Huh, I too snapped the chain on my Volpe within the first 100 miles... didn't realize this was a common occurance.

Bought a 2006 volpe about a month ago (and adore it). List price should definitely be more like $850. I had the shop put on 28mm slicks and they did credit me the price of the tires that I wasn't keeping.

But I wonder, does anyone actually take their Volpe off-road? I bought mine for shorter tours (california coast and around the bay area) and commuting (and because I am a big guy), so the slicks made sense, but recently I've been interested in riding some of fire roads in the Marin headlands. Will my Volpe actually hold up on these (with something like the original knobby tires back on it) or should I wait until the day when I might be able to afford a mt bike as well?

Also, could someone explain to me why everyone hates suspension seat posts so much? Sorry, I'm pretty new to biking, so I don't have much basis for comparison.