Announcing our new "CLUBS" section where you can join or create a Rivian club or group! You can use this new feature to conveniently plan and discuss local events, gatherings or other club/group related topics.
So we encourage you to join (or start) special-interest and regional-based Rivian clubs at: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/group-categories/clubs-groups.1/
You’re right, I saw the wrong week on the calendar.
Very interested in this actually. You could put together a VERY stout underbody package and tow hooks for the price of that package, hope its THICK aluminum panels or something. Expecting the aftermarket to come up with some solutions plus more (rock sliders) in the next several years as thousands of r1t/r1s flood the roads and don't want to pony up front.
I wanted to share a quick story with you guys. It was a lucky chance encounter that made my day/week/month.
TLDR - Got a personal tour of the R1T by RJ. He was amazingly gracious, friendly, approachable, and an all-around great guy. Read on if you'd like the full story.
So as you may have seen, there is a media event happening in the mountains of Colorado at the moment. I knew approximately where they might be, but hadn't had the time to drive from Denver to see if I can find them. But then on Tuesday night, I get a call from my mother telling me she just spotted a bunch of Rivians not 5 minutes from their home in Breckenridge. That's all the encouragement I needed to take a drive up the mountains.
I cruise up, make a quick stop to grab my mother, and have her jump in the car with me to point out where she saw them. 5 minutes later, I'm in a parking lot with no less than 6 shiny R1Ts. Having never spotted one before, I was stoked.
We hop out of the car (Well, I hop out. My mom is in her mid/late 70's, so her exit wasn't quite as 'hoppy'), and started taking a close-up look at a forest green with forest edge interior truck. Beautiful. The window was rolled down, so we were able to get a great view of the interior. There were a few Rivian folks milling around so we tried to stay away and not be a burden or bother. Despite getting a few odd looks, they just let us poke around undisturbed, which was nice.
After a few minutes of peering around, we were about to leave. But I see a familiar face walking in our general direction. It was RJ! I said hello and he introduced himself, and then he went way above and beyond. He gave us a personal tour of the entire R1T, top to bottom, front to back. Showing us all the different features and functions. Answering my million questions. Put up with me pestering him about when the test drives will start in Colorado, the status of the service center in Denver, when deliveries are going to start, etc. Then he asked me to get in the vehicle and let him know what I thought of the seats, the interior, explained the process for making sure the wood dash looked just right, what he thought about certain interior/exterior color combos. He even was pulling out and showing off the flashlight and bluetooth speaker to my mother.
He spent a good 20 minutes with us, just one on one showing us everything you could imagine about the truck. It was fantastic, and I was truly impressed with how nice he was, how warm he was to my mother, and generally just giving us two randos undivided attention despite needing to get ready for the media event, and having several of his people waiting around to get his attention for what I'm assuming were fairly pressing needs.
After RJ finally had to let us go, he pointed us toward the El Cap truck that had the camp kitchen going, making dinner for the media folks. He instructed his head chef/kitchen designer to stop what he was doing, so that he could give us a full demonstration of how the kitchen worked, what was included, etc. etc. Who does that for a dude just interrupting their big media day?
We were able to see almost all the colors, except LG, Limestone, and Red. RJ kept asking his people where the LG truck was, when it would be back, trying to do what he could to ensure I would get to see it (it's the color I have on order).
We spent another 10 minutes looking at the other trucks that were there, the different interior options, etc. Basically just an awesome chance experience.
Bottom line, RJ is as good a guy as @DuckTruck described him to be. He went way out of his way to make us feel welcome at a time that I assumed we would not be welcome at all.
That's my story...
PS. I tried to see if RJ could move me up on the list...but I don't think I was successful
PPS. Drove by this morning and they had Canyon Red parked out front. It looks awesome.
Updated with impressions of the Rivian R1T:
-The vehicles have an impressive presence and stance, that I wasn't expecting. They're not enormous, but when you stand next to them, you feel like you're next to something very substantial
-The front end looks way better in person than it does in photos
-The front seats are ridiculously comfortable
-I liked silver and white significantly more than I thought I would. Both compete for number 2 on my list of colors
-The roof seemed to let just the right amount of light into the cabin
-The wheels/tires looked really big in person (all of them were on the 20's)
Happy to answer any other specific questions folks may have.
Met RJ at LA Auto show at debut. We chatted and he was very personable talking about his wife and sons to me. Very down to earth CEO.I wanted to share a quick story with you guys. It was a lucky chance encounter that made my day/week/month.
