I made a two hour drive today to the nearest B.F. dealer listed on Friday`s website, planning to test ride a NWT and/or Pocket Rocket. I didn`t bother to call ahead and see what they had available since it was the only place in Sacramento, CA (metro area of a few million) and I figured they`d have a pretty good selection even if I didn`t see exactly what I was looking for. When I arrived, I found that their entire folder inventory consists of one Tikit. Sheesh! Shoulda called first, Dummy.

I know it's not close to you, but if you happen to be in the SF bay area any time soon, check out warm planet bikes although they aren't open on weekends or check out velo sports in berkeley. they both carry bike fridays. it's been awhile since i've been to either so not sure if they only have tickets or others as well. so be sure to call to not repeat.

I think BF's usual approach in this situation is to find an existing owner in your area who can show you his bike. Call 'em up and see what they can do.

Yeah, that might be what I have to do. I know they list a few dealers in the Bay Area, but that`s an awful long way just to check out bikes and the last of the relatives I used to visit down that way just retired and moved out to "the country".

Yes BF is very good about finding people to show off their bikes and let you test it out.

I would also highly recommend Warm Planet Bikes. I was very close to buying a bike from them when I was in San Francisco but they refused to ship it to me because they felt as California citizens it was important to charge the sales tax! I was very impressed.

Only thing is they're closed on weekends and have a lot of commuters at rush hour as they also function as a bike garage.