paulb_in_bkln

Sure he has. To reduce the price, several of his current bikes combine welding and lugs. This must have been a big compromise for him to make. One of the current bikes is offered with a choice of traditional or threadless headset. Some have V brakes. Grant simply faces a paradox (or reality) of the market: high-end bike customers will freely spend ten grand for a big-name carbon fiber bike but not half as much for a bike made of steel, no matter how good, especially one that doesn't have the imprimatur (i.e., recognizability) of a major brand. As someone pointed out above, there's also availability: long lead times for some bikes. Customers with deep pockets may want their new toy right now, not in six months or a year. Bikesnobnyc recently resumed club racing, and even though Riv is a sponsor of his blog, he didn't consider Grant's Roadeo for a new bike. "Too classy." Nor even the Roadini. He bought an off the shelf carbon racing bike. I understand his reasoning. He needed a tool, not a showpiece. And now too, thanks in large part to the market Grant helped to create for them, Surly and Velo Orange and others offer bikes with many of the Riv advantages, if not the beauty, extravagant quality, and lugs, at a much lower price. Sure I'd love a Sam or a Homer or an Atlantis, but if I ever buy another new bike, it will probably be a VO Campeur. It depresses me to say it. But here I am.