TLDR - Got a personal tour of the R1T by RJ. He was amazingly gracious, friendly, approachable, and an all-around great guy. Read on if you'd like the full story.
So as you may have seen, there is a media event happening in the mountains of Colorado at the moment. I knew approximately where they might be, but hadn't had the time to drive from Denver to see if I can find them. But then on Tuesday night, I get a call from my mother telling me she just spotted a bunch of Rivians not 5 minutes from their home in Breckenridge. That's all the encouragement I needed to take a drive up the mountains.
I cruise up, make a quick stop to grab my mother, and have her jump in the car with me to point out where she saw them. 5 minutes later, I'm in a parking lot with no less than 6 shiny R1Ts. Having never spotted one before, I was stoked.
We hop out of the car (Well, I hop out. My mom is in her mid/late 70's, so her exit wasn't quite as 'hoppy'), and started taking a close-up look at a forest green with forest edge interior truck. Beautiful. The window was rolled down, so we were able to get a great view of the interior. There were a few Rivian folks milling around so we tried to stay away and not be a burden or bother. Despite getting a few odd looks, they just let us poke around undisturbed, which was nice.
After a few minutes of peering around, we were about to leave. But I see a familiar face walking in our general direction. It was RJ! I said hello and he introduced himself, and then he went way above and beyond. He gave us a personal tour of the entire R1T, top to bottom, front to back. Showing us all the different features and functions. Answering my million questions. Put up with me pestering him about when the test drives will start in Colorado, the status of the service center in Denver, when deliveries are going to start, etc. Then he asked me to get in the vehicle and let him know what I thought of the seats, the interior, explained the process for making sure the wood dash looked just right, what he thought about certain interior/exterior color combos. He even was pulling out and showing off the flashlight and bluetooth speaker to my mother.
He spent a good 20 minutes with us, just one on one showing us everything you could imagine about the truck. It was fantastic, and I was truly impressed with how nice he was, how warm he was to my mother, and generally just giving us two randos undivided attention despite needing to get ready for the media event, and having several of his people waiting around to get his attention for what I'm assuming were fairly pressing needs.
After RJ finally had to let us go, he pointed us toward the El Cap truck that had the camp kitchen going, making dinner for the media folks. He instructed his head chef/kitchen designer to stop what he was doing, so that he could give us a full demonstration of how the kitchen worked, what was included, etc. etc. Who does that for a dude just interrupting their big media day?
We were able to see almost all the colors, except LG, Limestone, and Red. RJ kept asking his people where the LG truck was, when it would be back, trying to do what he could to ensure I would get to see it (it's the color I have on order).
We spent another 10 minutes looking at the other trucks that were there, the different interior options, etc. Basically just an awesome chance experience.
Bottom line, RJ is as good a guy as @DuckTruck described him to be. He went way out of his way to make us feel welcome at a time that I assumed we would not be welcome at all.
That's my story...
PS. I tried to see if RJ could move me up on the list...but I don't think I was successful
PPS. Drove by this morning and they had Canyon Red parked out front. It looks awesome.
Updated with impressions of the Rivian R1T:
-The vehicles have an impressive presence and stance, that I wasn't expecting. They're not enormous, but when you stand next to them, you feel like you're next to something very substantial
-The front end looks way better in person than it does in photos
-The front seats are ridiculously comfortable
-I liked silver and white significantly more than I thought I would. Both compete for number 2 on my list of colors
-The roof seemed to let just the right amount of light into the cabin
-The wheels/tires looked really big in person (all of them were on the 20's)
Happy to answer any other specific questions folks may have.
I was fortunate enough to have a similar experience two years ago (9/27/2019) at the Seattle roll-out event. As several of you have mentioned here, RJ was, and remains very unassuming and open to technical questions, as well as personal chit-chat.
Congrats to them! My parents celebrate their 50th next month! (And my 20th is next year.)
I appreciate you for letting us know your experience. It does mean a lot RJ interaction with you how he would like the consumers needs to be attained to by employees of Rivian.I wanted to share a quick story with you guys. It was a lucky chance encounter that made my day/week/month.
TLDR - Got a personal tour of the R1T by RJ. He was amazingly gracious, friendly, approachable, and an all-around great guy. Read on if you'd like the full story.
