On Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 8:12 AM, Matthew J <[email protected]> wrote:
> > The author may be right about the non-bike stuff, but he's in the > wilderness about Shinola bicycles. > > Demonstrably so. The author says Shinola's least expensive bike is > $1950.00. Off by $950.00. > > That was correct when the blog post was written in 2014. The $1000 Detroit Arrow model is new. I thought the blog author wasn't too far off. Of course, Made in the USA is a difficult contingent to satisfy, as Grant can attest to. You have to balance MUSA, economy, quality, etc. Shinola is doing this exactly the same way as other US companies like Rivendell. The author was put off once they read the fine print, but that struck me as naivete to the current reality of "MUSA" products. That said, Shinola really markets itself as MUSA, way more strongly than most US brands (except maybe some others from Detroit). > As for tubing, Waterford uses True Temper for a lot of its builds. Is > there any indication that is not the case here? > No, all their models are double butted True Temper. I visited the Shinola store in Kansas City last fall. They have some pretty nice things in there, but every one of them is out of my price range. It seemed like Shinola wants to charge a premium for their style/design(even compared to high-quality gear from Riv). But their style didn't charm me nearly as much as Rivendell's has, so I didn't get their value proposition. I don't think I'm one of their target customers; I hate luxury boutiques (and retail in general). Things I liked: copper accents on saddles, grips, head badge, and bells nice leather on saddles, grips, even leather-wrapped bike chain locks! lug work on fork crowns, and frame of Runwell practical city bike design: chain guard, fenders, rack mounts nice fork rake for front loads Things I didn't like: detractors from the classic design: huge "S" dropouts, inelegant disc brake mount braces internal cable routing. seems very fussy for little benefit. protruding Nexus gear changer on Bixby watches. they are lost on me; I don't wear jewelry. price! The store had three or four attractive young salespeople, but none of them knew a darn about the bikes. It made me wonder how the bikes are sold to and tuned for customers. Hopefully there's a work stand or two (and a bike gnome) in back! Shinola isn't selling junk. But, for the same price, I'd take a Sam Hillborne (or similar Riv) any day. And seriously, who cares about watches? Next thing you know, they'll start selling fedoras! Tim Gavin Cedar Rapids, IA -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
