Price Drop on Frames and Other Interesting Things

This is the time of year that we go over our costs and pricing. As expected a few things have gone up. But the big news is that when analysed frame costs, including development costs, we found that we could lower them substantially. So we re-priced the Polyvalent and Campeur at an even $500. That's a $100 drop for the Campeur and a $50 drop for the Polyvalent.

By the way, those of you who bought a frame from the VO web store or in our showroom at full retail price in the past month will get a VO gift certificate in the amount of the price drop.

In other news:

Check out this paint job on a VO rando frame, from the very cool Ube's Icecream Shop blog.  The full post is here.

Box Dog Bikes of San Francisco, one of our oldest dealers, built this lovely townie based on a VO Rando frame. More here. Nice job Gabe!

A VO customer e-mailed to tell us about his Polyvalent. It's one of the original black Mk1s. He writes:

I noticed the recent blog post about your "other touring bike". I wanted to point out that you also have "that other rando bike". My Polyvalent MK1 has been a few different things since I got it, but it has developed well with my recent interest in Randonneuring. It still remains the most affordable 650b frame on the market, and it's a bonus that it fits fast 42mm Grand Bois Hetre tires with fenders. Maybe my favorite part is it's stable and consistent handling with even the largest Berthoud bag loaded on a front rack after a full day of riding. I've only done a Populaire and a recent Permanent course rid with Seattle International Randonneurs, my local club in Olympia Washington, but I don't plan to stop any time soon. I've lived in Olympia for a year and my Polyvalent has taken me to most ends of our city on local rides and commutes, so randonneurring is my next step in discovering more of the pacific north west on a busy work schedule. It seems that the Polyvalent has really filled a gap in the market, and truly lives up to its name for your customers.