By Chris
The VO Grand Cruz is underway with stops at a couple of dozen shops in Seattle and Portland over the past few weeks. Stops in Seattle included: Free Range Cycles, Defiance, 20/20 Cycles, Alki Bike & Board, Ride Bicycles, Montlake Bicycle Shop, Dutch Bike Company, and others. In Portland John and Kate visited: The Bike Commuter, 21st Ave Bikes, Clever Cycles, Velo Cult , Kenton Cycle Repair, Glady's Bikes, River City Bicycles, and City Bikes/ John has written about some of these shops on the Grand Cruz blog, worth checking out (frequently!)
This first leg was done sans the 1962 Airstream, which was undergoing final maintenance and repairs. But next week John and Kate will be in California working their way south, with Airstream, and they'll be visiting lots more dealers. Send them an e-mail if you'd like to arrange a visit at your local shop to see some of our bikes, components, and accessories.
In other news: This is one of those frustrating periods when several projects are almost done and we're just waiting for samples or minor final changes. We have a new seat post, a second disc-brake bike frame, a rack, a new stem, new hubs, and a handlebar that are almost, but not quite, ready for production. I hate waiting!
On the other hand, some new stuff should arrive in the next two weeks, including black Course handlebars, 31.8mm stems, Grand Cru stem caps, and lots of out-of-stock stuff.
The Piolet frames are done and have been shipped; they should arrive in a month. And we've already upgraded them (over the original prototypes) with lighter double butted forks.