So as you may have seen, there is a media event happening in the mountains of Colorado at the moment. I knew approximately where they might be, but hadn't had the time to drive from Denver to see if I can find them. But then on Tuesday night, I get a call from my mother telling me she just spotted a bunch of Rivians not 5 minutes from their home in Breckenridge. That's all the encouragement I needed to take a drive up the mountains.
I cruise up, make a quick stop to grab my mother, and have her jump in the car with me to point out where she saw them. 5 minutes later, I'm in a parking lot with no less than 6 shiny R1Ts. Having never spotted one before, I was stoked.
We hop out of the car (Well, I hop out. My mom is in her mid/late 70's, so her exit wasn't quite as 'hoppy'), and started taking a close-up look at a forest green with forest edge interior truck. Beautiful. The window was rolled down, so we were able to get a great view of the interior. There were a few Rivian folks milling around so we tried to stay away and not be a burden or bother. Despite getting a few odd looks, they just let us poke around undisturbed, which was nice.
After a few minutes of peering around, we were about to leave. But I see a familiar face walking in our general direction. It was RJ! I said hello and he introduced himself, and then he went way above and beyond. He gave us a personal tour of the entire R1T, top to bottom, front to back. Showing us all the different features and functions. Answering my million questions. Put up with me pestering him about when the test drives will start in Colorado, the status of the service center in Denver, when deliveries are going to start, etc. Then he asked me to get in the vehicle and let him know what I thought of the seats, the interior, explained the process for making sure the wood dash looked just right, what he thought about certain interior/exterior color combos. He even was pulling out and showing off the flashlight and bluetooth speaker to my mother.
He spent a good 20 minutes with us, just one on one showing us everything you could imagine about the truck. It was fantastic, and I was truly impressed with how nice he was, how warm he was to my mother, and generally just giving us two randos undivided attention despite needing to get ready for the media event, and having several of his people waiting around to get his attention for what I'm assuming were fairly pressing needs.
After RJ finally had to let us go, he pointed us toward the El Cap truck that had the camp kitchen going, making dinner for the media folks. He instructed his head chef/kitchen designer to stop what he was doing, so that he could give us a full demonstration of how the kitchen worked, what was included, etc. etc. Who does that for a dude just interrupting their big media day?
We were able to see almost all the colors, except LG, Limestone, and Red. RJ kept asking his people where the LG truck was, when it would be back, trying to do what he could to ensure I would get to see it (it's the color I have on order).
We spent another 10 minutes looking at the other trucks that were there, the different interior options, etc. Basically just an awesome chance experience.
Bottom line, RJ is as good a guy as @DuckTruck described him to be. He went way out of his way to make us feel welcome at a time that I assumed we would not be welcome at all.
That's my story...
PS. I tried to see if RJ could move me up on the list...but I don't think I was successful
PPS. Drove by this morning and they had Canyon Red parked out front. It looks awesome.
Updated with impressions of the Rivian R1T:
-The vehicles have an impressive presence and stance, that I wasn't expecting. They're not enormous, but when you stand next to them, you feel like you're next to something very substantial
-The front end looks way better in person than it does in photos
-The front seats are ridiculously comfortable
-I liked silver and white significantly more than I thought I would. Both compete for number 2 on my list of colors
-The roof seemed to let just the right amount of light into the cabin
-The wheels/tires looked really big in person (all of them were on the 20's)
Happy to answer any other specific questions folks may have.
Yup.
Can confirm that the road is renamed to "Rivian Motorway."
Again, another story that makes me feel great right down to my soul. I remembered our back and forth following your RJ/Brian-encounter in New York that sounded almost magical, and now this! Too bad Brian couldn't also be there with the three of you in Denver. He's a great guy as well and another one that seems to be blessed with a big brain, to go along with a great sense of humor. It's also not lost on me that RJ and Brian are really solid family guys with young kids and they they seem pretty squarely rooted. That all came through very early in talking with them.@DuckTruck and @cohall
Yeah, RJ is an incredibly approachable and down to earth person (not too mention smart!).
Talked with him in New York at the first Rivian engagement event, asked him when he was gonna change the name of the street the plant was on (my families farm is right by there). The next time I saw him in Colorado for the very next preorder engagement event I think he was surprised to see me there when I said hello. He told me how much he appreciated all my support and how much I shared with other guest that night (all the info from Brian Gase in NYC who couldn't make it).
