The Grand Cruz, on the Road with VO

We're doing a road trip, a Grand Cruz, this summer. Well, not all of us, but our friends John Byfield and Kate Heber will be taking their solar-powered 1962 Air Stream trailer and SUV to dozens of shops out west.

It'll be loaded with VO stuff, including a few built-up bikes. They'll also have a pop-up canopy and display items for small bike shows. This will give folks out West a chance to see how VO frames compare to often more expensive brands--we think you'll be amazed. And while they can't take every VO component, they will have a nice sampling to examine first hand.

It's so different for Velo Orange to operate outside our website and this blog, but we're excited to know that bicycle veterans will be sharing our products face-to-face with shop employees and their customers, that a shop can get one-on-one attention outside a huge consumer show. We're also not a little envious of the Air Stream.

Here's the tentative schedule:

• Through end of May - Seattle, Portland, and various smaller metropolitan areas.
• June - Full swing through California including NorCal, SoCal, Central Coast, etc.
• July-Mid August - Bend, Boise, Salt Lake, Colorado, on to RAGBRAI.  Return through Chicago, WI, MN, SD, MT, then eastern WA.
• Late August - Giant Bicycle Festival outside Seattle; Seattle, Portland, etc.
• Sept - No & SoCal-main metro areas, Phoenix, Tuscon, TX.  Return through OK, NM, Las Vegas (Interbike as guest), Reno etc.

Dealer visits may include everything from simple product presentations to in-store sales training and consumer shows. Current or new VO dealers who'd like a visit should contact the Grand Cruz at 541-408-5754 or info@thegrandcruz.com. Or ask you local shop to request a stop-by. We've already had interest from many shops, and John and Kate are itching to get on the road. 

They have also have a separate Grand Cruz blog that you can follow. Here's a nice piece about the Grand Cruz in Bicycle Retailer.