Santa Cruz does make great quality bikes, and actually the fact that the aluminum Nomad broke before the CF frame is more telling about the perils of aluminum... in fact I've seen way too many aluminum swingarms (including one of my own) bust under normal use. And yet I have a friend with an ancient Trek OCLV Y-frame mountain bike that has been through hell and back without a single crack (but has had the alu swingarm replaced). When CF is done right, it's beyond impressive...
That said, I just scored a really awesome (vintage) chromoly mountain bike on eBay for a mere $200 that will make a superb commuter/tourer for a buddy of mine... Thank God the good stuff is still out there... Steel is still real, y'all... Peace, BB On Sunday, May 19, 2013 1:35:11 AM UTC-4, Joe Bernard wrote: > > I can't vouch for specific bike shops here in the N. CA. Bay Area because > I don't spend much time in them, but the cycling diversity here is much > better than it was 10-15 years ago. Along with the carbon wonder racers and > motorcycles without motors, we have a plethora of commuters, cargo bikes, > folders, Dutch Bikes, and even a few recumbents. Throw in the still-strong > SS/fixie scene, and I'd say things are looking good, cool-bike-wise. > > Joe Bernard > Vallejo, CA. > > > On Saturday, May 18, 2013 4:24:48 PM UTC-7, PeterG wrote: > >> My wife had to go out of town for the week. Bored, I decided that I would >> spend the day riding my Hillborne and then visit a few local bike shops and >> see what's selling out there these days. I haven't really been to many bike >> shops in the last couple of years (Rivendell has been my "go-to" place for >> most all my cycling needs lately). I ended up visiting three shops here in >> Reno, NV. I felt like I was in a weird sort of parallel universe. All of >> the stores had their racks filled with carbon race bikes with the >> handlebars wayyyy below the seats. When I asked to see bikes where i could >> get my handlebars at or above the seat I was told at each store that they >> don't make them that way... unless I was interested in a beach cruiser type >> bike (single speed). It was explained to me that people want to go fast on >> road bikes, so they need to be hunched down to prevent wind drag. When I >> asked about seeing steel frame bikes, all of the salesmen told me that >> steel bikes haven't been made in years.. .....WOW! At the last stop I made, >> a young kid that worked there (maybe 19 years old) whispered to me that >> there was a local shop that did indeed sell two steel bikes, gunnars and >> surly's....but he couldn't remember the name of the store. Not sure if that >> is true or not, but I give the kid credit for at least trying (his boss >> tried to sell me a cervelo race bike two sizes too small for $7900 for >> weekend solo riding). Is Reno an anomaly or is this happening everywhere? > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