Kid you not, after it was over RJ had both my wife and I jump in an Uber with him and grabbed dinner with the entire Rivian team in downtown Denver.
Seriously had my wife and I at the table with him talking cars, life and whatever else came up for a couple of hours.
It was laughably enjoyable, I'm still kinda like "can't believe that happened".
He sold me on more then EV's that night!
I met RJ at the 2019 New York Auto Show private event for preorder holders. He was mobbed but took the time to chat with me and my wife. We had our 7-month-old old baby with us, and he remarked that he was officially the youngest Rivian owner in the room, before telling me about his three boys. An absolute rockstar of a CEO. (I wish I'd remembered to grab a selfie!)I wanted to share a quick story with you guys. It was a lucky chance encounter that made my day/week/month.
TLDR - Got a personal tour of the R1T by RJ. He was amazingly gracious, friendly, approachable, and an all-around great guy. Read on if you'd like the full story.
So as you may have seen, there is a media event happening in the mountains of Colorado at the moment. I knew approximately where they might be, but hadn't had the time to drive from Denver to see if I can find them. But then on Tuesday night, I get a call from my mother telling me she just spotted a bunch of Rivians not 5 minutes from their home in Breckenridge. That's all the encouragement I needed to take a drive up the mountains.
I cruise up, make a quick stop to grab my mother, and have her jump in the car with me to point out where she saw them. 5 minutes later, I'm in a parking lot with no less than 6 shiny R1Ts. Having never spotted one before, I was stoked.
We hop out of the car (Well, I hop out. My mom is in her mid/late 70's, so her exit wasn't quite as 'hoppy'), and started taking a close-up look at a forest green with forest edge interior truck. Beautiful. The window was rolled down, so we were able to get a great view of the interior. There were a few Rivian folks milling around so we tried to stay away and not be a burden or bother. Despite getting a few odd looks, they just let us poke around undisturbed, which was nice.
After a few minutes of peering around, we were about to leave. But I see a familiar face walking in our general direction. It was RJ! I said hello and he introduced himself, and then he went way above and beyond. He gave us a personal tour of the entire R1T, top to bottom, front to back. Showing us all the different features and functions. Answering my million questions. Put up with me pestering him about when the test drives will start in Colorado, the status of the service center in Denver, when deliveries are going to start, etc. Then he asked me to get in the vehicle and let him know what I thought of the seats, the interior, explained the process for making sure the wood dash looked just right, what he thought about certain interior/exterior color combos. He even was pulling out and showing off the flashlight and bluetooth speaker to my mother.
He spent a good 20 minutes with us, just one on one showing us everything you could imagine about the truck. It was fantastic, and I was truly impressed with how nice he was, how warm he was to my mother, and generally just giving us two randos undivided attention despite needing to get ready for the media event, and having several of his people waiting around to get his attention for what I'm assuming were fairly pressing needs.
After RJ finally had to let us go, he pointed us toward the El Cap truck that had the camp kitchen going, making dinner for the media folks. He instructed his head chef/kitchen designer to stop what he was doing, so that he could give us a full demonstration of how the kitchen worked, what was included, etc. etc. Who does that for a dude just interrupting their big media day?
We were able to see almost all the colors, except LG, Limestone, and Red. RJ kept asking his people where the LG truck was, when it would be back, trying to do what he could to ensure I would get to see it (it's the color I have on order).
We spent another 10 minutes looking at the other trucks that were there, the different interior options, etc. Basically just an awesome chance experience.
Bottom line, RJ is as good a guy as @DuckTruck described him to be. He went way out of his way to make us feel welcome at a time that I assumed we would not be welcome at all.
That's my story...
PS. I tried to see if RJ could move me up on the list...but I don't think I was successful
PPS. Drove by this morning and they had Canyon Red parked out front. It looks awesome.
Updated with impressions of the Rivian R1T:
-The vehicles have an impressive presence and stance, that I wasn't expecting. They're not enormous, but when you stand next to them, you feel like you're next to something very substantial
-The front end looks way better in person than it does in photos
-The front seats are ridiculously comfortable
-I liked silver and white significantly more than I thought I would. Both compete for number 2 on my list of colors
-The roof seemed to let just the right amount of light into the cabin
-The wheels/tires looked really big in person (all of them were on the 20's)
Happy to answer any other specific questions folks may have.
