The Rotring Rive.

[andrew98]

...looks like it walked off the set of some futuristic, post-apocalyptic science fiction film. I like its organic design. It reminds me of a seed pod or some simple deep water ocean creature. I do worry about it hatching at night and its contents taking over the minds and bodies of everyone in town (not really).

It's made out of injection-molded plastic, will take international cartridges and converters, and will accept a variety of modular nib units that screw into the grip section (if you can find any these days). It's a lightweight pen, but its quite large in diameter. It's a good writer, and the stub nib is fun. It's similar to a Lamy stub nib, so nothing mind blowing. Mine came boxed with a little wire holder that resembles a boiled egg cup. I paid about $10 for the pen and holder.

I think these pens were made in the 1990s and were meant to be an ergonomic pen choice. That, and Rotring has always made some bizarre fountain pens, presumably for their own entertainment.

Anyway, if you run across one of these in good condition for cheap, I highly recommend it. It's just a weird pen.

-Andy

 

[celestino]

Wow, Andy, that sure looks interesting! You say it writes well? Boy, i would have to get over its aesthetics, firstly.

 

[andrew98]

Wow, Andy, that sure looks interesting! You say it writes well? Boy, i would have to get over its aesthetics, firstly.

It's definitely not for everyone. It's probably a love it or hate it sort of design.

-Andy

 

[nemo]

Strange looking thing, reminds me of something I once found crawling on me after swimming in a pond.

Does it post?

Thanks for the review, I think I'll stick with my 600.

 

[Dave258]

The writing sample looks good, thanks for sharing Andy!

 

[andrew98]

Strange looking thing, reminds me of something I once found crawling on me after swimming in a pond.

Does it post?

Thanks for the review, I think I'll stick with my 600.

Ha! I don't blame you, Doug. It posts very nicely, but unposted, it's plenty long enough for me to use comfortably. It's about 5 3/8" long unposted and feels more balanced that way. I ran across that pen when we moved last year. I only keep it because it's so odd.

The writing sample looks good, thanks for sharing Andy!

Thanks! I haven't used stub or italic nibs much (yet).

-Andy

 

[Maximumsmoke]

I was bouncing around trying to find replacement nibs for my Rotring Rive, and lo and behold, here's a thread on B&B on the Rive! I have had several of these -- bought them very cheaply in Seoul Korea on trips there to work with Hyundai back in the late '90's through mid 2000's. I really liked the Rive, and gifted them all away to my fountain pen friends, thinking I'd always get more. I had the little spiral wire spring holder, too. Well, dang, time flew by, I never got back to Korea, nor could I find the Rive in Germany, was involved with many other fountain pens, and when I finally searched eBay and Etsy for one I was shocked to see the relative rarity there, and the ridiculous prices for banged-up used ones. I finally found a guy in Germany that had a few NOS Rive and the spiral wire stand, and grabbed one pen and the stand. Unfortunately the pen had a stub nib that was pretty wide for my tastes. Then I found the partner of the Rive -- the Rivette -- same nibs. The Rivette is not as daringly styled, and seems to go for a small fraction of a Rive. I bought one and was able to exchange its more acceptable to me nib with the one on my Rive. The nib on the RotRing ArtPen looks and feels very very similar to that of the Rive/Rivette. On the ArtPen the nib and feed are of the pull-out type. I had no luck trying to pull out the nib on the Rive. Then on close inspection it appears the Rive/Rivette nib is integral (molded-in?) with it's feed, and the feed actually has wrench flats so the whole thing can just be screwed out (those crafty Germans!). Of course, since I found the same situation on the Rivette and was able to make an exchange, the need has passed -- for now at least, but I would still like to have an extra nib or two, and don't want to buy any more Rivettes to get them.

It is interesting that the OP alluded to the undersea creature look of the Rive. I see exactly the same. I always called the Rive "The Squid Pen". Somehow, I did not even know it was called the "Rive" (nor did I even know the existence of the Rivette!) till I did my internet search to find the one I've got now. I guess the packaging of the ones I had purchased earlier was either written in Korean, or I wasn't paying attention (hell, I probably bought a dozen of the things!). Also, I never searched for fountain pens in my work trips to Germany (fool that I was, in retrospect -- think of all the older MontBlancs that were there!), where I could likely have found more Rive, as I considered prices for everything there relatively high at the time, and that whether or not I got back to Korea, I could probably have had one of the fellows in our Korean office get me as many as I wanted.

Cheers!
Tony