wayfarer use 700C for all sizes except the 51 and 53.

The Rambouillet and Heron Rally are built around "standard" reach brakes rather than the more common short-reach brakes as used on the Heron Road. This allows the Rambouillet and Rally to fit a bit larger tire than the Heron Road. The Rambouillet’s geometry is more relaxed than the Heron Road, but not as stable as the Touring or Wayfarer.

The sizing guide tells me that I need a bigger frame than I usually ride. Why?

Our lower bottom bracket gives you additional standover clearance and lowers the saddle relative to the handlebars. The top tube slopes upward to the head tube at 2 degrees. This gives an additional 2 cm or so height to the head tube. With the lower bottom bracket and higher head tube, the handlebars will be higher relative to the saddle than on most bikes. A higher handlebar means a shorter reach, so you may find that you need a slightly longer top tube or stem than what you would normally use.

A larger frame size gives you that slightly longer reach to compensate for the higher bars. It also means that you will have less seatpost showing further lowering the saddle relative to the bars. In short, this is what provides the comfortable fit that Herons are known for.

What size tires fit?

On the Road and Rally frames, it will depend on the tire and the brakes. Generally, the brakes will limit the tire size more than the frame. Also, the actual tire size can vary quite a bit from what is on the label. Some 700x28s are wider than some 700x32s.

With Campy dual pivot brakes, I've been able to fit Rivendell Roll-y Pol-y 700x28 tires (which are pretty fat for a 700x28) on the Road frame. With single pivot brakes, you can fit some 700x35s and most 700x32s.

On the Rally frame, the standard-reach (47-57 mm) caliper brakes typically allow most 700x35 tires and some 700x38 tires to fit.

You will need to go a little smaller than these sizes to fit fenders. I've occasionally notched the fenders at the brake caliper to give a little extra clearance.

On the Touring and Wayfarer frames, the tightest spot on the frame provides 45 mm of tire clearance. So, tires with an actual width of up to 40 mm will work fine. With fenders, you may need a slightly smaller size, but I’ve fit 700x35 tires with Esge P45 fenders and had plenty of room to spare.

Can I get any custom options or geometry on a Heron?

Herons are a production-built bicycle frame. That means that we manufacture a number at a time. This helps us keep the cost down, but it also makes it impractical to offer any custom options. For a custom-built frame, we recommend looking at a Waterford.

What is Heron’s relationship to Waterford Precision Cycles?

Heron is an independent company, but we contract the building of our frames to Waterford.

What is Heron’s relationship to Tullio’s Big Dog Cyclery?

Heron Bicycles and Tullio’s Big Dog Cyclery are both owned by Todd Kuzma. They operate independently of each other, but Tullio’s is a Heron dealer.

What are the frame specifications?

*Tire size varies quite a bit by manufacturer. Some tires of these sizes may not fit, but some will.