A friend of mine saw 3 Rivians cruising in Denver going East on I 76 this week Monday or Tuesday. Not sure where they were going but said they looked cool cruzing down the road together.I wanted to share a quick story with you guys. It was a lucky chance encounter that made my day/week/month.
TLDR - Got a personal tour of the R1T by RJ. He was amazingly gracious, friendly, approachable, and an all-around great guy. Read on if you'd like the full story.
So as you may have seen, there is a media event happening in the mountains of Colorado at the moment. I knew approximately where they might be, but hadn't had the time to drive from Denver to see if I can find them. But then on Tuesday night, I get a call from my mother telling me she just spotted a bunch of Rivians not 5 minutes from their home in Breckenridge. That's all the encouragement I needed to take a drive up the mountains.
I cruise up, make a quick stop to grab my mother, and have her jump in the car with me to point out where she saw them. 5 minutes later, I'm in a parking lot with no less than 6 shiny R1Ts. Having never spotted one before, I was stoked.
We hop out of the car (Well, I hop out. My mom is in her mid/late 70's, so her exit wasn't quite as 'hoppy'), and started taking a close-up look at a forest green with forest edge interior truck. Beautiful. The window was rolled down, so we were able to get a great view of the interior. There were a few Rivian folks milling around so we tried to stay away and not be a burden or bother. Despite getting a few odd looks, they just let us poke around undisturbed, which was nice.
After a few minutes of peering around, we were about to leave. But I see a familiar face walking in our general direction. It was RJ! I said hello and he introduced himself, and then he went way above and beyond. He gave us a personal tour of the entire R1T, top to bottom, front to back. Showing us all the different features and functions. Answering my million questions. Put up with me pestering him about when the test drives will start in Colorado, the status of the service center in Denver, when deliveries are going to start, etc. Then he asked me to get in the vehicle and let him know what I thought of the seats, the interior, explained the process for making sure the wood dash looked just right, what he thought about certain interior/exterior color combos. He even was pulling out and showing off the flashlight and bluetooth speaker to my mother.
He spent a good 20 minutes with us, just one on one showing us everything you could imagine about the truck. It was fantastic, and I was truly impressed with how nice he was, how warm he was to my mother, and generally just giving us two randos undivided attention despite needing to get ready for the media event, and having several of his people waiting around to get his attention for what I'm assuming were fairly pressing needs.
After RJ finally had to let us go, he pointed us toward the El Cap truck that had the camp kitchen going, making dinner for the media folks. He instructed his head chef/kitchen designer to stop what he was doing, so that he could give us a full demonstration of how the kitchen worked, what was included, etc. etc. Who does that for a dude just interrupting their big media day?
We were able to see almost all the colors, except LG, Limestone, and Red. RJ kept asking his people where the LG truck was, when it would be back, trying to do what he could to ensure I would get to see it (it's the color I have on order).
We spent another 10 minutes looking at the other trucks that were there, the different interior options, etc. Basically just an awesome chance experience.
Bottom line, RJ is as good a guy as @DuckTruck described him to be. He went way out of his way to make us feel welcome at a time that I assumed we would not be welcome at all.
That's my story...
PS. I tried to see if RJ could move me up on the list...but I don't think I was successful
PPS. Drove by this morning and they had Canyon Red parked out front. It looks awesome.
Updated with impressions of the Rivian R1T:
-The vehicles have an impressive presence and stance, that I wasn't expecting. They're not enormous, but when you stand next to them, you feel like you're next to something very substantial
-The front end looks way better in person than it does in photos
-The front seats are ridiculously comfortable
-I liked silver and white significantly more than I thought I would. Both compete for number 2 on my list of colors
-The roof seemed to let just the right amount of light into the cabin
-The wheels/tires looked really big in person (all of them were on the 20's)
Happy to answer any other specific questions folks may have.
-I think I saw conserve as one of the modes, but keep in mind these were not the "sellable" version of the trucks, so I wouldn't bet on it as confirmed just yet
Is there any other way to sit?
I think the leg room would be good sitting behind someone in a normal seating positionSorry, my statement wasn't totally clear. I don't actually know the final process. RJ was telling me that it was extremely difficult to make real wood look like real wood, and that they had to spend a lot of time perfecting their processes to make it look just how they wanted
I will!
Would love to do a rocky mountain Rivian gathering. Looked like the event was going to wrap either yesterday or today, but I can't confirm. The press were definitely driving the trucks, but I didn't see any specific/identifiable media outlets there.
