GuitarWizard

I agree with Dr. Pete

kergin

I gotta say - you really nailed it with those bottle cages. They're perfect for that frame. Just spot on.

sacha white

I realize that there is a lot to the Speedvagen story that has not been told to the wider web audience. We'll have a new site up with more concrete info but in the meantime a couple of things jump out to me and could use some attention.

A Speedvagen is not a Vanilla, but is made in the Vanilla workshop twice a year.

We don't make many because we don't have a lot of time, so the batches are limited to between 15 and 30.

My role is mainly as the designer and foreman, but I end up providing support with fabrication to my guest builders (mainly Mike Desalvo for the first couple of runs).

For me as a builder and rider, Speedvagen is less about “persuit of craft” and more of a precise execution of a design. Unlike my custom Vanilla frames (Where each frame is one of a kind and my creative and design process takes place while I fabricate)
my goal for Speedvagen is to take a design that I have developed over the last decade, having all things non-essential stripped away and to bring in great fabricators and create, in a matter of weeks, what would otherwise take the better part of a year to do on my own.

TerryB wrote "Genius marketing targeted at a small audience with cash to burn."

Ok. so I have had a website in the works since NAHBS 07 and meanwhile THIS has been a place holder. Terry, Is that sad little site what you mean by genius marketing? (hahaha)

Other than the website, the Vanilla Race Team has been riding them and folks have noticed them. The people who got on board got on because they have seen the bikes being raced, or heard about them via word of mouth. 1/2 are local racers and 1/2 are racers and friends of friends from around the country.

As for generic...

Tubing:

many of the tubes are custom for the project, and if not custom made, have been extensively reworked in house and all tubes are made of the highest end alloys available.

Other frame components:

The BB, head tube, drops and other frame components have further machined to take out all unnecessary material. I had a guy in here for nearly three days just making the downtube adjusters stops (hard to see them from Darren's photos). The drops are a new design and are our lightest stiffest and strongest to date.

Seatpost: We used the Thomson post design and their uppers, but fabricated the main externally clamping piece in house.

The paint: Although many of the details are lost in the photos, the paint job is far from generic and is actually pretty complex. One thing that I consciously kept the paint too fancy to avoid evoking the "preciousness" that some run into when they think of Vanilla, because I don't want finish to get in the way of the owner riding there bike as hard as the bike wants to be ridden.

Fit: as Darren said, there is a custom option and standard sizes.

Build process: Each Vagen follows the same build and alignment process as each Vanilla. This insures that every bike is in alignment, is relieved of internal stresses in the structure (contributing to it's longevity), and is up to snuff with what folks would expect from the Vanilla Workshop.


- Sacha

woodduck

nice one mate.

Good work for setting it straight.

wrestlr

Thanks Sacha. Great post and it clarifies the concept for me and I am sure others.
-Mike

sfcrossrider

MIN,

Are you still thinking about getting one? I'm sure your build will be one for the "bike porn" archives.

Darren,

Ride report please!

donnamb 

Thank you kindly, Sacha.

tim10025

Hey Darren - What's your verdict on the ride quality of your speedvagen?

nogearCX

y'all need to quit arguing. in his eyes, he's proud poppa of his baby bear. just like you are to your Trek 1500. we all love our bikes. do we all wish we could have that colnago master x-light? or custom tuned leightweight wheels? sure. would we all be oookaaay with having a bike custom made with every specification right down to the color and material of the cable stops? hell yes!

because all of them are cool in their own rite. i get stoked over putting new bar tape on my mass produced CF bike. cool.

some guys get off on accessorizing their bikes out with mirrors, reflectors, saddle bags, bike pumps, and streamers. awesome.

there are riders out there that wank it to thoughts of having a powertap or SRM meter or both just to go home after a ride and investigate all of the information that these space age computers put out and they hardly understand. i get it. rock on.

he has a special bike, because it's special to him. if it gets him out there riding every second he can making his life better, that's all that matters to me.

i got off on riding a prototype frameset from a 'cookie-cutter' company. you know why? because NONE of you had it, and none of you can. because it never went into production. it was all black. it wasn't exceptionally attractive. but i was the only one to have it. and i loved it and rode it and that's all that matters.

go ride your freaking bikes.

Frunkin

^^5 month old argument.

In other news I saw a SS CX SpeedVagen a few weeks ago. It was awesome. One of the most beautiful bikes I've seen.

ridethecliche

I've only seen pictures of a couple of these, but they look incredible.

Simply beautiful, and if it can take the abuse of cross and keep on ticking, then that shows it's a worthy tool as well!

tkehler

$3200!!! I can't hardly sneak a new Force gruppo into the house without a major kerfuffle... (Sigh. Darn kids need food or clothes or something, I'm told.)

unbelievably

$3200 USD equals what? like $4000 CAD???

tim10025

So has anyone ridden one of the Speedvagens?